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  We’d grown close over the four years of working together, and he was like a father to me. I never knew if he felt the same or if I was just harboring some sort of hero worship. But I’m not ashamed to admit that on that day on the airstrip when he walked over to me and pulled me in for a hug, I may have shed a tear. I was back in America, but it finally felt like I was coming home.

  “What happened there?” Major asks, shaking me out of my thoughts.

  I look down at my hands and see the bloody knuckles adorning them. “That’s a need to know, Major.”

  “Do I need to know?” He raises an eyebrow, and I smile.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Does it have anything to do with you going out late last night?” he pushes.

  “Yes, Major.” I won’t lie to him, but I don’t have to tell him all of the details of where I went.

  He shakes his head, seeing that he doesn’t want to know the whole story. Just then we both turn to hear Maggie coming down the stairs.

  “Morning, bug,” her dad says, and walks over to kiss the top of her head.

  “Morning, Major,” she replies, hugging him and then going to the fridge.

  I watch their dynamic as they move around the kitchen. She makes breakfast and they talk a little about their day, and it’s so normal. I smile because I find it funny that it’s so normal.

  “Are you taking the bus today, or do you need a lift?” Major asks.

  For a moment Maggie looks nervous and bites her lip. I wonder if it’s because she was planning on riding to school with that asshole from yesterday. I clench my fists and feel the burn in them, the pain reminding me of what happened last night.

  “I can give you a ride if you want. I’m heading out that way, and I’ll be there until this afternoon,” I offer. I want to try to be as much help as I can while I’m staying in their home. Even though the Major keeps telling me to think of it as mine, too.

  “That would be nice. I’ve got to head into work now, but it’s in the opposite direction. That okay with you, bug?” Major says, and Maggie nods.

  She gives me a look of relief, and I nod. I’d have to imagine being driven around by your dad in high school has to feel lame.

  Major leaves for work, and we finish eating and cleaning up before we head out to my truck. Luckily my damaged leg is the left one, so I’m still able to drive. I took some shrapnel to the face, but by the grace of all that is holy, it didn’t get my eye. I’ve been left with a nasty scar, but the doctors say it will lessen over time. It’s not really my concern at the moment. Walking like normal again is my goal, then eventually being able to run.

  We climb in my truck, and I turn the music on low as I drive. It’s quiet, but I’m okay with that. Maggie is a good kid, and from what I’ve learned she doesn’t give her dad too much of a hard time. After a mile or so, I hear her clear her throat, and I look over.

  “You okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah. I, um, wanted to thank you again for yesterday. And then not telling my dad. That was really cool of you.”

  I clench the steering wheel and let out a breath. “I’ll be honest. I thought about it last night. I lay in bed for a while contemplating what I’d do if I had a daughter who was treated that way.”

  “It’s not what you think—”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think,” I say, cutting her off. “It’s what I saw. And what I saw was a young girl being assaulted. A young girl who is the daughter of a man who has been like a father to me. So when I went to bed last night and thought about what the Major would do, I got up and did that.”

  There is a beat of silence before she understands what I’m saying. “Eli, what did you do?”

  Her voice is barely above a whisper, but I catch it all.

  “I educated him on how to treat women. And what happens when you disrespect them.”

  “Oh God.” She puts her hands over her mouth and closes her eyes. “What am I going to do at school?”

  She asks the question, but it’s more to herself than to me. But I decide she needs a dose of reality. I pull my truck over onto the side of the road, I put it in park, and turn my body to face her.

  “Maggie, look at me.” After a second she turns her watery blue eyes on mine, and I feel my heart break a little for her. Jesus, she looks so innocent. How could a piece of shit like that guy put his hands on her? “You didn’t do anything wrong. You understand? Men like him deserve a lot more than the beating I gave him last night. He put his hands on you, so he doesn’t get to use them for a while. I think that’s fair.”

  “I know, I know. I’m just worried about what people will say,” she says, rolling her eyes.

  “Fuck what they say. Fuck what they think. You did the right thing, and so did I. If anybody gives you any shit, you let me know. I’ll take care of it.” Suddenly I’m like a big brother protecting his little sis, and it feels nice. Like I’ve got someone to look out for.

  “What are you gonna do? Come to school and break everyone’s nose?” She smiles, even though I can see unshed tears in her eyes.

  “If I have to. But I think taking you to school and letting everyone see you’ve got backup will probably keep the loudmouths quiet.”

  I nudge her with my elbow, and she nods. I can see her take a deep breath and smile. The cloud has passed, and I put the truck in drive and take her to school.

  When we get there, I park the truck and go around to open the door for her.

  “Eli, what are you doing?” she says, looking around to see if anyone is watching. They are.

  “Just flexing a little muscle. Need to let the baby bitches know they can’t mess with you.” I give her a wink, and she rolls her eyes, stomping away from my truck. “I’ll pick you up at three!” I shout, and Maggie throws a quick hand up to tell me to shut my mouth.

  I wait until I see her make it inside safely and then hop back in my truck. For someone who never had any family, I’m feeling pretty protective of her. Something about Maggie makes me want to walk around with her all day and make sure she’s smiling. Maybe this is what Major feels like with her.

