by Brooke May
Courage of Us
Copyright © 2019, Brooke May
Printed in The United States of America.
ISBN 9781081161767
Ebook Edition
Edited by Editing4Indies
Cover Art by Dark Water Covers
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Epilogue
Note from the Author
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Books by Brooke
Coming soon:
For Jenny
You’ve been my constant since the beginning. Thank you for being the worlds best editor, teacher, and friend.
Prologue
Patience
THE WIND BURST IN from one open window to the next bringing in the scent of fresh alfalfa surrounding the steadily darkening dirt road.
My blond hair whips around my face like a cyclone as I hang out of the window, looking back at the red and blue lights flashing behind us. With a wry grin, I fall back into the passenger seat of the truck long enough to grab the seat and the oh, shit handle as we take another sharp corner. A shriek of excitement fills the cab along with the wind, drowning out the country song that fits us to a T. Some of the dust stirred up from the tires floats through the open rear window, adding more to this joyride.
“Is he gainin’ on us?” Pushing my wild locks blowing in the wind away from my face, I look over at my best friend, my partner-in-crime, Duke Michaels. We’ve been together since diapers. He is the yin to my yang. Together, we are the perfect balance to one another, yet we still manage to find ourselves in trouble over and over again.
Duke is sweet, protective, and every bit the best friend material I have ever wanted. And he happens to be the most magnificent example of male perfection I have ever seen in my short life.
“No.” Shaking my head, I cause more hair to tumble around my face. I have threatened to cut it on more than one occasion, and each time, Duke, along with our other friends, has given me a firm hell no. “Keep going, I think he’s wearing out or running low on gas.”
“On it, snowflake.” The old truck jerks us as he shifts and pushes the beast to go faster. The engine is surprisingly quiet, considering what year this model is. It isn’t what you would expect with an early nineties diesel. We’ve been driving for forty-five minutes now.
The moment we were dismissed from our high school graduation with the promise of meeting up with our friends, Duke and I fled. We were well on our way to the truck when his uncle, the deputy currently behind us, tried to stop us from going anywhere other than our combined graduation party.
We lied, but it didn’t take him long to catch up to us when he realized we weren’t on our way to the right party. We were barely out of town when the sirens began blaring, and the lights started flashing in an attempt to catch up with us.
Of course, we aren’t breaking any laws.
Well, we weren’t.
Duke doesn’t really care about our speed or the fact we’re evading the police because we won’t be in true trouble if and when he catches us.
Like Duke and me, our parents grew up together and have been friends forever. Our moms have been planning a massive party with our families to celebrate. We aren’t ungrateful toward our families, but we don’t want to be surrounded by them right now. They will still be around tomorrow, and we will have plenty of time to visit with them. We want to be with our friends before the summer carries us off in various directions.
The summer won’t be separating Duke and me, though; we are forever.
The rest of our small group is leaving either tomorrow or throughout the week to join the military. I’m a little envious and sad. I don’t want to see them go and possibly be in harm’s way, but I’m also feeling guilty that I wasn’t as brave to join a cause like that as well.
At least I’ll have Duke.
“Take the corner.” Thrusting a finger against the windshield, I point at a turn coming up. “There is a gap in the fence on the left.”
Duke’s laughter stirs need and want deep within me. Tightening my grip on the oh-shit handle, I feel the truck jerk as Duke slams on the brakes and takes the corner, my body lifting off the bench seat and swinging over to his side of the truck.
“Hold on.” He continues the turn until we are in the field of steadily growing corn. Luckily, a massive sign advertises the direction to the corn maze that wouldn’t be ready for a few more weeks. Shifting the gears to back us up behind the sign, Duke cuts the engine and turns everything off so we go silent. “Shh.”
I hush up and sit, anxiously waiting to see if we are going to get out of this. My breath even freezes in my lungs. We wait, unmoving in the fields as we watch the lights fly past us and slowly disappear along with the sound of the siren.
“He’s a douche. You know that, right?” Duke’s whisper does delicious things to my body and mind. I don’t move, though; only my eyes flick over to look up at him. In the slowly dimming light of the evening, he looks dangerously handsome. For only being eighteen years old, Duke already has a strong jaw with a light dusting of dark hair growing along it. His sapphire eyes seem to glow with delight under the brim of his black cowboy hat.
I want to crawl over to him, then knock that hat back as I straddle his lap and thread my fingers into his rich hair as my lips seal to his.
