JoJo laughed, “What the hell is going on over there, Cammie?”
I laughed, too. “Oh, Sista. You are never going to believe what I’m about to tell you.”
“Is everything okay? The house?”
I pulled out the bag of chocolate chips from my pantry and ripped it open, laughing again when they spilled all over my island. “Oh yeah, it’s fine. You guys are good, right?” I asked, getting ready to spill the good news.
“Yeah, the hurricane didn’t even touch us at Ryan’s parents’.”
“Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the really exciting shit.” I started to make a really pitiful rendition of a drumroll, and JoJo laughed even harder. “LUKE AND I DID IT!” I exclaimed.
“Did what?”
“We did it. The deed. We did the deed…three times! He buttered my biscuits, and let me tell you, they were buttered to perfection.” I sighed. “JoJo, I have no idea why I didn’t take your advice before. Luke and I are…” I couldn’t even come up with words. “See, I’m speechless! That’s how good it was!” I was basically yelling at this point, but I slowly stopped cleaning up the chocolate chips when there was silence on the other end of the phone.
I pulled it away from my ear, seeing that JoJo’s name was still on the screen.
“JoJo?” I asked, making sure she was still there.
She cleared her throat, “Yeah…uh.”
My heart started to descend to my lower stomach “What?”
“Um,” JoJo started to stutter. Nothing good ever came from when she stuttered. “Cammie—“
“What?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
I could hear her shutting a door in the background. “Ryan told me last night that a few guys were being pulled in for support for some troops in Afghanistan.”
My stomach ached painfully. “Is Ryan going?” I basically screamed, “He just got back!”
Her voice was low, “Ryan’s not going.”
“Oh, okay. Well, then, why are you being weir—” My mouth fell open and my eyes traveled to my kitchen window, over in the direction of Luke’s.
“Oh…” I started, but she interrupted me.
“I thought he would have told you. They found out days ago; Ryan just mentioned it last night in passing.”
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I was silent, at a loss for words. He didn’t tell me. He didn’t tell me he was leaving. For how long? Is it going to be dangerous? I rolled my eyes at the thought. Of course, it’ll be dangerous. It’s a fucking war zone. I slapped my hand onto my forehead, cursing myself.
And just like that, all the giddiness and happiness I had felt seconds ago disappeared so fast I couldn’t have held onto it if I’d tried.
He didn’t tell me. He fucked me senseless, sank his claws into me, knowing he was leaving, and he just didn’t tell me.
He didn’t tell me.
He didn’t fucking tell me!
I busied myself with cleaning up my yard for the next two hours. Sticks, broken branches, and lone leaves spilled all over the place…it was a good distraction, but as soon as I heard the rumbling of Luke’s engine and saw him hopping out of that sleek car with a lazy smile on his face, pointed right in my direction, I dropped the bundle of sticks in my arms and marched right up to him.
He was leaning against the hood of his car, probably ready to spew some sexual comment, but when he saw the look on my face, his smile fell.
“Cammie?” his voice held an uncertainty in it.
I crossed my arms, breathing deeply before I spoke. “Were you going to tell me?”