  I put my truck in drive and pull away from the school, trying not to examine my feelings too much. I’m not sure how long my therapy will take, and getting attached to a family that’s not mine is a bad idea. I need to get along with them and have a good time. But one day I’ll have to leave their house, and I need to stop these warm feelings growing in my chest.

  No matter how much I like them.

  Chapter 3

  Maggie

  I can’t help but glance back at the truck, feeling butterflies in my stomach. They push away the dread I had about going to school and facing Nick today. I can still feel the warmth on my cheeks from how sweet Eli was to me.

  This was what I was wondering about. This is the one sensation I never got with Nick. Where it felt like my stomach did a little flip. I bite my lip and turn around. I’ve been caught looking back at him, but he’s still looking at me, too, making sure I make it into school safe.

  When I enter the busy hall, I head straight for my locker, getting a few hellos from people. I’m wondering if word about Nick has gotten out and what he might have told people. What had he said about yesterday and what happened with Eli?

  It doesn’t matter, I tell myself. Nick and all of his friends will be long gone after graduation at the end of the year. I won’t have to be in their social circle, a place I didn’t care to be in to begin with. I didn’t fit with them, but maybe that was more because of me. Who knows? I’ve moved so much through the years that I’ve been somewhat content not making friends, knowing that I was most likely going to move once again.

  I always stuck to getting good grades and losing myself in books. It’s easier to do that. I’d take care of whatever home Dad and I had together. I enjoyed making dinner every night and helping out. We’re a team. Always have been. Maybe that’s why the moving never bothered me. As long as we were together, I didn’t care, and I knew it was for his job. I knew if he thought for a second it bothered me, it would eat away at him. But the truth is, it doesn’t bother me at all.

  I open my locker and put away some of the books I won’t need until the end of the day. I don’t want to lug them around if I don’t have to. Checking my phone, I see I have a little time before class starts, so I make my way to the bathroom. I wash my hands and pull my hair into a ponytail.

  I hear sniffling behind me, and I turn around and glance under the stall. I see a pair of flats that have a Harry Potter design on them. I take a step toward the door of the stall. Unsure what to do, I decide to go for it and I tap on the door.

  “Are you okay?” I ask. The sniffling stops, but she doesn’t respond. I push on the door a little, but it’s locked. “Unlock it,” I say as softly as I can. I hear the latch move, and I push the door open.

  “Alice?” I recognize the crying girl from my Advanced Algebra II class. She’s hard to miss with her curly red hair. She doesn’t look happy to see me.

  “It’s not true,” she blurts out suddenly, more tears spilling down her cheeks. I can’t stop myself from grabbing her and pulling her into my arms, wrapping her in a hug. I still have no idea what could be wrong with her, but she’s making my heart hurt.

  She hugs me back, and I can feel some of the tension leave her body.

  “I swear I wasn’t with your boyfriend,” she says though a sob.

  “I don’t have a boyfriend, so I agree,” I say teasingly, trying to get her to calm down a little. I can’t help the flash of Eli’s face in my mind when I think of having a boyfriend.

  “You’re not with Nick?” she asks, pulling back, her eyes red-rimmed.

  The freckles on her cheeks and nose stand out more now that I’m this close to her. I’d never noticed them before. They make her look younger than she is. She’s eighteen, a senior. She’s actually close to me in height, though, which is nice, because I’m used to everyone towering over me.

  “He’s a jerk,” I tell her, and watch her lips tip up in a small smile.

  “I thought you two—”

  “Nope. I hope I never see his face again.” I smile at her, trying to make her feel better. Show her it doesn’t matter. They are a bunch of assholes.

  “I can’t wait to finally graduate,” she mutters, still sniffling. “He told everyone we had sex and that I was terrible. And now I’m stalking him.” Another tear leaks down her face. “They wrote ‘slut’ on my locker.”

  “Jesus.” I shake my head and pull her back into a hug. “They’re assholes,” I tell her.

  “He’s mad at me because he tried to kiss me last week when I was leaving school late and I pushed him away.”

  I pull back, taking a piece of toilet paper off the roll and handing it to her to wipe her eyes.

  “Forget them. Like I said, he’s a jerk, and you probably hurt his giant ego.” I can’t believe I even dated him. He’s a sleazeball. If my dad knew how easily I was roped into Nick’s game, he’d be so disappointed in me.

  “You believe me?”

  “Of course I do,” I answer instantly. She gives me a big smile. “We can share a locker.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Please, you’d be doing me a favor. I don’t have any friends here.”

  “I thought that you hang out with—”

  I cut her off. “They aren’t my friends, and I don’t want to hang out with them anymore. Besides, that’d be bitchy to you if I hung out with the people who wrote ‘slut’ on your locker.”

  She lets out a small laugh. “Maggie, right?”

  “Yep.”

  She lets a breath before wiping her eyes. “I look like a hot mess, don’t I?”

  “A little bit. Your face is a bit blotchy, so we should probably wait before we leave. You’re walking out of here with your head held high,” I tell her.

