Veteran Dreams (Forever Young Series)

by Cherron Riser

  Veteran Dreams

  Cherron Riser

  Copyright © 2019 by Cherron Riser

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below.

  Cherronriser@gmail.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, June 18, 2019

  www.facebook.com/cherronriser

  Editing by Kelly Hartigan (XterraWeb)

  Cover Design by Paradox Book Cover Designs

  Acknowledgements

  This is for all the veterans out there who keep pushing each day to make their lives amazing. It is for the people in our lives who slip away and leave a mark.

  This one is also for my grandfather, Joe Riser. I miss you every day and will love you always.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  10 Years Ago

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe she is actually going to do it!” The squealing of her excited friends from the other side of the bathroom door almost drowned out the sound of the sexy jazz music. It was the annual End of the Year Sleepover Bash, and the last one at that. In a few short days, they would be graduating, and life would change forever. High school was over, and Lita and her friends planned to take over the world.

  However, that would come later. Tonight, she just had to open the door and do a sexy striptease for the boy she had been crushing on since the first day of ninth grade. Taking a deep breath, Lita flung open the door and strutted toward where Alex sat on the edge of the bed. He had the sort of cocksure grin which came with being a bit arrogant and a lady’s man, but his eyes widened seeing the way she moved toward him. Lita watched him watch her, seeing something flash behind those deep-green eyes. Something she wasn’t sure she had ever seen before.

  His strong arms gripped the bed, and his long, slender legs were spread before him just enough for her to move between them. Lita wasn’t a small girl, having been given more curves than she knew what to do with. Her ample hips swayed to the music as her long, wet hair draped like a dark wavy curtain to one side of her face. She leaned down toward him, feeling a confidence she had never really felt before. After all, she had only ever done this for her girlfriends before, certainly not for the guy who haunted her dreams at night.

  The sound of her friends disappeared as she moved in closer. Her hands cupped his face, and she felt his gaze burning a hole through her as he watched her body. Slowly, she ran her hand up, petting his short, dark hair, which was part of being both a member of the JROTC program and a future marine. She was going to miss him, but first, she was going to do everything she could to enjoy her time with him on this last night of insanity.

  A wicked smile spread over her lips, and she pushed away, dancing and swaying to the music as clothing started to fall. Thank goodness for a mother who understood the importance of matching underclothing. She had put on one of her cutest sets for the occasion, red and lacy. Sure, Alex had seen her in a swimsuit plenty of times, and she wasn’t going to strip naked, but a swimsuit and panties were two different things.

  Just as the song hit its climax, Lita dropped the last article of clothing and moved in, straddling Alex’s lap and moving her hips in a way she was sure no one in the room thought possible. For a moment, there was electricity, or maybe it was just the fantasy Lita had built in her head. Either way, the music calmed down, but her heart rate did not. It seemed like eternity passed as she sat there, nearly naked on Alex’s lap, but then Kammy pulled her away and tossed a dress at her. “Come on, it’s your turn.”

  Snapping back into reality, Lita laughed, acting like she hadn’t just had a moment of complete desire and showing it all with no filter. “Okay, Regan, truth or dare.”

  “I dare Alex to stand up after that. Damn, girl! I knew you were sexy under all those frumpy clothes you wear but never like that.” Regan laughed.

  Lita got a glimpse of Alex’s face, flush with, what, embarrassment? Yeah, probably that. “Give me a minute. They are right, Lita. You did that a lot better than I would have expected.”

  It was her turn to blush. At least her hair was covering most of her face. Her friends wooed at her, making the blush worse, and then the game returned to its usual madness. Her fifteen seconds in the spotlight were over, and it was something she was more than thankful for.

  ***

  “Hey, Lita, can you give me a ride home? I have an early morning tomorrow, and while the party is fun, I can’t really stay,” Alex said when the party came to a lull. It usually happened sometimes after the circus peanut and Pixy Stix sugar crash, which usually left everyone a little out of energy. Most of their friends were scattered around the living room watching a movie and waiting for their next burst of energy.

  “Yeah, sure. I can do that.” Lita went to grab her purse and keys and then tapped on her mother’s door to let her know where she was going. Alex said goodbye to everyone and gave hugs before the two of them went out to her car. Even after the sun had set hours ago, the thick Alabama heat and humidity left the air sweltering.

  It took a moment for the car’s air conditioner to cool them off, but they were both used to it. Lita had the music turned up as she sang along to the song on the radio. She loved to sing and had been playing music and writing songs for years. Between that and her obsession with writing erotic short stories for her friends, Lita had made a name for herself as the one nerd who had some adventurous talent.

