Still Read Online Free PDF

me.” Her voice had a demanding note mixed in with the command that scared him. He’d only heard her use that voice when she was ordering a patient on the OR table to stay alive, as if she could will them back from the edge.
    He opened his eyes again and grimaced, or at least he thought he did. It felt as if he’d become strangely disconnected from his body. “Am I going to die?”
    “Not on my watch, Marine. Trust me, Wyatt, I'm going to keep you alive even if I have to drag you back from the gates of Hell myself.”
    Screams filled the air around them and Wyatt wanted to tell her to go help the guys that needed her. A corpsman crouched down next to her with a first aid kit. They began to treat him as best they could, and he gave up trying to understand what they were saying, instead choking back his moans as they carefully touched places inside of him that should have never seen daylight. It really bugged the shit out of him that he couldn’t remember what happened. The last thing he could recall was loading up the trucks this morning. He vaguely remembered that Sapphire was going to ride along with him, so that meant she must have been in the blast.
    “L.T.…you okay?” His lungs burned with the effort to speak, but he had to know.
    “Some cuts and busies, no big deal.”
    Relieved, he stared at the sky overhead, bright pinpoints of light piercing the heavens where the first stars sparkled against the twilight. Wispy clouds took on a pink haze around the edges and he marveled at how something could be so beautiful while he lay dying on some god forsaken dirt road in the middle of hell.
    “Callahan!”
    “Wha...?”
    “You stay with me you stubborn asshole. Look at me. Eyes on me Marine!” She grasped his chin in her hand and turned his face. When he looked into her eyes an electrical charge went through him at the emotion he saw there. An emotion so big it could only have one name but his rational mind refused to believe it.
    “Never....leave...you.”
    “You’re damn right you’re never gonna leave. You are going to be okay. I’m not going to let you die. Just hold on, the choppers are on the way.”
    He tried to reply, but only a faint moan came out.
    It hurt to breathe, and a sizzling pain tore a groan from him when she did something to him. “Sorry, Callahan. I’m being as gentle as I can but we have to get you stabilized. I think some of your intestines may have shrapnel wounds.” Her voice trembled the slightest bit on her last word, probably not enough for anyone else but him to notice.
    “S'kay if I die.” He tried to take a deep breath and that ended in a moan. “Not…your fault.”
    The distant drone of choppers cutting through the air reached his ears and Sapphire let out a low breath. “They’re almost here, Callahan. You keep fighting. That’s an order, Marine. Don’t you fucking pussy out on me now. You hear me, Wyatt? You must live.”
    He wanted to reply to her but doing anything other than dealing with the increasing agony was beyond him. From there everything blended into a haze of pain and movement. The last thing he remembered was her bluer than the bluest autumn sky eyes staring into his, filled with heartbreak and, he was sure now, love.

 
     
    Chapter 2
     
     
    Eight Months Later
     
    Michelle Sapphire swallowed hard as Aaron Winters’ oldest son, probably no more than thirteen, accepted the folded flag that had been draped over his father’s coffin from the Marine honor guard. Next to him sat his mother, a small woman with mousy brown hair who looked shell shocked and fragile enough to shatter. Two weeks prior she’d filed for divorce from Aaron. Mrs. Winters stared at the coffin, her face totally devoid of emotion as she clutched a framed photograph of Aaron so hard her knuckles were white. Michelle’s heart ached for her, and she wondered if someone was making sure she didn’t follow her husband’s lead and commit suicide. More family and friends filled the