Page 58 of The Stone Family Warrior

Chapter 15

As they pulled into the parking lot at the gun range, Trent parked the motorcycle right up front. He remembered coming out shooting with his siblings to celebrate when he and Hunter had gotten accepted into BUD/S training. It had been a good time.

The place was deserted, and there was a poster on the main doors that read, Will open again in May.

“I can’t believe you’ve never shot a gun,” Trent said.

She nudged him in the shoulder. “My parents weren’t into shooting, and even after I married my husband, I actually wanted to learn how, but Will was very against it.”

Trent didn’t think much of this Will, but he pushed his feelings aside. “Well, I am happy to take you through it.” He moved over to the building and peered into one of the windows, but it was boarded up. Not surprising. A lot of places that were only open for a certain amount of the year tried to protect themselves from hurricanes.

He casually reached his hand out to her, and she smiled as she took it.

They walked around the building. The night air had gotten cooler, and Liberty had her arms crossed in front of herself.

He put his arm around her, trying to keep her warm. “Are you okay with hiking that fence? I want to go over where my dad and Hunter and I were last together and when that picture was taken.” There had to be something. His mind tried to go back to that day, but he struggled to remember anything except the joy of being with his father and his brother.

“You want me to trespass on someone else’s property?” Liberty laughed. “Hold up,” she said, pulling out her phone. “First I need a selfie of us.”

“Done.” Trent put his arm around her and pressed his cheek to hers.

She took out her phone and snapped a picture of them in front of the gun range building. “Our first selfie together.” Then she moved in front of him, grabbing hold of the chain-link fence and easily hoisting herself up higher. Her legs swung over the top and she descended on the other side.

Trent watched and found another layer of attraction for this woman. He laughed. “Dang, maybe you should’ve been a SEAL.” He followed, hiking up and over the fence and dropping to the other side.

“You’re pretty good, but check out these guns.” She pushed her sleeve back and flexed.

He reached out and circled his fingers around her bicep. “Nice,” he said, making her blush. He tugged her by the waist and snuggled her against him. He was focused on her lips. “I do agree, you have nice guns.”

She placed her arms around his neck and stared at his lips. “I don’t know what I like better, your lips or your guns.”

Was it uncharacteristic of this woman to say such a thing? Maybe, but he liked it. “I don’t think you have to pick which one you like best.”

Slowly, she reached up and touched his lips with her fingers. “So what if I do want to date you? Like … officially.”

Trent was dying. No other woman had been able to tease him in such a way that he wanted to keep flirting with her, while at the same time he wanted her to just kiss him. He grinned. “If you want to officially date me, then I think you should probably prove it by officially kissing me.”

She leaned up and ever so softly brushed her lips against his.

Every part of him wanted to deepen the kiss, to hold her tighter, to light that spark. To possess her. He’d never experienced this with a woman, and it wasn’t just because she was smoking hot. No … it was the fragile yet strong vulnerability she tried to hide.

Liberty pulled back. Her fingers traced his cheek carefully. “I never thought I would feel this way again. But I have to tell you something. I feel like I’m being dishonest if I don’t.”

Her words held tension, and he wondered what she might feel guilty over. He kept his hands on her hips but loosened his grip. “Okay.”

“Will hurt me badly.” Her voice shook along with her shoulders. “I told you that Will cheated on me, and I didn’t know until the funeral. It’s been a double whammy with his death because I didn’t know, and … we’d been fighting in the car. I suspected something, and we were fighting, and it was raining when the accident happened.”

Trent pulled her into him and held her. He could feel her trembling.

“I caused the accident. I killed both of them.” She took a step back, and he dropped his hands from her. Her fingers combed nervously through her hair.

Trent forced himself to remain calm, even though he vehemently disagreed. “Tell me what happened.” He knew that when people had trauma, lots of times they had to talk it through to be able to draw different conclusions. “Tell me about that night. The fighting.”

For a long time, he didn’t know if she would, but then she took a deep breath. “We went out to eat. It was rough because Ian was throwing everything off the table. Will was distracted on his phone. I saw him texting a girl named Kelli. A woman who had just started substitute teaching a couple months earlier. I’d seen them talking.”

Trent nodded, hanging on every word.

“We got in the car, and it was pouring rain. Ian was crying, and I was crying, and Will started yelling at me about how I was upsetting Ian, and I accused him of cheating. He flipped out, and the next thing I knew, he was racing through a red light. A semi hit his side of the car.”

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