Away From You (Back To You Book 2)
Read Away From You (Back To You Book 2) Online
Authors: Jessica Mastorakos
Away From You
By Jessica
Mastorakos
Copyright © 2014 by Jessica Mastorakos
All rights reserved. Produced by Jessica
Mastorakos.
Away From You
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or
locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not
participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the
authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Find Jessica Mastorakos on Facebook
Edited by A. Wrighton, Little Green Eyed Press,
California
Cover design & interior design by Jessica
Mastorakos
Cover models: Justin and Stephanie Weller
Cover photography by Leah Ruth Photography
Table
of Contents
This book is dedicated to anyone affected by post-traumatic
stress disorder. Whether you have PTSD or love someone who does, you are not
alone.
The National Center for PTSD has many resources available to
service members and their families at
www.ptsd.va.gov
One
Olivia
With a yawn,
I padded barefoot into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I popped the
Breakfast Blend pod into the machine and slid my favorite mug in place to catch
the stream. Matt always made fun of me for my fairly large collection of
“Marine Wife” merchandise, the mug included. I couldn’t help it though. I was
proud of him. We’d been together since high school and he’d only been a Marine
for a fraction of that time, so it was a new and exciting part of him that I
loved to give him credit for.
I
grabbed the caramel flavored creamer from the fridge and poured a generous
amount into my freshly brewed cup. Next, as was my routine, I settled onto the
sofa and turned on the morning news. I knew that this ritual of mine made me
seem about eighty years old, but I loved it. It was the way my mom and dad
always started their mornings. Like them, all I wanted was about fifteen
minutes of sipping my coffee and half-listening to current events in order to
fully wake up for my day. Yes, it meant I had to wake up earlier than
necessary, but I wouldn’t trade it for a few more minutes of sleep.
“Good
morning.” Ellie sheepishly made her way into the kitchen without looking at me.
She was wearing what appeared to be her jeans and tank top from last night. Her
blonde hair was a mess as it hung in waves down her shoulders. I waited
semi-patiently for her to make her own cup of coffee and then join me in the
living room.
The
night before, Ellie had gone on her first official date with Spencer. They’d
been best friends for years, but over the last few months had been exploring
what else might be between them. They’d gotten off to a bit of a rocky start at
first. Ellie had been dating this absolute jerk named Tim, and when she found
out that he’d cheated on her while he was away at school she’d dumped him.
Spencer even punched him in the nose that night, which was gross but funny
since he’d deserved it. Later that night, Ellie and Spencer had kissed for the
first time, but since Spencer was right in the middle of his training for the
Marine Corps they went their separate ways without really establishing what
they were to one another.
Over
the next few months they talked all the time, but due to Spencer’s own issues
with his parents he pushed Ellie away by hooking up with other girls while he
was in Florida. After everything she went through with Tim, that hadn’t gone
over well. Ellie started dating a really nice guy from her work named Eric, but
there was no way she and Spencer could stay away from one another after letting
some of those sparks fly.
Finally,
after a lot of soul-searching on both sides, they’d decided to go on an actual
date. Last night was the big night, and they’d crashed at our house afterwards
since Ellie still lived with her parents and Spencer lived in the bachelor
barracks on base.
“Well?”
I asked, hardly containing myself. “How did everything go?”
She
chuckled. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
“Yes,”
I considered briefly, “but is Spencer still here? He could have gone home to
the barracks…”
Ellie
rolled her eyes. “We’re both still here.”
“I
figured as much.” I took a cautious sip of my still smoldering coffee and gave
her a look that suggested I was waiting to hear more.
“It
was amazing.” Ellie blushed deeply and beamed at me. “Honestly, I had some
pretty high expectations, but the whole night was just incredible.”
“Those
are some pretty major adjectives, Ells. Seriously though, you seem really
happy. I’m glad.”
She
shrugged. “I really am. It was quite the journey getting here, but I’m
confident that we can make it work. I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive him for
what he did, not completely anyway. But I think that with time I will. And
despite everything, I do trust him.”
“Good.
Trust is huge. I don’t even know what I would have done if I were in your
shoes. Matt and I haven’t really gone through anything like that before.” I put
down my coffee and re-did the messy bun that held my long brown hair.
Ellie
pursed her lips. “Matt doesn’t seem like the type to do that. I think you’re
safe.”
“Yeah,”
I agreed. “But I think you’re safe now too. I think you’re exactly what Spencer
needed to settle down.”
“I
think you’re right about that, Olivia.” Spencer’s voice made me jump. He was
standing at the foot of the stairs, and I had no idea how long he’d been there.