  “So, I had a great time tonight. I never thought you guys would have such wild parties.” Alex interrupted her singing with his words. He leaned back in his seat causing the moon to cast a shadow on his face, leaving Lita the faintest view of him. He seemed pensive.

  “Nerds can be crazy too. We have always had fun. We just don’t need all the extra drama that comes with beer and…” Lita began.

  “Sex. Yeah, well, I think sometimes you think about that stuff. You were never as innocent as some of your friends. Just because you decided to keep yourself in a box doesn’t mean you never peeked outside of it,” Alex said, interrupting her.

  “I never stayed in a box, besides, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make sure you make it out of high school.” Alex had been right. Lita was on the edge. She never thought of herself as nerd but had also never fit in with the popular kids because of her aversion to trying anything considered “bad.”

  “You did stay in a box. Hell, you had one wild summer romance and then put yourself bac
k in the box. There is a reason we call you Porn Queen. You write a lot about your pent-up frustration. I get your reasons for not wanting to party too hard, but you wanted more than just words on paper,” Alex said. Yeah, she had lost her virginity to a guy she barely knew the previous summer, but that was the extent of her experience. Alex had always teased her, telling her she needed to get laid. Too bad he never offered to help her out. Just hearing him talk to her about it made her body tighten with the desire.

  “Maybe I will get a little more wild in college. You know I leave for Berkeley at the end of the summer.” Lita felt herself slowing down, not wanting the car ride to end. “Alex, I have to tell you something, and I…I want to do it before I lose my nerve.”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he just sat there watching her, which did nothing for her nerves. “I have had a crush on you for years. And I know you are leaving to join the military, and we are graduating, but I would have hated myself if I didn’t say something.”

  There were several long seconds of silence between them as Lita pulled into the driveway of his house. Had she just messed everything up? Probably. That was how things usually went for her.

  “You know, I have always known, but I didn’t feel like it was right for us. You weren’t ready to give up being so sweet, which is something I love about you, and I was always messing around and doing things you weren’t ready for. Now, well, now, I am about to leave. Promise me you won’t give up your writing or your music, Lita.”

  It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. All this time, she had wanted to be with him, and he had known. What a great way to feel rejected. “Why would I give that up?”

  “Because we aren’t kids anymore, and that’s what happens. Just, promise me, okay?” he answered, turning toward her.

  Lita felt her heart pounding again. Why had he turned toward her when he was getting ready to get out of the car? “I promise.”

  “Okay, good. Now, before I go.” Lita didn’t have a chance to react. It had sounded like he was going to say something else. Instead, he moved in closer and pressed his lips to hers. She felt like she was in a dream as his hand moved up to cup her face. The kiss grew to something more passionate. It was like a scene from a romance movie. His fingers curled in her hair as their lips moved, and their tongues danced. If she had thought the end of her striptease had lasted forever, it had nothing on that kiss. He kissed her the way she had dreamed about so many times before. He kissed her the way she had written about. It wasn’t the kiss of someone who didn’t care about her. It was a kiss meant to leave a mark on her heart, and she was sure it would.

  There was a stunning moment where the kiss ended, but the passion lingered before he pulled away. His finger caught in her hair, and she moved to help untangle them. “So, I guess this is goodbye, Lita. I hope to hear you on the radio one day.”

  He didn’t give her a chance to respond—not that she could. Had he just kissed her? Like, really kissed her, and not just a friendly kiss goodbye? Lita sat there and watched until he was in the house, and then she raced back to her home to tell her friends what had happened. But by the time she got there, she decided to keep it to herself. It had been a bittersweet moment, and somehow, she knew it was their final moment. There was no need to muddy it up with gossip. That kiss had been for her, and she would remember it always.

  By the time she walked back inside, the sugar crash had revved back up into a sugar high, and Lita fell right back into the antics of her friends. She grabbed her guitar and started playing some songs while her friends skipped and danced around the front porch. The feel of Alex’s lips lingered on hers, and she thought of it as she sang. Her songs were silly love songs, but they were hers, and in that moment, she felt them in a way she never had before.

  Chapter 2

  Everything was packed up and loaded into the car. Nervousness was sitting at the pit of her stomach, but she wasn’t about to back down. Berkeley had been her dream her entire life. The California coast was calling her name, and Lita couldn’t wait.

  “Just two more days, and you’ll be heading out. Now, you double-check that you have everything. It isn’t like you can just come by to pick up whatever you leave behind. California is a pretty long way away,” her mother said, walking toward the door. “I need to go check in with your grandparents. Granddaddy had his doctor appointment today.”

  “Okay, but I’m sure I have everything. The room is practically empty.” Lita laughed.

