Page 18 of SEAL of Valor

Maybe it’s time to just tear the whole place down and start again.

Maybe then I’d be so tired that I wouldn’t still be focused on Reese Faye.

The love of my life.

The one woman I have never been able to forget, no matter how badly I tried.

There was a time when I breathed only for her.

And then there was a time when I desperately wanted to stop breathing because of her.

I’d needed the pain to end. So I joined the Navy. Hoping that would push her from my mind. All it did, though, was make it so much worse because there was no escaping my thoughts of her. Nor my desire to beg her for another chance.

“Thought I’d find you here.”

I glance up as Zane Knox, my best friend since childhood, strolls into the barn. Instead of his typical board shorts and t-shirt, he’s dressed in jeans, work boots, and a dirty grey work shirt. Which likely means he came straight over from whatever project he was working on at his house.

“Not interested,” I growl.

“Anastasia called me.”

“Again, not interested.” My tone is sharp, and if it were anyone else besides Zane, they would have turned around and left out of sheer self-preservation. Unfortunately, my best friend and former Lieutenant Commander in the Navy doesn’t fear much.

And I never quite made that list.

He grabs an old board from the ground and carries it out after me, depositing it on the pile with the rest of them. Moving silently, he’s a calming presence for me, though I won’t ever admit that.

You give people way too much power when you let them know you need them.

Once upon a time, Zane’s wife, Tessa, and Reese were good friends. I wouldn’t call them best friends, but Reese was supposed to be in the wedding party. Of course, the wedding never happened because, shortly after Reese took off, Tessa followed suit.

I’d laugh if it weren’t so depressing. What a group the four of us make.

At least Zane and Tessa found each other again. At least there was hope for them.

Reese and me? What was between us is gone. Destroyed. Leveled with the force of an atomic bomb.

“Did you know she was back in town?” I demand as I turn toward him.

“I didn’t know,” he assures me. “And if I had, I would’ve warned you.” It’s the truth, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. Would I have reacted differently if I knew running into her was a possibility?

Would the world have stopped spinning as abruptly as it did?

Would I still have lost my ability to see anything or focus on anything but the gorgeous redhead I fell in love with when we were little more than kids?

She saw the best of me.

But then I only gave her the worst.

Pain, fresh and searing, burns hot through me, clearly determined to break what’s left of my black heart.

“Weston.”

“I’m fine,” I snap. I toss my gloves onto the old chair in the corner, then stalk off toward my house. Unfortunately, Zane doesn’t quit that easily. He silently follows me up the steps and into the cabin I’ve lived in since I was ten.

After washing my hands and grabbing a bottle of water, I offer it to him, then take one myself before turning to face him. I crack the bottle open and take a drink, but the liquid might as well have been sand. It doesn’t touch the dryness in my throat, nor does it satisfy the thirst I’ve had since I saw Reese walk into Anastasia’s coffee shop.

“What happened between you two?” Zane finally asks.