He walked towards us and came to sit beside Ellie on the couch, taking her
hand.
“Good
morning,” Ellie said to him, squeezing his hand. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine,
until I woke up and you were gone. I thought maybe you’d ditched me.”
Ellie
laughed and leaned in to kiss him. “Not just yet.”
I
watched as they smiled at each other with real happiness in their eyes. After
everything they’d been through lately, I was glad they’d finally figured it all
out. And I was doubly glad that the ridiculous amount of sexual tension between
the two of them had finally been broken. I didn’t know how much more of their
brooding gazes I could handle.
“For
real though,” Spencer was saying, “I woke up and thought that I had finally
gotten a taste of my own medicine. I have a wonderful night with you and then
you just take off before I wake.”
“It
would have served you right!” I laughed. “That Karma has to come around
eventually.”
“What
about Karma?” Matt asked as he jogged down the stairs. He was wearing a black
tracksuit and running shoes, his headphones already attached to his phone. He
looked damn good.
Spencer
got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen with Matt. “Oh, your wife’s
just giving me shit.”
“She’s
good at that,” Matt replied with a wink to me. I blew him a kiss in reply.
“Are
you going running?” Ellie asked, nodding at his attire.
“Yeah,
I’ll be back in a bit. You want to come, Hawk?”
Spencer
scoffed, responding to the shortened version of his last name, Hawkins. “Screw
that. I have to do a CFT tomorrow. I’ll get my run in then.”
Ellie
and I looked at each other, confused. “What’s that?” I asked.
“It
stands for Combat Fitness Test. It’s a huge pain in the ass. Basically, you
have to sprint 880 yards, do as many ammo-can lifts as you can in two minutes,
and then do a 300-yard shuttle run with a buddy.”
I
whistled. “Sounds fun.”
“Not
at all,” Spencer said. “It’s all timed and then you get a score based on your
time.”
“And
apparently this loser doesn’t care about improving his time or he’d be out
conditioning with me today.” Matt punched Spencer lightly on the arm.
Spencer
wagged his eyebrows at his friend. “Or maybe I can think of a way better way to
get sweaty than to go running with you.”
“Okay,
that’s enough!” Ellie held up her hands, embarrassed.
Matt
laughed and came over to kiss me on the cheek. He smelled like toothpaste and
aftershave, and I inhaled the familiar scent of him with a smile. I watched as
he said his goodbyes to our friends and made his way to the door. Having him
here, finally under the same roof, had been amazing so far. Being that we’d
gone to high school together, we hadn’t been apart until his months of training
for the Marine Corps. Thankfully, he and Spencer had both gotten stationed in
our hometown of San Diego at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Matt had a
deployment coming up and small detachments to prepare for it. How the heck was
I going to deal with him being gone all the time? Luckily for Spencer and
Ellie, they wouldn’t have to worry about that, since Spencer was assigned to a
training squadron that didn’t deploy.
“I’m
going to go take a shower,” Spencer called over his shoulder as he headed up
the stairs.
“Make
it a cold one!” Ellie yelled back, smiling as if it were an inside joke.
“So,
did you guys talk about this being an official relationship now?”
She
smiled. “Yeah, no confusion this time.”
“That’s
good.”
I
got up to put my empty coffee cup in the sink. “I’m not looking forward to all
of the training Matt has to do before he leaves for deployment. He’s going to
be gone a lot. I’m jealous that Spencer got assigned to that training squadron
even though I know he would rather be in a unit like Matt’s.”
“I’m
so grateful. Now that he’s back I don’t ever want him to leave again.”
“I
hear that. Matt said that he’d be on the ship for the whole summer. He leaves
in three weeks.”
Ellie
cringed. “I’m sorry, that sucks. He has to be on a ship? I thought only Sailors
went on ships.”
“No,
Marines do too. But he said they get to stop in Hawaii for about a week, so
he’s excited about that.”
“Oh,
that’ll be fun! I’m jealous. I definitely can’t afford a trip to Hawaii anytime
soon. Even with my job, I just can’t seem to save any money.”
I
chuckled at her. “You have a teensy bit of a shopping problem.”
“Just
a bit.”
“Well,
at least you have a job. I just haven’t had time with the number of classes I’m
taking. It would be nice to have some extra cash of my own, but I need to focus
on school right now. I’m grateful that Matt is cool with being the only one
bringing any money in right now.”
Ellie
nodded. “Yeah, but he knows it’s not because you’re lazy, it’s because you’re
in school. You’ll definitely be pulling in the dough when you start working as
a nurse.”