  Lita’s grandfather had been fighting cancer for a couple of years, and things were getting worse every day. The week before, he had another stroke, which had taken more than half of his ability to move. Things were not looking good. Everyone put their worries and fears on hold to be there for her graduation. However, even Lita had spent a lot of the day focused on her worry over the older man rather than the festivities of the grand event.

  The summer had been difficult waiting to see what would happen next. Unfortunately, they couldn’t afford a full-time nurse, and her grandmother simply didn’t have the strength to take care of him on her own. Lita’s grandmother was only four foot eleven and barely weighed a hundred pounds. Her grandfather was six foot four and over two hundred pounds. With the dead weight of his paralysis, it made him seem heavier.

  Going back to her room, she sat down on her old bed. So many memories had happened in that room. The walls had once been plastered in boy band posters and cute teen actors. Now they were bare, making the walls, the room, feel like a different world. In a few short days, she would be driving off into the sunset, so to speak. Everything would be over, and yet, it would be the start of a brand-new adventure in her life.

  “You look distant. Anything you want to talk about?” Lita glanced up to see Kammy standing in her door. Kammy was short, almost as short as her grandmother. Her pear shape held a few extra pounds, but it never seemed to hold her back. She had short hair which she had dyed on her own, leaving sections that had been missed in her hurry to not get caught by her mother. Kammy didn’t care though. She was who she was.

  “Just thinking how empty this place looks now that I have everything packed up. It is going to be strange being so far away,” Lita answered. Her friends were going to be who she missed the most, but Kammy was also moving away. She had gotten accepted to a culinary school in Florida and was also on her way out of town.

  “You have wanted out of this town since the moment I met you. When you moved here, you were such an outsider, because you weren’t from anywhere close to here. Don’t let this get to you. It isn’t like all of this won’t be here waiting for you if you need it,” Kammy said, coming to sit next to her.

  “Yeah, I know, but it still makes me wonder what is going to happen when I leave. I won’t have anyone there. You are going two hours away. I am going more than two thousand miles away. It isn’t like I can just turn around and be here if something happens.” Lita sighed, laying her head on Kammy’s shoulder. The two of them had been through a lot together. Kammy’s mom was always putting Kammy on diets and beat her down emotionally. Because of that, Lita had become Kammy’s lifeline.

  In return, Kammy had always been the person Lita could talk to. She was the first one to know about Lita losing her virginity and when her heart was broken. She was also the only one who knew about Alex’s goodbye kiss.

  “Girl, you can’t let it stop you. Your family wouldn’t want that, especially your grandfather. Your family has worked hard to give you this opportunity, and you have a full scholarship.” Kammy wasn’t saying anything Lita hadn’t already thought about, but she still was worried. As excited as she was for the move, her family was important too.

  “Well, I have a couple of days before I go. I’m sure it is just cold feet.” Lita smiled and started poking at Kammy. “Come on, let's put on some music and start up dinner. I’m sure my mom will be hungry when she gets back from my grandparents.” The two of them headed for the kitchen and cranked up some pop music as loud as they could before dancing around whi
le they began to cook.

  They got lost in the music. It was a good feeling. Something she would miss when she moved cross country.

  “Lita.” Her mom’s voice came from across the room by the front door.

  Turning, Lita could see the terrified look on her mother’s face. It was obvious she had been crying again, and she was drenched with the strong scent which came from chain smoking. “Mom, what’s going on?”

  “It's your grandfather. He had another stroke while I was over there. Your grandmother is on the way to the hospital now, and I wanted to come and get you before we go as well,” she explained.

  Lita looked over to Kammy and then back at her mom. “Okay, let me grab my purse, and we can head out.”

  “I’ll finish this up and put it in the fridge. I’m not exactly in a hurry to get back to my house, so I will hold down the fort,” Kammy said without being prompted.

  ***

  The hospital had that strange scent all hospitals had, which was like a mix between paint, bleach, and death. Nothing about a hospital ever felt good. They had been sitting in the waiting room for hours, waiting on news to what had happened. Everyone was tired and worried, and all Lita could think about was how much she was still needed here. How could she leave when her family was in such crisis?

  “I think I am going to stay here for a while. I can go to Berkeley later. It isn’t going anywhere, but Grandma needs me,” Lita whispered, not looking up from the speckle of glitter that had been mixed into the design of the floor. It was pretty and something to distract her.

  “I can’t let you do that. You have a scholarship, and it’s your dream.” Her mother reached over and placed her hand on hers, trying to draw Lita’s attention.

  “I can get a scholarship at a local college for now. I can follow my dreams later, but you and Grandma can’t do this on your own. Family takes care of family, and right now, that is what I need to do.” Lita got up, not wanting to hear all the reasons she should go.