We both watch her leave, and I must have a strange look on my face because when he turns back to me, Jace immediately asks, “What?”

I raise my eyebrows before responding. “That. Last I heard, you guys were in some weird in between stage, and here she is, sitting on your lap, you doing the PDA thing by my bedside, which, dude, is kinda weird.”

He shakes his head and laughs. “When I woke up in Germany, she was there. Flew across the ocean to admit that she was in love with me. We’ve been together ever since, and let me tell you, man, there’s nothing better than having the girl I’ve been in love with for nearly half my life finally be all mine.”

Jesus, he sounds like such a sappy sucker. Women don’t just randomly wake up one day and decide they love you after they’ve been fucking with your heart for months on end. I know it’s an asshole thought, and I won’t say it out loud. Hell, I hope more than anything that this girl really means it, but I won’t hold my breath. As easily as they decide they love you, they can also wake up the next morning and kick you to the curb. Fuck love.

“So you’re telling me that it took you getting blown up for her to realize she loves you? I don’t know… Sounds convenient—a little too convenient.”

Sighing, he just stares at me for a moment. “I know that girl messed you up, but one of these days you’re going to meet someone who will make you stop being so damn cynical all the time. I can’t wait for that day to come.”

“Never gonna happen,” I tell him, because it’s not. I’ve never let anyone in since Megan and I don’t ever plan on doing it again. Suddenly, I recall the way it felt to think I was going to die alone when I was on the brink of unconsciousness, but I quickly push the thought out of my mind before Jace just shakes his head at me again.

“Famous last words, Knox. Famous last words.”

Chapter 2

Charlie


“OH, COME on, Charlie, go out with us Friday night. You haven’t gone dancing since you and Drew broke up. It’s about time for you to get off your ass and have some fun again,” my best friend Lucy whines into my ear.

I shake my head, even though she obviously can’t see me through the phone. She’s right, but I’m finally just starting to get over my jackass professor ex-fiancé. The one I lived with for the past two years since I’d moved from Knoxville to Clarksville with him so he could take a teaching position at Austin Peay State University. The one who proposed last Christmas, even having asked my dad for my hand in marriage. The same one I walked in on two months ago screwing one of the janitorial staff workers on his desk. Yes, you heard me. Not the cliché teaching assistant, not the hot colleague, not the sexy, seductive student looking to get an easy A by being an easy lay. He was fucking the woman who cleaned his office.

Don’t get me wrong. I respect the profession, and I love the ladies who clean my office, conveniently across campus from his, but it’s not exactly a sexy position, because around here they’re definitely not wearing French maid costumes.

The worst part was that when I opened the door, he looked up and our eyes locked, his widening at my presence. Instead of pulling out to chase after me and grovel at my feet, begging for forgiveness, he pumped a good two more times before he got off, grunting in the process.

Lucy’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and while part of me wants to get out, the winning side of me is satisfied with staying home and drowning my sorrows. “Sorry, Luce, but I can’t. I have a new volunteer assignment starting on Saturday and I have to be there bright and early.”

She sighs, annoyed that yet again I’m using my volunteer work as an excuse to be a recluse. As the Veterans’ Affairs liaison at Austin Peay, I’ve met many soldiers from Ft. Campbell and the several National Guard bases located around the state. About a year ago, a young airman brought a flyer to the office with him when he was filling out his paperwork. It was for a local veterans group that was taking volunteers to help out wounded service members. Being an Army brat to a single father, I’ve had random people helping me out in various ways all of my life. I decided that I’d use this as a way to give back and help those who need it, just like so many did for Dad and me. I called the number on the sheet of paper, and since then, I’ve been able to meet and assist some amazing people who just needed a helping hand. Drew always hated it, not so secretly jealous of my spending one-on-one alone time with other men, but I always told him he was being ridiculous. There were women, too, and it’s not like every single soldier is a beefcake.

“Charlie, you always have another assignment. Throwing yourself into helping solve other people’s problems isn’t going to fix your own.” I know she’s right, but it’s been almost a month since I’ve been assigned a soldier, and I’ve been itching to get my mind off things by doing exactly what she said—ignoring my problems by dealing with someone else’s.

