Page 4 of The Stone Family Warrior

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

Hunter crossed his arms. “When did you start not wanting to hear scripture quoted?”

Anger brimmed inside Trent, but he pushed it down. “I guess I just don’t care about that stuffanymore.”

“You mean you don’t care about the word of God anymore?”

“Just … lay off.”

“There is no way you can deny God. No way.”

Trent’s brain mulled on this, and he thought of a million other beliefs he’d been studying up on. “Lots of people believe in there being just a spirit but not God, per se.”

“Like the holy spirit?”

They had gone many rounds over this topic lately. Trent turned away. “Shut up, dude.”

Hunter cleared his throat. “Whatever. I guess you’re on your own journey with God.”

“And you can butt out of it,” Trent said, flashing him a sarcastic smile.

Hunter blew out a breath. “I’m not going to take that personally.”

“Don’t.”

Hunter clapped a hand down on Trent’s shoulder. “But, we do need to talk about the fact that I will get married … eventually. And our codependent thing can’t get in the way of our relationships.”

“You won’t to Amy.”

Hunter frowned. “Not to Amy, but … someone.”

“I hate her so bad.”

“Don’t hate her.”

“Don’t tell me who to hate.”

There it was, they could be back to fighting in an instant if they didn’t watch it.

Hunter shook his head. “What are we gonna do, Trent? We can’t both marry Cheryse.”

Trent shook the tension out of his muscles. Common ground. “Ahh, Cheryse. Nope, I’m afraid she’s been lost to us for a long time.”

“Yeah, and now she has the amazing Roger.” Hunter said the words exactly the way Cheryse had been saying them the night before at the family Christmas party.

“I know. ‘I’m Roger, and I went to Haarvaard.’” Making fun of the guy Cheryse liked was way too easy for them.

Hunter grimaced, clearly flabbergasted. “How did Cheryse end up with Roger?”

Trent feigned surprise. “Don’t you remember? Roger is so awesome. He raises money to fund cancer units at hospitals.” He said it with a bit of snobbishness.

Hunter joined in, mimicking Cheryse in an over-the-top valley-girl way. “‘Roger is so humble about his work. Just ask him.’” Hunter snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, Cheryse wantedsafe, so maybe she’ll actually get it this time.”

“Right. Roger is safe.”

The word touched at a tender spot for both him and Hunter. When the two of them had decided to become SEALs, Cheryse had told them both that she couldn’t be with either of them. She would not be like their mother, never knowing if they would come home or not. She needed someonesafe.

It had been a rough time on all of them and Hunter and Trent hadn’t spoken to Cheryse for many years after that.

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