I got out of bed and held the door open for her. “Get out,” I clipped.

“Kyler!”

“Get out!” I yelled.

Jackson stepped out of his room. “Don’t talk to Mom like that!”

“It’s fine, Jackson,” Christine said, but she was looking right at me. “It’s fine,” she repeated. There were tears in eyes, but they were no longer from sadness or pity. They were from disappointment.

“It is fine,” I said, staring down at her. “You’re allowed to hate me. I hate me, too.”

***

Two days later, I turned eighteen and walked into the Army recruiter’s office.

Three months later, I graduated.

That night, I packed my bags and slipped a note under Jackson’s bedroom door. I told him to take care of his mom. I apologized for not being able to be the man they expected—the man I wanted to be.

And I told him that I loved them both.

Then I got on a bus to Ft. Hood, Texas.

And I never looked back.

MADISON

Shit.

15

KY

SHE BLOWS OUT a heavy breath. “Ky. . .”

I turn away from her, not wanting to see the pity in her eyes. “So no, Madison, I don’t think I deserve people’s gratitude. People enlist for honorable reasons. I enlisted because I wanted an out.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

“It means everything.”

She stays silent.

“So that’s me...” I say, hoping to end the conversation. “That’s all of me, Maddy.”

“So Ashlee...” she trails off.

I look back at her.

“She’s the reason you haven’t been with anyone since you were seventeen?”

My eyebrows pinch. “What?”

“You said that—”

I grimace. “No. I think you misunderstood.” I tread carefully. “I said I hadn’t dated since I was seventeen. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been with anyone—”

“Oh!” Her eyes go huge; then she scrunches her nose in disgust. She tries to get off my lap, but I hold on to her tighter.

“I just want to be honest with you. And now that you know about Ashlee and what she did—the hurt she caused—I expect you to do the same. I don’t like vague, and I don’t want secrets between us. I don’t want to feel like that again.”

Her gaze drops between us. She doesn’t respond. Not with words, and not with anything else. She scoots back, trying to remove herself from my hold.

I let her this time.

She looks at the clock and says, “It’s time for you to leave.”

I pull on her dress until she’s between my legs. “You’re mad?”

She shakes her head.

“You can’t be mad. I could have lied to you.”

“I know,” she says, her hands in my hair.

My eyes drift shut at her touch.

“I just feel less—I don’t know—you tell me that you’ve been with girls that probably mean nothing to you and I’m scared that maybe I’m one of them.”

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Sell yourself short. You’re pretty much the only thing that means anything to me.”

She leans down, resting her forehead on mine. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

She sets her mouth on mine, her lips curving to a smile. “Good.” And then she kisses me. Her tongue sweeps across mine as I pull her back on top of me—her hands on my shoulders, and mine on her thighs—skimming her skin—lifting her dress higher with the movement.

We kiss for nowhere near long enough before I have to pull away. “I have to go.”

“No!” She exaggerates one of her now world-famous pouts. “Skip it.”

“I can’t.” I grab my phone off the coffee table and look at the time. I’m already running late.

“Why not?”

I kiss her once more before pushing up and off the couch, moving her out of the way. “Because I have to go.”

“That’s not a good enough excuse.”

I look at her, fighting a war in my head. Train and get slaughtered—or stay in and...hopefully slaughter her. I laugh out loud at myself.

She eyes me sideways.

It makes me laugh harder.

“Come with me,” I say, before I can think straight. I walk over to the kitchen counter and grab my iPad. “You can use this. It’ll make time go faster.”

She gets off the couch and straightens her dress...and then her bra. “Jesus Christ,” I moan, turning away from her and glaring down at my dick—warning it not to get excited.

Lucky for me, it complies.

***

Gunner’s eyes widen when he sees Madison walk in behind me. “You’re late!”

“I was busy.”

He looks Madison up and down, more than once.

I ball my fists at my sides and keep my jealousy in check. The last thing I need is another unexpected brawl.

Leading Madison to a chair against the wall, I connect the iPad to the gym Wi-Fi before handing it to her. “I’ll be done soon.” I make sure Gunner’s watching us when I lean in to give her a kiss...a nice, long, possessive, kiss.

She rolls her eyes when we pull apart. Her gaze darts behind me to where I assume Gunner’s standing, and then she smirks, pulls me down by my shirt and gives me an even longer, even sexier kiss. I chuckle into her mouth before she pulls away. “Good luck,” she whispers.