Forget You (18 page)

“Get the wine opener. Maybe she’ll like it,”
I offered. “I think you should get her a bottle of her favorite
wine too though. It completes the gift.”

Eva’s eyes lit with excitement. “Good
idea.”

Once we left the mismatched store, we were
only in the mall for a few more minutes before we bumped into the
said friend we were shopping for. Eva nearly hyperventilated, and I
had a hard time stifling back a laugh at the irony of the
situation. Her eyes kept darting to the bag I held with Paige’s
gift inside. The bag was a milky white so I wasn’t worried Paige
could see its contents, but Eva was.

“Hey! What are you guys up to?” Paige asked.
Her eyes shifted from Eva to me, and I got the feeling she was
checking me out.

Not in an
I want you
way, but more in
an
are you up to my standards for her
way. Then the guy she
was with cleared his throat. If I was correct, Eva had said his
name was Cam once. He stood at Paige’s side with a cocky smirk
stretched across his face. I was unsure if the look was directed at
me or Eva, or if it was because of the entire situation of meeting
us here.

“Is this Sawyer?” Cam asked. His eyes raked
over me, the arrogant gleam in them never wavering.

I nodded, and held my hand out to him. “Yeah.
Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, just doing some last-minute
shopping.” He shook my hand, and his grin grew. “Nice to finally
meet you.”

“Sawyer, this is Paige,” Eva introduced us.
“Paige, this is Sawyer.”

“Hey, nice to meet you.” I smiled.

Paige was cute. She had this innocent face
thing going for her, dark hair, brown eyes, and it was obvious the
girl knew how to dress. I noticed she was wearing a pink scarf that
instantly reminded me of her Christmas present Eva had just bought
her. It was the same shade of pink.

“Eva’s been hiding you,” Cam said. “I was
beginning to think you were an imaginary friend or something.”

Eva slapped him on the shoulder. “Oh,
whatever. I have not been hiding him from you. I’ve been busy.”

Cam rubbed his chin, his shit-eating grin
growing by the second. “I don’t know.”

“Stop. You know Eva’s busy. I’m sure she
meant for us to all get together at some point to meet Sawyer,”
Paige insisted. Her doe-like eyes locked with mine, and she smiled
wide.

“Sure.” Cam chuckled. “Care to join us for a
little coffee? We were just headed to the beverage place in the
food court before we left.”

Eva turned to glance at me as though she was
waiting for me to make the decision.

I shrugged. “Sure. We’ve been at this for a
little while. A break is deserved.”

“Great,” Paige said.

“So, Sawyer, Eva tells us you’re in the
National Guard. How’s that going?” Cam asked as we started toward
the food court.

“Good. It’s been everything I thought it
would be when I signed up,” I answered. I swallowed hard as the
memory of my last mission flashed through my mind. Forcing those
images away, I gave Cam a slight smile.

“What’s your MOS?” he asked.

I was shocked he knew the acronym we used for
military occupation specialty.

“I’m a 31B, Military Police,” I informed him.
There was always a sense of pride that floated through me when I
said those words out loud, one I felt would never get old.

“Ah, nice.” Cam nodded as though he knew all
about the job. I wondered if he’d served at one point too. “I hung
out with a lot of military crew a few years ago, when I was living
near Fort Jackson. The guys I knew liked to party. What about
you?”

Was this a trick question? Was it some sort
of brotherly talk? Was he scooping me out to see if I was worthy of
Eva? We hadn’t ever talked much about our families, or our friends
for that matter, so I didn’t know if Cam was a friend or a brother.
I still had so much to learn about this girl.

“I’m not a major partier, no. I don’t mind
having a few drinks, but I don’t go and get all crazy with it like
some of the guys from my unit do,” I admitted.

Paige and Eva moved forward a few steps ahead
of us as Cam purposely slowed, and I followed suit.

“Are you fucking around with Eva, or are you
serious?” he asked point blank.

His bluntness was something I figured would
be coming sooner or later in our conversation, so it didn’t have
the wow factor I got the impression he was used to seeing from
people when he spoke so candidly. My eyes landed on Eva as I
spoke.

