Don't Walk Away: A Second Chance Military Romance Read online

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “I know you had to take vacation. So I’ll come pick you up tomorrow. How does ten o’clock sound?” he asked.

  “No, no, no. Rhett. You’re not picking me—wait. How did you know I was…”

  He stepped off the porch and turned around, grinning at me over his shoulder. Fucking hell. I’d have to have a talk with Lacey. She shouldn’t be feeding him this kind of information.

  There had to be at least ten rules she was breaking with that shit.

  “We’re going to have a good day, Ashton!” Rhett exclaimed.

  “No, we’re not. Rhett, I’m serious. You’re not picking me up.”

  “See you tomorrow!” he yelled from his car.

  “Rhett! I won’t open this door if you show up here tomorrow morning!”

  He slipped into his car as if he couldn’t hear me.

  “I’m serious! I’m sleeping in! If you wake me up, I’ll claw your eyes out!”

  He backed out of my driveway as if I wasn’t shouting at him from my front door.

  “I mean it!” I roared.

  Then, I watched him drive off, knowing damn good and well that asshole was showing up here in the morning.

  Chapter 9

  Rhett

  “So, what is my boy up to today?” my mother asked.

  “I’ve got plans with Ashton today,” I said.

  “Oh, really.”

  “Don’t start with that tone of voice, Mom.”

  “Uh-huh. Fine. I’ll let you off the hook this time. But the next time you bring it up, you better be ready to talk. You can’t put your mother off for this long. Got it?” she asked.

  I snickered. “Yeah. I got it, Mom. I always do.”

  “Hey,” she scolded.

  I sighed. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll talk next time.”

  “Good. I don’t know where you picked up that sass, but you tuck it in under this roof. You hear me?”

  I grinned as I looked up at her, watching her slide a plate of breakfast in front of me.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said.

  “Good. So, why don’t you tell me why you’re actually home?” she asked.

  She sat down with her mug of coffee while I stabbed at my eggs.

  “The Navy’s looking to give me a promotion I never saw coming. The leave time is to get my mind settled on whether or not to take it,” I said.

  “What type of promotion?”

  “An official trainer of the Navy SEALs.”

  “Rhett, that’s amazing. That’s a huge compliment,” she said.

  “Yeah. It is. Especially within the Navy. It would give me more time off. More of a pay bump. Less deployment time. It’s one of the more stable jobs in the military.”

  “So, what’s there to think about?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I just had a path carved out for my life, and this doesn’t really fit into it.”

  “Maybe you could take another month to figure it all out,” she said, grinning.

  “Mom.”

  “Can’t blame a mom for trying. Look, son. I want you to do what you think is right. It would be nice to have you in a more stable place. I’m getting tired of those random phone calls forty-eight hours before you hop on a last-minute assignment. My nerves are shot, Rhett. So, you know where my answer lies,” she said.

  I placed my hand over hers. “I know.”

  “I want you safe, son. Always.”

  “You know I love you, right?” I asked.

  She sighed as she rubbed her thumb over my skin.

  “I do. It’s hard to see sometimes, but I do,” she said.

  Her words punched me in my gut.

  Apparently, leaving had affected more people than I had ever intended.

  I didn’t have an answer yet about where I stood on the promotion, but I had to get going. I’d be late to pick up Ashton for our impromptu day together where I could annoy her until she started enjoying herself. I took a few more bites of my food before standing, then kissed my mother on top of her head.

  “I love you with all my heart,” I murmured.

  Then, I grabbed my things and headed out the door.

  I pulled into the driveway of Ashton’s quaint little place and walked up to her door. But I didn’t even have to knock before the door came swinging open. I stood there, smiling down into her tired face as she sighed at my presence.

  “I told you no yesterday,” she said.

  “I know. And now, you need to get dressed. We have a big day ahead of us,” I said.

  “No.”

  “You can bring your coffee with you,” I said.

  “No.”

  “I’ll swing you through that coffee joint you love so much.”

  “Absolutely not,” she said.

  “I’ll also swing you through Cinnabon.”

  She narrowed her eyes, and I knew I had her.

  “Give me ten minutes to get dressed. I’m not getting dressed up, and I’m not doing anything dumb. I get veto power over any of your plans. Got it?” Ashton asked.

  “Of course,” I said.

  Thirty minutes later, she emerged, partially caffeinated and wearing a pair of old, worn jeans along with a flowing blouse. Despite her casual appearance, I thought she looked phenomenal. I stood up from the rocking chair on her porch and escorted her to my car, opening the door and helping her in.

  It wasn’t until I got inside and punched in the address of our destination that she gasped.

  “We’re going to the carnival?”

  I grinned. “The one and only Seattle Carnival.”

  I swung through and got her some coffee, but she bypassed the cinnamon bun to get on the road. I knew she would. I knew Ashton always had a childlike spirit within her she’d never be able to snuff out. The second we pulled into the parking lot, however, I watched her put on her stoic face again.

  “We’re not kids, you know,” she said.

  “And here I thought you were excited to ride the Ferris wheel,” I said.

  “Maybe when I was sixteen, sure. I’m twenty-five now.”