“It’s been weeks since I volunteered. And this guy sounds like he needs me. From what Cheryl told me, he almost died when a roadside bomb detonated. This one is going to take more time, which is why she asked me. Something about needing the right personality. He has broken bones in his spine and his arm, so he can’t drive and probably can’t do too much else. I’m supposed to be his ‘companion’ of sorts while his brother finishes his finals at UT,” I say, relaying the information the organization coordinator had given me.

She snickers. “His companion? Hmm, maybe you’ll luck out and he’ll look just like Channing Tatum in G.I. Joe. God, I love a man in uniform. Maybe I need to start volunteering, too.”

Laughing, I shake my head. “I don’t do it to meet men, Lucy. And I have no interest in having a rebound right now.”

“Oh, come on. A roll in the hay with a hot soldier is just what you need to get over Drew and his use of the university’s custodial services.”

I roll my eyes and change the subject as my next appointment arrives. Not wanting to listen to Lucy continue to beg me to join her on Friday, I decide to end the phone call quickly. I give her a maybe, deciding that maybe I will get out finally. The more I stay shut in, the more Drew wins, so perhaps getting all dressed up and going out for drinks and dancing is just what I need.


I PULL up in my dad’s driveway several hours later, ready to get our Wednesday night dinner ritual over with. I’m in no mood to talk, and Dad’s always a chatterbox. He’s the only parent I’ve ever known, and he’s fulfilled both roles tenfold, but sometimes he can get a little overbearing. I understand it, because I feel the same way towards him. After my mom died in childbirth, it’s just been Dad and me. He rarely dated as he devoted all his time to me, trying his hardest not to make me a tomboy but a well-rounded kid.

He told me stories about how my mom had wanted to name me Charlotte Rose and he’d fought her every step of the way. He liked Charlotte, but he was opposed to flowery names. When the doctors came out and told him that she’d passed away due to immense blood loss, he couldn’t help but give me that name. However, from the moment I could talk, my daddy called me Charlie. Never Charlotte, never Rose. And definitely never Charlie Rose. The last thing I want is to be compared to an old guy on Sixty Minutes. Nope, I’m just plain old Charlie. And to be honest, I’ve always been okay with it. I was and always have been my daddy’s girl. Being a single parent in the Army, he had a hell of a time raising me, but he made it work. I was always loved, cherished, and protected. I’ll always love my dad for that.

Putting the car in park, I exit the vehicle and take a deep breath, knowing Dad’s going to want to talk about Drew. I think he’s equal parts pissed and disappointed that we were both fooled by his gentlemanly façade. He doesn’t know the full story, just that Drew did something to push me away. I scrounge up the courage to finally make my way to the door, and it swings wide before I can even knock. I’m instantly drawn up into strong arms as I throw my own around Dad, loving his warm embrace.

He draws back from me and brushes the lone bang out of my face. “Oh, Charlie, it’s been too long since you’ve visited your old man.”

I smile up at him, shaking my head at his ridiculousness. It’s only been a week since we had our last weekday meal and he knows it, but he still loves me enough to give me shit. We break our embrace and move towards the dining room, where he’s prepared an incredible spread.

If there’s one thing Wade Davenport learned as a single dad, it was how to cook. My mouth waters as the Carolina barbeque smell fills my nostrils. We both make ourselves pulled pork sandwiches, me passing on the coleslaw, all the while Dad chuckling at my constant refusal to put the stuff on my pork.

“Charlie… Drew called me the other night. He’s concerned about you and wanted to know how to reach you,” Dad tells me nonchalantly.

I gape at him, wondering if he’s gone crazy. “Umm, Dad, I have no desire to see Drew, hear from Drew, or to even speak his name.”

Sighing, he sets his fork down and looks at me. “You know, if you’d just tell me what happened, maybe I’d understand why you refuse to speak to him. Last I knew, everything was fine and you were planning a wedding. Then all of the sudden you’re calling, asking to borrow my truck so you could move out. Dammit, Charlie, what the hell did he do?”

My dad’s always been a very actively overprotective father, so when I caught Drew in his…compromising position, I had no desire to tell Dad about it. I knew at the time he’d fly off the handle, and all I wanted was to be moved out before Drew got back to the apartment. Fortunately, I’ve been able to stay with Lucy until I can come up with enough money for my own place. I’ve been living with her for two months now, and it’s taken some getting used to on both our parts. I know her lease is up soon, right before she goes home to work for her parents for the summer, so I’m going to have to figure something else out in the near future.