  I may be shy at times, but I never back down from anything, something I know I get from my dad. You don’t let anyone push you in a corner or tell you that you can’t do something.

  “We’ll be late for class.”

  I shrug. “One tardy isn’t going to kill me.”

  We wait a few minutes, talking about our upcoming finals, and I hear the bell ring. Alice walks over to the mirror to look at her eyes. She pulls out a pair of glasses from her bag and slides them on.

  “I think I’m good,” she says, turning to look at me.

  “Yep.” I grab her by the arm, locking mine with hers, and pull her from the bathroom. We head for my locker, and I show her the code. She puts some of her stuff inside and seems to have her spirits lifted.

  “I’m Group B lunch,” I say.

  “Me too.”

  “Awesome. We can have lunch together and go to algebra after.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Shutting my locker, we plan to meet up by the vending machines before we part ways at the end of the day.

  I spend most of my morning thinking about Eli. He doesn’t seem to be far from my mind, and excitement fills me when I think about him picking me up today. But even with my good mood, it doesn’t take much to notice people are avoiding me. I’m sure Nick has something to do with that. I do my best to ignore them right back, and I don’t let it get to me.

  Later that day, when I make it to the vending machines, I see Alice with her head down reading a book. I wonder if she’s really reading it or trying to avoid everyone.

  “I’m starving,” I tell her, and she looks up from her book.

  “Maybe we can get something from the machine and eat outside?” she suggests.

  “If that’s what you want to do, I’m game.” I lean in a little “But don’t avoid going in there because you’re nervous. Might as well get it over with. I’ll be right next to you.”

  She stares at me for a second.

  “I really do want pizza,” she finally says.

  “And French fries,” I add.

  “Okay.” She slides her book into her backpack, and I lock my arm with hers again as we head into the cafeteria. I hear people get a little quiet, probably wondering what the hell is going on. The girl who was dating Nick is now hanging out with the girl he’s been spreading lies about all over school.

  I glance over to the side of the room and see Nick. I almost miss a step when I see his face. I wonder what he’s telling people about what happened to him. He looks like his face met a concrete wall a few times. I’m guessing he’s not telling anyone he got his ass kicked. I hope that him seeing me with Alice makes him rethink the crap he’s been saying about her, too. I narrow my eyes at him, trying to give him a warning. He quickly looks away.

  “I love your shoes,” I tell Alice, pulling my eyes from Nick and trying to change the subject.

  “Really? I made them myself. Well, not the shoes. I just decorated them.”

  “Wow,” I tell her, impressed. And like that, we let everything else slip away and enjoy our lunch.

  We talk about what we did over the summer and how we hope this school year flies by, and I ask her if maybe she wants to go shopping with me soon. I need a few things before the weather starts to turn a little colder and would love if she could make me a pair of flats, too. We talk for a while about what styles she can do and what I should have her put on mine.

  After lunch we go back to class, where we get our packets to help study for an upcoming test.

  “This test is going to be brutal,” I tell her as the bell rings, releasing us from school.

  She shrugs. “I can help you study if you want. Numbers are easy to me. Actually they are kinda fun. It’s like a puzzle.”

  We walk out together toward the parking lot, and she gets a set of keys out of her bag.

  “You drive?” I ask.

  She points to an old VW. “Yeah, you need a ride?”

  “No, someone is picking me up.”

  It’s then I see Eli pull up in his truck. His eyes aren’t trained on me, but behind me. I look over my shoulder to see Nick frozen in place before he turns and takes off back into the school. I have to bite back a laugh.

  When I look back, Eli’s eyes are on me, and a warmth fills my belly like I’ve never felt before.

  “Who’s that?” Alice asks from beside me.

  “The man I’m going to marry someday.”

  Chapter 4

  Eli

  “You look happy. Have a good day at school?” I ask as I wait for Maggie to buckle up.

  “Great,” she answers, and smiles at me.

  She’s a beautiful young woman, with bright blue eyes and blonde hair that falls past her shoulders. There’s something about her that is so enticing. It’s like being around her makes me feel happy, so I want to be around her. I noticed it when she got out of the truck today, and I feel it now that she’s sitting next to me. She’s like a buzz of excitement, and I’m happy to be near it.

  “So you want to go with me to work?”

  “What do you do?” she asks, reaching over and playing with the radio.

  It’s a small thing, but it seems so familiar. Like she’s comfortable around me. Strangely, I like it. Normally being a kid in foster care, and even in a military school, things that are mine are important to me. I always had a problem with sharing, and the things I owned I protected fiercely. But Maggie seems so innocent that I don’t have the fear that she’ll take something from me. In fact, I feel as if I want to give her pieces of me.

  I shake that thought out of my head and focus on driving.

  “I work at the rehab facility, with veterans who come back from combat injured. I go in the mornings to do my own physical therapy, and then in the afternoons I work in the offices, meeting with anyone who wants to talk.”

  She gives me a thoughtful look. “You must be a good listener.”

  “I think my own personal experience has helped. And the fact that I majored in psychology and got licensed when I was in the military. Most combat vets don’t want to talk to a head shrinker. They want someone they can trust. And I think even though I’m young, I’ve experienced a lot.”