Deploy, Part One (Rawlings #1)(63)

He tensed his brow, not sure how to take her reaction. “I was deployed. I told you I would be.”

A short tour, mission, whatever. Yeah, he’d said as much, but it was said in passing. He didn’t say he was going to cut off all communication. Now she was not only mad at him for not telling her, but mad she had been angry instead of worrying about him. This boy drove her insane, he really did.

She searched his gray eyes shattered with blue rays finding a truth. As far as he knew or was concerned, he’d done nothing wrong. “First chance I’ve had.” He reached for her hand and put the necklace in her palm. “I’m not looking for a promise, I get it. This is hard. But I wanted you to know I thought of you.”

“First chance?”

Declan gave a shallow nod. He could have called a few days ago, but this was the first second he had a chance to lay eyes on her. He’d been making plans, checking on things with his family as he made his way here. “I texted you, told you it would be a minute—not to worry about me. To stay strong, lean on my brothers if you needed to.” And she didn’t text back.

Shock glinted in her blue eyes.

“You didn’t get it?”

Her relived stare told him she hadn’t.

“I gotta get you a real phone. Fuck that pay by the minute shit.”

All Justice could think was that better be the reason she didn’t get the text. It better not be because he was just trying to smooth things over.

Declan stepped closer. “I’ve got a few days...I was going to head up to around Mt. Mitchell for the weekend, see if there’s anything I missed before.”

She nodded and looked down, wishing he had just mailed the gift. Last time she was face to face with him it was for less than an hour, and it was looking like this time was going to be less than ten minutes.

“I asked Bell already. She said you could come with us if you wanted.”

“Us?”

“Boon, Tobias, and an old friend of Nolan’s.”

“You’re serious?”

He playfully narrowed his gaze. “Am I serious about having you at my side for the rest of this day and the next two, looking at you when I want?” He bit his lip before he went on. “I couldn’t be more serious.”

Justice couldn’t help it. She launched herself on him and he picked her up and spun her in the hall, raising his head only to catch her lips. “I need you, baby,” he said with more pain than she expected.

Justice slowly slid down him, her hands framing his face. “We’re going to find him.”

He swayed his head and glanced away. “Everyone says it’s been too long.”

“Not me.”

He nodded stiffly. “You ready?”





Sixteen


Justice didn’t even bother to tell her teacher she was leaving. Declan took her right to her house. She ran in, determined to be packed and gone within moments. She wanted out of this town, and for him to be at her side, the threat of it not happening was too great.

When she had her bag in hand, and had told her grandmother bye and thank you for the millionth time, she found Declan outside near the old shop.

He didn’t move when she approached. Guardedly her arms slid around his waist and she leaned her forehead to the center of his back.

“I can sense your fear here,” his husky voice said after a moment.

The whole time he had been standing there, Declan tried to imagine what she went through. He was mad, but he was proud, too. If she could survive Brent Rose, she could take anything.

“A temporary demon,” she said quietly.

“Who still brings you nightmares.”

When her hold on him flinched he knew he was right. He now had more than a few friends who had seen some serious shit, survived it, and they all had the same look in their eye he could see in Justice’s.

He turned and framed her face in his hands, then brushed his lips across hers. “My Justice.”

Her hands clutched his sides. “Is the careful time over?” She knew she sounded like the love sick girl he left at home, that his answer would make or break their weekend, but the sooner she knew the truth, the faster she could prepare for her fall.

“Yeah.” There was no joy or relief in his voice. He looked to his side at the rubble then back at her. “I’ll get someone to clear this away. It’ll help.”

Again, no clarity. She didn’t even try to push him for a clear answer. A commitment. They both needed this weekend, a reprieve from their wars, and she wasn’t going to rob them of it.

They spent the next days following the path Nolan was supposed to take again. The time with Tobias and Boon was awkward, the brothers would all but kill each other one second and be laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe the next.

Every time someone dared to say they were wasting their time and Nolan was gone and they needed to come to terms, Declan would lose it and blame everyone for the fact that Nolan hadn’t been found. He’d say he couldn’t do it all. He couldn’t constantly search like they could.

The old friend of Nolan’s who had come along, who was actually navigating them all off the beaten path most would take, was a girl.

Dawson Tomorrow. She was a bit older than Justice, already in college. In most cases, Justice and other girls didn’t mesh well, mainly because Justice never had their same interests—or carefree problems.