MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

everywhere. Me and the guys on my side of the tank had minor injuries, mainly from impact of being pushed to the ground at high speeds. But the guys on the other side…well, they weren’t so lucky. We lost some good men that day.” Taking a sharp breath, he tried to decide if he should continue or not, but he knew that she needed to know everything to be able to understand it. “My best friend, Ryan, he was one of ’em that didn’t make it.
                  “Lyin’ there, I felt so helpless,” he continued. “My ears were ringing so loud that I just knew I would never hear again. Looking all around me, all I could see were my friends’ bodies on the ground. When I was able to regain my balance and stand, I looked around for Ryan, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. Finally I found him lying facedown on the other side of the tank. I rolled him over to see if he was okay, but I could tell he wasn’t with me anymore. There was just too much blood.”
                  “Luke…” Serena was unable to find the words to say to comfort him. She had no idea what to say in a situation like this. There was nothing she could say that would help him.
                  “I think the worst part was telling his mom. I volunteered to be the one to deliver the news. I figured it would be easier for her if it was a familiar face. So I flew to Nebraska and knocked on her door. He was their only son. It just wasn’t fair, ya know?” All the tears he had been trying to hold back flooded his face as he buried his head in his hands.
                  Serena quickly got to her feet, closing the gap between them, and kneeled before him. She pulled his hands into hers and kissed his forehead gently. “Luke, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” They both cried silently for a few moments more before she finally spoke again. “You are the bravest person I have ever known.”
                  “Me?” he scoffed. “I ain’t never been brave a day in my life. You wanna know how I made it through? Why I went back so many times?” With a confused expression, Serena nodded. “I kept your picture right here.” He put his hand on the left side of his chest and tapped it lightly. “Right in the pocket over my heart.”
                  Pulling his wallet from his pocket, he slid out a folded-up picture. Very carefully he unfolded it and handed it to her. She ran her manicured fingertips over the extremely worn image and smiled. It was an image of her from their senior year in high school. She had her head tilted back in a fit of laughter with her feet propped up on the end of the couch. She remembered that day perfectly. It was another one of the days that they had spent doing nothing together, but this particular day she hadn’t been in a great mood. He had been trying all day to get her to smile, with no such luck.
                  After trying everything he could think of, he slipped off to her room and slid on a pair of her short shorts. When he walked into the front room, she busted out into laughter and couldn’t get herself to stop. In that moment, he snapped a picture of her. He told her that he wanted her to keep it to remind her that no matter what, they would always be able to make a bad day better. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought back to the feelings she’d had that night. Although she had never told him, it was the first night she knew that he was the one for her, that they were made to be together.
                  “After all this time?” She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes.
                  “You were my strength, Serena. Always have been. Every time I had a bad day, every time I missed home, every time I was terrified for my life, I took out that picture. I looked down at your smiling face and remembered exactly what I was fightin’ for. I was fightin’ for you, Serena. It’s always been for you.”