Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
His eyes widen. “Through work.”
My forehead creases as I try to make sense of things. “Through work? You mean, you were a mercenary for him?”
He leans forward. “How do you know about that?”
I roll my eyes because obviously he doesn’t know how small towns work. “Everyone knows that Walker has some sort of mercenary team that he runs out of the compound. People don’t talk about it… but they talk about it.” I don’t want to get my brother in trouble or anything, but this is his best friend I’m talking to. “When you guys left the Army five years ago and went private, I just put two and two together. I’ve asked Zach plenty of times, but he would neither confirm or deny it. But it made sense.”
He shrugs, and I try to hide my disappointment that he doesn’t feel like he can talk to me about it. I blow out a breath. “I’ve heard it’s nice. The rehab center, I mean.”
He nods. “It’s really nice. The facility and equipment is top of the line. I can already tell an improvement since I’ve been here.”
There’s something about the way he said it that has me asking. “How long have you been here?”
He winces, and I know instantly that he doesn’t want to tell me, but I also know that he won’t lie to me. “A month. I’ve been here a month.”
I try not to let the hurt reflect in my voice. “You’ve been in Whiskey Run a month and you haven’t come to see us… to see Mom and Dad?”
He shrugs. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me.”
I gasp. “Wouldn’t want to see you? Davis, we understood why you didn’t want to see anyone right after the accident. We weren’t offended… we were worried. Zach kept telling us to give you time, but maybe we shouldn’t have listened to him, maybe we should have forced you to see us. I don’t know.”
He looks down at his boots, and his voice is softer. “What all did Zach tell you, Abby?”
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to know, so I tell him honestly, “Zach told us you lost your leg while you were on a mission in Afghanistan. That an IED went off, and you were lucky it was just your leg. He said you were having a hard time with recovery but were getting better every day.” When he’s still not looking at me, I ask him because I have to know. “Why? Is that not true? Are you okay?”
Davis drags in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Yeah, I’m fine now.”
The way he says it has me asking. “What does that even mean? Fine… now.”
He lifts his eyes to mine. His brown eyes are dark and troubled, but I can’t look away. “Talk to me, Davis. What is it that Zach didn’t tell us?”
“It wasn’t just me. Every one of us—seven of my brothers—were on that mission. Six of us were injured, and one died. It was a relief that your brother was not physically hurt.”
I know I need to keep my thoughts to myself or else he’s not going to continue, but I can’t stop myself. “Zach was with you that day?”
His eyes jump to mine and widen, as he realizes he’s said more than he should have. “Yes, Zach was there. He was sent back with the package, and thank God he was because….” He stops, and I see the pain on his face, thinking about what could have happened to his best friend and my brother. He lets out a long, shaky breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you.”
I slap my hand on my leg. “Davis, I’m not stupid. I know you and Zach think of me as a child and that I can’t handle things, but I can. I knew that he was probably with you. You guys are almost always together. And it’s obvious he’s a different man since then.”
We are both quiet, and all I can think about is when I see my brother again, I’m going to hug his neck a little tighter. When Davis continues, I can hear the pain in his voice.
“After the accident, I had to take meds for the pain.”
I nod. “Of course you did. I’m sure you had to.”
He swallows. “Well, when I did, it sort of got out of hand. The pills numbed the pain of my leg, and well, everything, really. I didn’t have to think about things or deal with anything, so I stayed, uh, medicated.”
I tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to continue. “I’m not proud of myself, Abby. I took the easy way out and let the pills take care of me and all the shit I was dealing with.”
I scoot to the edge of my seat. “Is that why you didn’t want us to come see you, even months after the accident?”