But I won’t
. I’m too chicken to do something as brazen as that to risk our friendship in that way.
“Y-Your uncle?”
“Don’t pull that act with me, Patience.” The statues we created with our bodies break, and we turn on the bench seat to face one another. “Greg should have been here today.”
Ducking my head, I look down at the fringe of my jean shorts and play with one of the strings. He’s referring to my older boyfriend, Greg Parkers. He graduated last year and has been in Alabama, going to school on a football scholarship. He has barely come home at all, let alone called or texted me.
“He’s busy with football camp, Duke.” I’m not sure why I’m so defensive. What I have with Greg is not a forever kind of thing. I don’t see a future with him. I want one with Duke.
“Quit defending the prick,” he barks, but I don’t jump. I’m used to the bark. He is just protecting me from what he sees as eventually hurting me.
“Stop. It. Duke,” I grind out. “I want to have fun tonight and not worry about anything related to my odd relationship with Greg.”
You’re the one I want to be with.
But I can’t tell him that. I want to so badly, but I don’t want to lose my best friend if he doesn’t feel the same. I originally started dating Greg, to try to get my mind off Duke and his lack of attention to me in that way.
It hasn’t worked, though, and now I’m stuck with a boyfriend who barely cares that I’m here waiting or that he even has a girlfriend. I just wish I could see him to break it off. I’m positive he’s seen other girls while away anyway.
With an exacerbated sigh, Duke starts the truck and slowly crawls us out of the field.
“I just don’t get why you’re still with him.” Leaning forward, he makes sure the coast is clear, and then we take off again, heading to the party. “You know he’s cheated on you, right?”
Here we go again.
I know this, but I can’t bring myself to confirm it.
“How do you know that for certain, Duke?”
“Why else wouldn’t he come home to see you, his girlfriend?”
“He’s busy with classes and football. I understand why, don’t you?” I bite back. He needs to let it go. Even if I told him I was planning on breaking up with Greg this summer, he still wouldn’t leave me be about it. He would add that I should have done it sooner, found a guy who actually was around, and most of all, one who actually liked me.
“Shit.” He throws his hat on the dashboard. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Okay, snowflake?” His free hand moves from the shifter to mine on the bench. I stiffen as fireworks erupt within me at the sensation his simple touch ignites in me every time he’s touched me in the past three years.
“It’s okay.” Brushing off the topic as I always do, I know it isn’t okay. It’s far from it, but what else can I do? “Let’s just get to the party and enjoy ourselves.”
“Whatever snowflake wants.” His smile is back; boyish but so handsome and endearing. I melt for him once more.
By the time we reach the party, it’s in full swing. Duke finds a space big enough to back his truck into, and we hop out to go find our friends and something to drink.
After the chase and the whole Greg talk, I’m ready for a semi-cold beer.
Around us is the typical party scene for our small town. We are in the middle of nowhere at a ranch, and the people milling about are drinking, dancing, and socializing while playing random games. I always stick as close to Duke or our friends as I possibly can. Greg never ran in the same crowd as us, so he never came to any parties. Not even when I asked him.
I’ve never had any girlfriends to hang out with at school or at parties like this one. Duke and his guy friends have always been mine. We’ve been a solid group since kindergarten. That’s why I struggle with having any female friends. Most of them are jealous that I’m friends with a group of good-looking country boys, but what they don’t understand is how much work they really are.
“Let’s grab a beer and find the guys. I want to talk to Chase before he leaves tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.” Looking around, I try to spot the four glorious giants; Decker Radcliff, Chase Thorne, Holt Preston, and Ryder Wesson are also known as my protective big brothers. Duke is the ring leader while I remain the mastermind behind the shit we do.
Chase is leaving in the morning for Army boot camp. It’s going to be bizarre without him around this summer. The same can be said for Decker, Holt, and Ryder. All of them are leaving within the next few days or weeks to head off to different branches of the military. I made sure they are going to email me whenever they get the opportunity.
“When are the rest leaving?”
“Within the next two weeks.” Duke fills a Solo cup for me and hands it over before filling his own.
“I’m glad you aren’t leaving me.”
The nozzle slips from his grip, but Duke doesn’t jump back in time. “Shit.”
Cocking my head, I place my hand on his back and lean around him. “Are you okay?” He’s as stiff as a board.
“I’m fine.”
He doesn’t sound fine, but I’m not going to argue the point. “Okay?”
