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I held my breath as Neil explained the "why" for so s Ethan just couldn’t talk about I now understood why, and it just shredded my heart for his on his back," I whispered

"Yeah" Neil gave the chicken another stir and told me the rest "Mike’s torture and execution was brutal, and I know Ethan feels treuilt He believes because it was his call as coer, and as a result of his decision, five young men lost their lives"

"But it ar How can what happened be his fault?" I ached for Ethan even worse than before, and wanted nothing more than to have my arms around him, and his chest, with its fiercely brave and beautiful heart, beating up against mine

"War is fked no matter how you look at it What happened to their team was indescribable really They were lured in by a dead mother with her throat slit in the ing to her body He was no more than three years old Hours of this went on and the coet the boy And after iven the go-ahead But it was all a trap The Taliban used a woman and child as decoys to take out a whole squad of elite soldiers--sympathetic Westerners, ould never conceive of such treatrabbed the boy, but he was shot and killed just seconds later, while still in E’s arht ensued and at the end of it, two innocent civilians were slaughtered, four of our oere dead, and Mike and E were captives"

"Oh, my God…"

I didn’t even have words for Neil What could I even say to him? Were there even words to be said? No…no words could make that story feel any better, no ht of Ethan, and how much I loved him He was so much more than I ever could have knoe first met He was a true hero in every sense of the word, who had served honorably and suffered because of that service

"Thank you for telling me, Neil, it h-helpsthe truth was horrifying, too I felt sick, and knew I couldn’t eat the food I’d just been preparing with Neil How did any of theain, when faced with the memories of wartime experiences I’d just heard? I kne Ethan’sthe burden of terrible guilt over all of the deaths…how he suffered when he relived the events in drea to be able to help him," I said finally

"But you do, Brynne Your love has helped hi"

WHEN I akened early the nextfrom a sound sleep in my lonely bed, I was startled When I realized Elaina had let herself into the flat to wake lirippedhad happened to Ethan, I screaed thereen burned into my eyes What the fkin’ hell? I tried to push whatever it was out of e

"Ethan…oh, fk, man It just took us some time to find you"

"What?" I tried to focus, but the sun was shining down, and the light too fking bright All I could see was glare and flareen--the colour reminded me of Christian’s jacket as he swept down the ht before the--