“I’m not fucking around, no. I’m being
serious with her,” I admitted freely.

“Good, because she really likes you. If
you’re just screwing around with her, then you need to end it now,
before she gets even more attached. Eva’s a sweet girl beneath all
the sarcasm and cynical attitude. Sometimes it’s hard for guys to
see she’s just as fragile as all the others when it comes to
matters of the heart.” He waved a finger at me, and the same
shit-eating grin from earlier stretched across his face. “But I
didn’t say that. She’d slap me silly and not speak to me for weeks
if this conversation were to get back to her. The woman can hold a
damn grudge if she sees fit. Remember that.”

I nodded and smiled. “Good to know.”

Maybe this guy wasn’t as bad as I’d initially
thought. He seemed to care about Eva, and I liked that fact that he
was willing to take it as far as he had with his bold question. He
was the type to cut to the chase. I could respect that.

“So, how about them Braves?” Cam asked. The
wicked smile that had been on his face since first bumping into us
was still in place.

The girls paused once they realized how far
behind we were. When we caught up, I reached for Eva’s hand and
laced my fingers through hers, feeling as though I’d just passed
some vicious test and was now worthy to do so.

EVA

After we had our coffee and water—because
Sawyer doesn’t drink coffee—with Cameron and Paige, we finished up
our shopping. Before heading back to my place, we grabbed some
takeout from a local Mexican restaurant called Blue Agave.

“Next week, I’m spending the night at your
apartment at least once.” I set the bag of food on my kitchen
counter, and reached in the cabinet for two paper plates.

“All right.” Sawyer shrugged.

Over the last few weeks, he had spent the
night at my place more times than I could count. While I wasn’t
complaining about it by any means, Paige had made a valid point
when she’d said it was a little odd I had yet to see his place. If
I didn’t go soon, then I’d start making up all kinds of crazy,
random stories about why. None of them would include a good reason,
and then that would be what sabotaged this otherwise perfectly
great relationship for me.

I dished out some of the Spanish rice I loved
so much onto both plates, pushing all those thoughts and what-ifs
from my mind.

“What did you think of Cam and Paige?” I
asked.

If Sawyer wasn’t going to argue with me about
staying the night at his place, then I wasn’t going to press the
issue any further. I peeled the aluminum foil off the thin
cardboard bowl of my chicken and cheese quesadilla, and slipped the
contents onto my plate. Sawyer grabbed two glasses from in the
cabinet by the sink and poured our frozen, premixed margaritas from
the grocery store into them. Why the restaurant didn’t allow a
person to order margaritas to-go was beyond me. You’d think by now
someone would have come up with a sealed container to allow this to
be possible, something along the lines of bottled wine or beer.

“Paige seemed like the sweetheart you made
her out to be, and Cam, he seemed a little bold with his words and
arrogant at times, but I can see why the two of you get along so
well.” Sawyer tossed the margarita packets into the trash can.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I grabbed a
fork and dug in, eyeing him.

“Just that you two seem to be alike in a lot
of ways. You’re both sarcastic and say what’s on your mind.” He
shrugged.

“Yeah, we are a lot alike.” My lips twisted
into a lopsided grin as I chewed.

“They seem like they’re fun to hang out with.
I’m actually excited to meet the rest of your friends.” He opened
the container holding his cheese steak taco.

“You’ll meet them all at the Christmas party
next week.” I took a sip of my margarita. It was super sweet and
tangy tasting. Nothing like the ones Blue Agave served. “Ugh, this
thing isn’t all that great. I wish they allowed you to order
margaritas to-go.” I frowned.

“Said every alcoholic ever.” He grinned.

I smacked his arm playfully. “Whatever. I’m
not an alcoholic. Far from it actually, but when I’m in the mood
for a margarita, I want a real one, not this crap in a bag.”

“I bet you’ll drink it anyway though, am I
right?”

I took another sip. “Yep.”

We ate, and then moved to the living room
floor to wrap all the gifts I’d just bought. I pulled out the polka
dot wrapping paper I had leftover from last year, and stretched it
across my cramped living room floor. Sawyer sat down in front of
me, his body moving in a single fluid motion to do so. He pushed
the coffee table back against the couch to give us more room.