“Yeah, it’s going to be quiet around here without their crazy asses.” His laughter is as stiff as he is.
“Tell me about it.” I force out my own chuckle as he circles an arm around my waist and guides me to where the guys are. With his tall build, he can see them before me.
“There they are.” He points them out, but I still can’t see anything but our classmates surrounding us.
“Lead the way, Gigantor.” Laughing, we take off through the crowd and over to the barn where I finally see them sitting on last year’s leftover hay bales, drinking and laughing.
“Look who finally made it!” Holt hoots, standing to slap Duke’s back and offering me his seat.
“Thank you.” Taking it, I down some of my lukewarm beer with a cringe. “We had to outrun Dale.”
“Why?” Chase leans forward, resting his thick arms on his equally thick jeans-clad legs. “What did you two do this time?” His blond brow raises in question, focused solely on me.
“Oh, like this is on me.” Putting my hands up in defense, I shake my head wildly.
“It usually is.” A chorus of agreed grumbles follows Chase’s declaration.
“It was his uncle.” I point up at Duke, who is talking in harsh whispers to Holt.
“But you are the one who comes up with half the shit that gets us into trouble.” Decker finally speaks up after finishing his beer. He drops the cup next to him and pulls out his flask.
Ignoring him, I nod to the flask. “Whatcha got this time?”
“Nothing you’re going to get.” Jerking it out of my reach, he hands it over to Ryder, who falls onto the bale with me and drops his head on my lap.
“Hey, darlin’.”
“Hi. That isn’t fair.” I watch with envy as Ryder tilts the flask and takes a healthy swig.
“Quit pouting, whiskey and you don’t mix … at all.” Duke pushes Ryder’s head off my lap and wedges his way between us. Leaning into me, he ghosts his breath across my cheek. I’m so glad I grabbed my hoodie before getting out of the truck. Otherwise, I would get shit for nipping out in front of the guys. It’s what Duke does to me.
I’m no blooming virgin. I’ve had sex with Greg a handful of unbearable times, but none of those occasions riled my body up like one of Duke’s innocent touches does.
“And bourbon.”
“Makes her clothes come off,” Decker sings.
“That’s tequila, Pecker.” I sneer.
His pensive, somewhat permanent glare shoots at me with his nickname. He’s been Decker the Pecker since we were ten, and they started learning fun terms for body parts and learned what pecker can stand for. “Same diff. Any hard liquor makes your clothes come off.”
“Not true.” A wide array of snorts erupts around me as they disagree.
“Last summer at Cente
nnial’s Fourth of July party, I believe you had bourbon,” Holt supplies.
Oh, no.
Leave it to Holt to remember this one.
“You ran out in just your bra and thong singing ‘Let it Go,’ thinking you were that princess with the fireworks being your icicles.”
“That was one—”
“Snow machines during Christmas break two years ago, you found a bottle of Wild Turkey in my grandpa’s stash at my family’s cabin. We had to lock you in the shitter to keep your nipples from getting frostbite.”
Damn you, Chase Thorne, for remembering that.
“That’s two times.”
“Last week.” I jump. Duke’s lips are right next to my ear. “We were at your house while the folks were gone, and you thought it would be a great idea to make daiquiris and drunk dial your grandparents while trying to take your leggings off.”
The asshole.
I woke up with my legs tied together and my hands wrapped in duct tape.
“Okay!” Jumping up, I move to the center of the circle. “I have an issue with keeping my clothes on. I promise tonight will be different. Now, hand it over.” Snatching the flask from Hold, I bring it to my lips and take a healthy swig.
Holy shit balls, motherfucking hell!
Coughing, I drop the flask. My right eye twitches as Decker’s homemade moonshine concoction slowly crawls down into my stomach.
“Wow.” I wheeze. That will clear anything that may be ailing you. The guys laugh at me, and the flask is recovered before I can go for it again.
“That’s enough, snowflake.” Duke takes a drink from his beer, not wanting the flask.
“The pecker juice is strong tonight.” I don’t know how I am able to speak. That shit is too strong.
“That is just wrong when you say that,” Holt chokes.
“What? It’s not like I said—”
“Enough, Patience.” Duke’s rough hand slaps over my mouth, silencing my word vomit. “One beer and that is enough to send you over the stripping edge.” He growls, and if I’m not mistaken, I can hear a promise of something else, something more laced in there.
Nodding, he removes his hand. “Not like I said something along the lines of AEC.”