  “Well, in that case, we should be good at the games, then.”

  I put my car into park and opened my door. And once the smell of lemonade and funnel cakes hit her nostrils, she smiled. She looked over at me and threw back the rest of her coffee, then slammed out of her door. I was excited to bring her here. Excited to relive what we did on our first date back in high school.

  The Seattle Carnival was in town. And we weren’t missing it.

  Chapter 10

  Ashton

  I tried to ignore the symbolism of this place. The memories it brought back. The first date Rhett had ever taken me on in high school was to the Seattle Carnival. We’d ridden the rides, and he’d won me a massive stuffed seahorse I’d slept with for months snuggled against me. We went around and around on the Ferris wheel, stopping at the time to take in the whole of Seattle.

  It was the first time we kissed. And I remembered it as if it were yesterday.

  “Come on, Rhett! The line’s gone down!” I exclaimed.

  The line for the bumper cars was finally manageable, and I wanted to go on them. Something in the pit of my gut told me that ramming into Rhett over and over would help me get out some of my pent-up aggression and confusion toward him. We sank down into the cars, and he looked comically large for the small pink one he sat in. I threw my head back and laughed as the cars were released, and immediately I felt myself getting pummeled.

  I opened my eyes and heard Rhett laughing as he drove away from me.

  I chased him around that little encasement. I ran him into the wall and bumped into him from behind. I slammed him into other cars and hit him so hard his body wavered. I drove away from him, giggling and laughing as he chased me around.

  It actually did feel good to jostle him around a little bit.

  “Want to try out the teacup ride?” Rhett asked as he helped me out.

  “Are you sure
you can fit in them?” I asked as I steadied myself on my feet.

  “Only one way to find out. And after that, we can grab some lemonade.”

  Rhett fit into the teacups, but barely. He twirled me around until I felt sick to my stomach, which was something I think he did intentionally. I’d never be able to prove it, but it did mean he got to carry me away from the teacups and over to a bench to sit.

  “Here. Eat this. Something salty always helps,” he said.

  “Not hungry. Ugh,” I said.

  “Just trust me, Ashton.”

  I wanted to laugh at his words, but I didn’t have the energy to. So, instead of laughing at the irony of that statement, I let him feed me a few chips from a bag he procured from the lemonade stand.

  And it actually made me feel better.

  “I’ll have to keep that in mind,” I said.

  “Told you,” he said, grinning.

  I rolled my eyes. “Come on, you big oaf. It’s time to go win some prizes.”

  We played every booth game they had. We shot at the ducks. We threw rings around jars. We dipped our heads into water and bobbed for very unsanitary apples that had numbers on them connected with prizes. Rhett did the one with the sledgehammer and rang the bell out with every downturn of the instrument, and I had someone correctly guess my age and weight in front of everyone.

  Embarrassing, but still really neat.

  The carnival made me feel like a kid again. It had been a long time since I’d enjoyed myself like this. And every time I looked over at Rhett, I was reminded as to whose idea it was. Every time he won a prize and handed it to me, or bought me a snack to share with him, or took me on yet another ride, I was reminded of the fun we used to have together. The laughter we used to share.

  The endless dates where he’d made me feel like I was the most important thing in the world.

  In some ways, it eased my pain. And in some ways, it blew it out of proportion. I was drowning in a sea of confusion and chaos. One minute, I was smiling and enjoying myself, hugging Rhett and thanking him for a wonderful day. And the next, I wanted to run off to the bathroom and cry over the paths our lives had taken.

  Paths we might not have taken had he just not been an asshole.

  “Come on. We should get back. I’m actually getting pretty tired,” I said.

  “You don’t want to go back and play that duck game? I know you said you wanted to make it back around to that,” Rhett said.

  “No, no. I’m sure. I really need to be getting home. My feet ache and I need a shower.”

  “You haven’t busted a sweat all day.”

  “Do you really think I took one before I left this morning with you?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Could’ve fooled me.”

  “Well, at any rate, I need to get going. So, let’s go.”

  He stopped fighting and started walking with me to his car. His back seat was inundated with prizes the two of us had won, and my stomach was full of every single kind of food that was terrible for me. The nurse inside me was screaming. But the little girl inside was squealing. I nodded in and out of sleep on the ride back to my place. And when we pulled up, Rhett softly placed his hand on my thigh and shook.

  His touch was enough to pull me from the deadest of sleeps. Especially with the electricity that charged me every time he caressed me.

  “We’re home,” Rhett said.

  “Mm, thank you,” I said breathlessly.

  I pushed out of his car, and he helped me up to my front door, his arm wrapped around me to stabilize me. I slipped my key into the door and felt Rhett following me inside, but I turned around and pressed my hand into his chest.

  “Oh, no, no. You can’t come inside tonight,” I said.

  “Well, can’t fault a man for trying,” Rhett said, grinning.

  “No. As in, it’s not happening again.”

  I looked into his eyes and found a challenging stare there.

  “Well, I’m going to keep trying, Ashton. Not to get into your house, but to spend time with you. In any form I can get it,” he said.