“I can’t believe I’m spending my Wednesday
night wrapping presents for people I’ve never met,” he said.

“What else would you be doing?”

“I don’t know. Hanging out with my cousin,
riding my bike, working out.” He shrugged, and slid the scissors
across the thin paper I’d stretched out.

“Riding your bike?” I chuckled. “What like
bicycle or motorcycle?”

Dear God, I hoped like hell he said
motorcycle, because if he said bicycle I’d never be able to look at
him the same.

“Dirt bike.” He grabbed a present, and cut
himself a piece of wrapping paper big enough for it.

He was a motocross guy? Seriously, could he
get any freaking hotter?

“Do you race or something?” I asked. How did
I know so little about him still when I felt as though we’d known
each other forever?

“I used to.” His answer was simple, too
simple.

“Why did you stop, because of your training
for the Guard?”

“I guess.”

I ripped a piece of tape, and secured the
paper in place on Paige’s wine opener. “Are you going to start back
up anytime soon?”

He seemed to hesitate in his answer. “No,
probably not.”

“Why?”

“It’s not really a priority for me anymore.”
His voice was too clipped and strangled to match the nonchalant
shrug of his shoulders.

This was a tense subject for him, but I
didn’t understand why. I focused on wrapping the present for Paige
perfectly, figuring if he wanted to continue with the topic, he
would.

“Racing and riding were things my brother and
I always did together,” he whispered. “We even built this track out
on our uncle’s property for us and our friends to use. It was the
best place ever.” The ghost of a smile twisted his lips as he
spoke.

I put a bow on Paige’s gift and set it on the
coffee table. “Is it still there now? The track?”

“Yeah, it is. I’ve been there twice since I
got back—once to ride, and once to see if there were any marks on
the ground from my brother’s accident,” he said. His eyes darkened
to that wicked blue shade they became when he was upset about
something. It was as though he was envisioning the area in his head
with a vivid level of clarity.

“His accident?” I asked the question in a
soft tone, because I knew there was some horrible answer waiting in
the wings. This was the moment when I would finally learn what had
happened to him, to his brother, I knew it.

Sawyer stopped wrapping the present he’d been
working on, and froze. “On the track we built, there’s this corner
that Ryker made himself. It’s like a devil corner, one that he
purposely made to be super sharp and challenging. Most of us have
to take it incredibly wide and slow, but Ryker was set that he
could learn how to make the turn perfectly without slowing his
speed one day.”

Sawyer paused, and licked his lips. He didn’t
meet my eyes, but instead continued staring at the present resting
before him.

Growing uneasy the longer the silence between
us stretched out, I asked the only question I could think of, one
that I figured would get him talking again. “Did he ever make
it?”

“Yeah, he did. He was the only one able to
get around that damn corner with a shit ton of speed going.” The
hint of a smile twisted his lips, but it fell completely before it
could form into anything more. His brow furrowed as he lost himself
in memories once more. “We used to go out on the track and race
around to blow off steam. Everyone says that’s what Ryker had been
doing the night he died. He’d been drinking, it was raining, and
he’d been out there alone, blowing off some steam from something or
other. It was that corner—the corner Ryker knew how to handle
better than any of us—that got the best of him. He wiped out. My
uncle was the one who found him the next day.”

He didn’t have to say anything more; I
understood what had happened without the added words. His brother’s
epic challenge of a corner had been the death of him. I sat there,
as unmoving as Sawyer, wondering if I should reach out and pull him
into a hug or leave him be.

“I don’t understand how he could have lost it
so hardcore. I don’t know why he would have been out there all
alone, drunk and riding in the pouring rain. As a rider, you know
that’s the worst idea possible. You never mix alcohol and riding,
especially alone at night.” Sawyer’s words were penetrating and
harsh, as though asking aloud in this moment would bring him some
form of mental clarity, an answer he’d never been able to grasp.
When nothing came, he shrugged. “It just doesn’t seem like
something Ryker would do. I guess he did it though, because he
isn’t here anymore, and that’s the reason I got for why.”