Into The Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t say anything at all.
    Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that.
    “I’ve never been so scared in my life. I can
sit here and pretend like there weren’t times when I thought I
wouldn’t make it back home, but that would be a lie. I’m not
ashamed to admit that.”
    I held his gaze and felt my heart ache. “You
wouldn’t be brave if you also weren’t scared. That’s the whole
definition of it.”
    “And the scariest part of all is something
you’d least expect.”
    I didn’t ask what it was.
    “Coming home. After being over there for so
long, I was constantly on my guard. Anytime I heard an unusual
sound, I grabbed for my gun. I had nightmares for a long time about
the things I’ve seen. I dreamt of the faces of my dead comrades. It
took me a long time to finally integrate back into society. My
parents never understood that. The second I was on American soil,
they tried to get me to change my life and take a better path than
I was on before.” He removed his gaze and looked out the window.
“I’m sorry…I’m rambling.”
    “I asked. And I’m very interested.”
    He turned back to me. “I don’t want you to
think I’m a broken soul or something. I hardly think about my time
over there. I never let myself think about it.”
    “Well, thank you for your sacrifice.” I meant
what I said and wasn’t just giving him empty words. “I love having
my freedom.”
    He smiled slightly. “You’re very
welcome.”
    I stared down at my hands because I couldn’t
hold his gaze any longer.
    “Anyway…they’ll expect you to know that about
me.”
    “I’m surprised you can’t get a VA loan.”
    “I destroyed my credit when I bought a bike.”
He shook his head. “I bought it even though I couldn’t afford it
and then I crashed it. It was right when I came back from the
military and I was a little reckless.”
    “Were you injured?”
    “In the military?”
    “I meant in the bike accident…” But I
wouldn’t mind hearing the answer to that question too.
    “Oh, no,” he said quickly. “Just a few
bruises and no one else was hurt. But I was shot in
Afghanistan.”
    My eyes widened. “Oh my god…are you okay?” It
was a stupid thing to ask since he was obviously fine.
    He touched the left side of his torso. “A
bullet grazed me from the side. It didn’t hit any organs so I
recovered quickly. But I had a really bad scar there.”
    “Had?”
    “I inked over it. I ink all my scars so you
can’t see them.”
    “Oh…” He had more than one?
    “I had a cut on my forearm but I covered
that.” He pointed to the area where a tattoo of a dog tag sat. But
his name wasn’t on the metal. “That’s my buddy’s name. He died over
there.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “He was a good guy. Had a wife and
everything.”
    “That’s terrible…”
    “She’s really nice,” he said. “I’ve been
paying her rent for a while now. That’s also why I don’t have much
cash right now.”
    “You pay her rent?” It was the sweetest thing
I’ve ever heard.
    “She didn’t have a job when her husband died
and she had no way to get by. If I had a wife and I died, I know he
would have done the same for me. And she’s a really sweet person.
She has a job now but it doesn’t pay much. She’s looking for
something better.”
    I didn’t know what to say. His layers were
endless. “That’s really sweet of you.”
    He shrugged and looked out the window
again.
    Maybe I got a bad first impression of him.
There was obviously more to him than his arrogance. “Is there
anything else?”
    “Like I said, I’m not that interesting.”
    “Do you have siblings?”
    “Only child.”
    “I’m surprised you aren’t spoiled
rotten.”
    “I used to be when I was younger. But when I
started listening to rock music and playing my guitar, my parents
assumed I was on the way to drugs.”
    “Have you ever done drugs?”
    “Hell no. My parents are just paranoid
people.”
    I hadn’t even met his parents but