Survivor (First to Fight #2)(61)
To my beta readers: Amber McCallister, Teri Hicks, Mandy Sawyer, Ella Stewart, Crystal Snyder, Kristin Arpin, Hayley Picknell, Melissa Fisher, Lori Vandenburg, Joy Zaharia, and Dana Coe, Survivor wouldn’t be here without your invaluable feedback and handholding. Thank you for taking the time to read and nitpick. You are simply the best. I hope you know how much I appreciate you.
Sean, I wouldn’t be where I am today without you by my side.
Afton, I finally finished Survivor, just for you!
To the survivors, I hope you find peace.
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Nicole Blanchard lives in Florida with her family and their menagerie of animals. She chooses each day to chase her own fairy tale even if they contain their fair share of dragons. She is married to her best friend and owns her own business.
Nicole survives on a diet of too many books and substantial amounts of root beer and slim jims. When not reading, she’s lavishing attention on her family or inhaling every episode of The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory.
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ALSO BY NICOLE BLANCHARD
First to Fight Series
Warrior (#1)
Survivor (#2)
Savior (#3)
Standalones
Bear With Me
Darkest Desires
Mechanical Hearts
SNEAK PEEK OF WARRIOR
“I’M GLAD YOU were able to take some time to come see your momma before you took off again.”
I wrap her into a bear hug, the kind I used to use to piss her off with as a kid because she’d always been so much smaller than me. “You saw me a few months ago.” I kiss her hair and inhale the scent of her perfume. Something inside me hitches, but I shove it away. “Besides, I remember you yelling at me to get the hell out when I was eighteen. So, really, you’re the reason I joined the Marines in the first place.”
She laughs, but it’s watery. I don’t know what to do other than squeeze her a little tighter. She takes a deep breath and then pushes me away. We both ignore the fact that her eyes are still rimmed with red. “Get out of here. Jack’s been calling all afternoon. I swear it’s like the two of you are sixteen again.”
I kiss her once more. “Save me some of the ribs and rice, woman.”
“I’ll fix you a plate before your father eats it all. Now go.”
The creaky front door slams behind her and I hear her yelling at my dad about anything that will distract her from the fact that I am deploying in just a few days.
Ah, home sweet home.
My shoulders slump and I wipe off the smile I’d slapped on when the plane touched down in Jacksonville. A shrink would have a field day with my mental state, but it’s nothing I haven’t been through before, so I drown out those thoughts with our homegrown country station. The sooner I get to Jack’s, the better. The last thing I need is to be alone in my head right now.
Driving around my hometown is a surreal experience. I clearly remember growing up here, going to school here, but the person I was then and the man I’ve become couldn’t be more different.
I pull up to the lake house and momentarily contemplate passing on his offer to hang out when my eyes fall on movement in the doorway. My breath catches in my throat when I realize it’s Jack’s younger sister, Olivia. Her eyes meet mine and I realize I’m not the only one who’s done some changing over the years I’ve been away. Was she always such a knockout?
My hands clench on the steering wheel until Jack appears in the doorway behind her as a much needed reminder that I should keep my distance. I hop out of the truck and make my way over to them. Olivia stays back with her arms wrapped around her waist as Jack walks over and gives me a one-armed hug.
“Good to see you, man,” he says. “It’s been way too long.”
“Yeah,” I say, my eyes still on Olivia. “It has.”
“Do you mind helping Olivia with the food? I’ll pull out the chairs and shit. Logan should be here soon.”
“Sure, man. Whatever you need.” I make it a point not to look at Olivia until Jack leaves the room.
She bites her lip and smiles. “C’mon, I’m making bacon wrapped shrimp. It’s pretty awesome, I’m not gonna lie.”
I chuckle. “I’m sure it is.” I follow her in and immediately feel at ease. “God, this place hasn’t changed at all.”
Constructed just about entirely of wood, the house is really more of an expanded cabin with floor to ceiling windows that look out over the pristine surface of McCormick Lake. Through them I can see Jack wrestling with the patio furniture. I squint my eyes at the dark figure beside him.
“Holy shit, is Sofie out there, too?”
Olivia turns from the fridge, a package of bacon in her hands. “Yeah, she didn’t want to miss your big homecoming and I managed to convince Jack to be on his best behavior.”
I glance back at them and note their hostile postures. “Yeah, I’m not sure how long that’s going to last.”
She places a bunch of ingredients on the counter and looks out the window only to shrug them off. “Who knows with those two? Here, will you rinse these off for me?”