Page 3 of The Cabin-A Reverse Harem Romance
I was more than proud to call of these guys my friends. I knew Aaron was as well. We were a band of misfits, the type of guys from totally different backgrounds, who grew up in totally different circumstances and situations, but our love for our country – and later, our friend and his family – brought us together. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t thank God for bringing us altogether.
If only He hadn’t taken Aaron from us, well, I might have been inclined to pray more. Losing him was like losing part of myself; a part of myself that I’d never, ever be able to get back. He was gone, and there was just an empty hole inside of me now because of it.
I’d been so deep in thought, I missed the rest of the conversation. Tammy and Simon were going inside, ready to start their presentation. I’d seen it countless times before, but it always brought a tear to my eye – and I typically didn’t tend to cry much. None of us did, really.
Yet, we’d all lived through the same pain Aaron had. We’d all witnessed the tragedies of war, watched those we knew die, and experienced the shock of trying to return back to our normal lives. We’d all managed to bear the pain and endure it somehow.
The only difference though, was that like Aaron, we had come back fully intact. Physically, anyway.
Maybe things would have ended differently had he not lost his leg. Maybe not. He was still damaged when we were discharged and got back stateside. He hurt more than any of us, and he drowned that hurt in a bottle of whiskey and a hell of a lot of sleeping pills.
The real horror of war, however, wasn’t the damage it had done to his body. It wasn’t that he’d lost his leg necessarily, that was the reason he wasn’t with us any longer. No, the real tragedy was that after surviving months on end in some of the bloodiest, most tense days of conflict, days when the bombs were going off everywhere, explosions, bullets, bombs, and missiles all combined to fuck him up totally and completely.
His depression was so bad, and so crippling, and exacted such a heavy toll on him, that not even his four best buds or his baby sister could have saved him from himself. Not there at the end, when he’d decided it was time for him to quiet the noise in his head the only way he knew how.
“Let’s get moving,” Sean said. “I’m driving.”
“Your truck have snow tires on it?” Trevor asked, cocking his eyebrows at me.
“No, but you ever drive in the snow, Texas boy?” Sean asked.
“Oh, shut the fuck up. We all know Nolan’s the most experienced in the snow,” I said, patting our friend on the back. “Ain’t that right?”
“Growing up in Buffalo came with a few advantages, yes,” he said. “But I don’t have a truck.”
Trevor tossed him his keys. “Drive mine. But be careful.”
“Wouldn’t dare hurt your baby,” Nolan laughed.
“Damn right. She’s the love of my life.”
“I’ve never heard anyone speak about their truck that way, you sick bastard,” Sean said. “Maybe it’s time you got a girlfriend.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just fine living the single life,” Trevor said.
We all climbed into the dual cab truck. It was the heftiest truck I’d ever seen, and would be perfect for driving in the mountains, given that it was especially suited for rough terrain and all kinds of weather conditions. I just prayed that Nolan’s experience driving in Buffalo would translate well to driving in the Appalachians during one of the worst snowstorms of the century.
Either way, I was sure of one thing – we were in for an adventure, and we’d get to Elle or die trying.
2
Trevor
“Fuckin’ hell, man,” I muttered.
I cringed and scooted over as Nolan veered too close to the edge. Again. As if scooting over would actually do anything useful in the event we went plummeting off the edge. In my head though, I kept picturing my baby driving over the ledge, diving off the cliff into the abyss below. Truth be told, the idea of dying didn’t scare me all that much – I could just think of better ways to go than that. But, death itself wasn’t an overwhelming fear for me. That’s what happens when you face death day in and day out as part of your job – you kind of get numb to it.
“Have you ever driven on the ice?” Sean asked Nolan.
“No, but I don’t have to be a world class ice road trucker to know you don’t get that fucking close to the edge,” I said. “That’s just common fuckin’ sense, man.”
Nolan shook his head, ignoring my pleas. He hadn’t said much of anything since we loaded up and headed into the mountains to track Elle down. He’d focused on the road ahead of us, remaining quiet, and to his credit, we hadn’t gone plunging to a fiery death at the bottom of that chasm next to the road. Yet.
