Deploy, Part One (Rawlings #1)(3)

Their older brother Tobias was too busy turning into their dad to notice—not that anyone could blame him. His adventure with the Marines only lasted five years before he fell backward out of a helicopter, moments before it exploded, and ended up with a rod in his spine and back home in Bradyville.

Even though he told himself not to, more than once Declan glanced over his shoulder toward Justice, who always had a book open across her lap and her headphones on. Each time he looked her way, though, she wasn’t paying attention to her book or Murdock who must have been pitching a hell of a game from the sound of things—no, those baby blues were always on Declan and each time he caught her, she’d blush and look away.

The girl had ripped his soul out and stripped it into a million pieces when he was twelve, and again when he was fifteen. How? Easy. She’d kissed him then acted like it never happened, which left him grateful he had never fessed up to Nolan that he had violated his ‘take’—a claim that should never have counted in the first place.

Declan doubted their first kiss was much to write home about. They were fishing, and it took him all day of waiting for his brothers to be looking in a different direction long enough for him to kiss her cheek—she turned her head in the middle of it, though, and he felt her sweet lips against his.

They didn’t speak for months afterward. He was sure he hated her for the longest, at least until his grandfather finally asked him what the hell was up with his attitude and Declan asked him why girls acted like they wanted your attention only to ignore you once they had it. He laughed and said, “Son, if she’s ignoring you then she’s got it bad, trust me. And if you’re mad about it, then you have it bad, too.” Then he reached to tousle Declan’s dark locks. “You’re too young for that nonsense. Go on and play some ball.”

Declan didn’t get it, not then and not now.

At fifteen it was a different story. He still had no idea how she ended up there, but she made it to one of the Rawlings’ Rallies. Most kids their age always made their own campfire by the river and shot off fireworks and told crazy stories. They either ended up four-wheeling through the woods or fishing in the dark.

Somehow Declan found himself alone with Justice on a blanket under the stars, and against every grain of loyalty he had in him, they went beyond an innocent kiss. He couldn’t tell you who leaned in first, who kissed back, just that once it started, it was damn near impossible to stop. But he did. He kept telling himself he was going too far too fast with her. And his daddy along with hers would kill ‘em both. Sometimes fear goes a long way at the right and wrong times.

Before then he’d made out with girls, and since then there had been far more girls who had taken him way past innocence, but she was the only one he remembered every detail about, from the touch of her flesh to the taste of her kiss. He could still remember the smell of her hair; strawberries and champagne.

They ended up breaking apart, basically running to opposite sides of the campfire when his brothers approached on their four-wheelers. For the next day or so he never found a second to talk to her without Nolan around, and when he did, she was back to ignoring him.

He didn’t see her for the rest of the summer, not even at church. And when school started back up he was in high school and she wasn’t. He crossed her path at football games, though. She’d smile shyly, maybe talk to him in a group, but that was about it. Her daddy was never far, and if he was Murdock was right there.

Her freshman year they were back on speaking terms, but it was still tense between them, neither one could hold the other’s stare long. Declan would have found a way to forget she existed if her name was not always on Nolan’s lips.

As far as Declan knew they hadn’t hooked up, they just had a lot of classes together—all the smart classes—and her locker was right next to Declan and Nolan’s. Murdock’s was on the other side of her, which is where the fight went down that Declan was serving time for.

Murdock had said something Nolan didn’t like, and Nolan introduced Murdock’s head to the locker. The ass ended up having to get three stitches across his brow, and his daddy was all about filing charges on Nolan, which would have been easy for him to do because he’s the Sheriff.

But then all the kids, even the baseball team, started ragging Murdock for running to his daddy to keep him safe, and the charges vanished; the six detentions didn’t. All of that went down nearly two months back and to this day, Declan still grins and taps the dent in the locker every time he passes it, wishing it was him that got one good punch in.

Declan didn’t like a lot of people, but he usually got over it, or at least found a way to deal with it—except for Murdock. Some people just have that look in their eye, one that tells you to watch your back.

Speaking of...

He was just about to break his stolen stare with Justice when his instinct took over; out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Murdock had adjusted his stance. Instead of aiming his pitch at the coach working with him, he aimed the ball right at Declan. Obviously, he thought it would be amusing to see Declan dodge the pitch he was firing, which meant Declan would not give him the gratification.

Instead—he caught it.

All at once it felt like the entire field was staring down the pair of them. They were waiting, knowing very well this baseball game could turn into a wrestling match at the drop of a dime.

A Souter and a Rawlings were in a standoff.