Battleship (Movie Tie-in Edition) Read Online Free PDF Page B

life together. The living room was lined with photographs that sent such a distinct message to what their futures would be that it was hard to believe the current situation was anything other than inevitable. There were the young Hoppers, ready to go trick-or-treating. Stone was dressed as a cop; Alex was a burglar. There they were as teens, standing on either side of their father, who was dressed in his crisp Navy whites. Stone Hopper was standing at proud attention; Alex Hopper was standing with his shoulders slumped, looking vaguely bored. There was Stone, having just graduated Annapolis, his arm around Hopper. Alex was smiling, but not into the camera. Instead he was looking off to the side and Stone remembered that a gorgeous redhead had been walking past.
    It was literally the story of their lives, ever since they were kids.
    What was it that Einstein said? The definition of “insanity” was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result
.
    Something had to change. And it had to change immediately.
    Stone heard the sloshing of water in the bathroom. Hopper was soaking in an ice bath, trying to prevent swelling and numb the pain.
    He called to Hopper, “I told Tony that you’re gonna pay Maxine double for all the damage.
Double
.”
    “The little witch,” Hopper’s muttered response came back to him. “Mean … nasty …”
    “Hey!” Stone bounded up from the couch and headed toward the bathroom.
    Hopper gazed at him through bleary eyes. His lips were starting to turn blue. If he stayed in there anotherten minutes, he’d look like a Smurf. “It was her fault in the first place,” he said defensively. “I was a paying customer. She threatened to pepper spray me. What kind of business model is that? If she’d just—”
    “She was within her rights to go home! You were not within your rights to break into her store! Let me say that again: You
broke into
her
store!
” Stone was amazed at his brother’s attitude. “She presses charges and you’re in jail for at least six months! I talked her out of it, and all you can do is blame her? Are you
kidding
me?”
    “I’m sorry.” Hopper winced in response to Stone’s escalating volume. “But could you please talk a little quieter?”
    If there was one thing that Stone had no patience for at that moment, it was his brother’s hangover. He fought to keep his voice steady. “That girl you were trying to impress—her father runs the whole damned fleet. Rear Admiral Shane. So now you’re messing with my job.”
    Instantly all his aches and pains were forgotten. Hopper looked up at Stone with renewed interest. “The burrito girl?” He could not have sounded more excited if Stone had told him that the secrets of the universe had been revealed to him. Actually he probably would have been less excited over that prospect. “You
know
the
burrito girl
?”
    “Y’know, Hopper, you can be so freaking single-minded …” He shook his head. “If you could just, for once, devote that single-mindedness to something worthwhile … God, you could go anywhere. Do anything. Instead …”
    “Sorry to be such a disappointment,” said Hopper. Which would have annoyed the hell out of his older brother except, somewhat to Stone’s surprise, Hopper really did sound somewhat contrite. More so than he ever had before, at any rate.
    Something has to change …
    Naked and bruised, Hopper pulled himself out of theice bath. He moaned softly as he reached for a large towel and wrapped it around his middle. Every step he took was an exercise in agony, his body screaming at him over the way he’d abused it in the past twenty-four hours.
    Hopper stumbled into the living room and then flopped onto the couch that doubled as his bed. “Pants,” he said groggily.
    Stone ignored the request. If Hopper put on pants, there was nothing to impede his departing, and he needed to hear what Stone had to say. He stood over his younger brother, his arms folded