  I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I closed the door instead. I closed it just in time to keep my grin hidden from him. To keep him from seeing what his words really were doing to me. I hated and admired that cocky arrogance of his. I hated and adored the confidence that bubbled over his body. I stood there, listening until his car cranked up and he backed out of my driveway.

  “You’re in deep shit, Ashton,” I whispered to myself.

  Then, I dragged myself upstairs and readied myself for a shower.

  A quick, ice-cold shower.

  Chapter 11

  Rhett

  I walked into the diner to see Milo and smiled when he saw me through the kitchen window. I heard utensils clank and people softly cursing in the back before Milo came around the corner.

  “Rhett! You’re back!”

  He ran right up to me and clapped his arms around me, hugging me close in front of the entire place.

  “Good to see you again, too,” I chuckled as I patted his back.

  “You here to eat or hang out?” he asked.

  “Well, I was coming to see if you were working, but I can see you are.”

  “Nope. Hold on. I can fix that. Mike!”

  I winced at how loud his voice was as his boss popped up from beyond the dessert kiosk.

  “What, Milo?” he asked.

  “I’m not feeling well. I gotta go,” Milo said.

  He winked at me as I tried to get him to cut it out.

  “That’s bullshit, Milo. Get back there and get working,” his boss said.

  Then, Milo began his scene. He covered his mouth and sneezed. He leaned over and coughed. Every single patron saw him cover himself in fake sneezes and coughs and sniffles. I watched his boss’s face as it shadowed with frustration. I bit back my laughter at the entire fiasco as Milo wiggled his way out of work. The scene continued, growing louder and louder, until the first round of customers got up to leave.

  “Okay. Fine. Just get the hell out of here,” Mike said.

  “See? Got today off,” Milo said, grinning.

  “You’re a son of a bitch. You know that?” I asked.

  “Hope you remember how to fish. Because today’s a good day for it.”

  “Remember how to fish? I taught you how to fish.”

  “Then, come prove that you’re still the best,” he said, grinning.

  The two of us headed out to his little hatchback car, and I was shocked. He still had our two fishing poles back there from when we were teenagers. A bucket of minnows. The nasty toolbox we’d found back in the woods one day that we cleaned off in the river and used to hold our hooks and lure lines and shit like that.

  “I can’t believe you kept this stuff,” I said.

  “I knew you’d come home one day. And I wanted to have it for when you got back,” Milo said.

  His sentiment pooled guilt in my gut.

  “Come on. You can follow me in your car. There’s a great new fishing hole that will provide us with enough food to feed our families tonight,” he said.

  I hopped into my car and followed his little beat-up hatchback into the woods. We rumbled over rocks and sticks, treaded on dirt and wound down a beaten path. But when the wooded area broke, there was a massive lake in front of us. I furrowed my brow as we came up on it. I saw three of the rivers in the area dumping into it before flowing down into a dam that looked almost brand-new.

  “See? You miss a few developments when you’re gone for so long!” Milo yelled from his car.

  Yeah. Apparently.

  The two of us set up on the shoreline with a couple of chairs I had in the trunk of my car. We loaded up our hooks and cast our lines, then sat there in silence. And Milo wasn’t joking. Before either of us were ready to talk, each of us had caught three massive fish to take home.

  It felt like old times. And I liked it.

  “So, what really brings you back into town?” Milo
asked.

  I chuckled. “You sound like my mother.”

  “Well, ya been gone nine years. Gotta be something big that’s brought ya back. And no one’s died,” he said.

  I sighed. “The Navy is offering me a promotion I’m not sure I want to take.”

  “Why not?”

  “Just doesn’t fit into the plan I saw for myself. Training Navy SEALs and all.”

  “Wait a second. You’re thinking about being a trainer for the SEALs?”

  “Yep,” I said.

  “The strongest men on earth? The cream of the damn crop? Are you insane, Rhett?” he asked.

  I threw my head back, laughing. “It’s not as easy as it sounds. I mean, yeah, it’s a more stable job. But it’s not in my plan of attack toward my ultimate goal. There are a lot of unknowns to figure out.”

  “Will it bring you home a bit more?”

  I heard the ache in my friend’s voice.

  “I know it’s not what anyone wants to hear, but I like being away. The Navy’s always taken care of me, and I like the traveling. Taking the job means I’d travel less. See less of the world. Possibly stunt my future plans I had laid out for myself,” I said.

  “Well, just know shit doesn’t always go as planned. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be great for you in the process,” Milo said.

  I contemplated on his words as another fish nibbled on my line.

  “Lucky bastard,” he murmured.

  Then, Milo’s line jumped, too.

  “Looks like we’re both lucky bastards today,” I said, grinning.

  We reeled in our fish and tossed them into a cooler that was quickly growing too small for our fishing adventure.

  “So, rumor around town says you’ve been seeing Ashton. How’s that?” Milo asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “Some things never change.”

  “Welcome home, I guess,” he said, chuckling.

  “Well, she’s still mad at me. So, there’s that.”

  “She has a right to be, though.”

  “I can’t disagree with that,” I said.

  “I really wished you two would have stayed together. Worked things out. You two were the best couple in town. The two people I thought were made for one another. It’s a shame, really. Especially after what happened to her and all.”