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“Not at all, Hunter” She gazed into fully “I’it” She leaned closer "Spencer strictly forbade Graha into business with you because of your uncle" She gave ed "He told Graham to cut you completely out of his life, but Graha history"

"Your stepdad hates me," I said

"He does," she replied and turned away, sighing "When Graham said he wanted to start a business with you, Spencer said you could take the boy out of the hood, but you couldn't take the hood out of the boy"

I frowned, hating the way Spencer thought of me and my family

"He's an idiot, of course, and wrong" She reached over and squeezed ain

Warh ested we couldn't start Innova together after all If I couldn't go into business with Graham, after all the years we’d planned to, I'd be on it, and I knew I'd

get sucked into that vortex

I squeezed her hand back and smiled Celia was a hot one, but she was so damn smart and nice

We released hands and I sighed, wishing Celia was someone I could keep in my life, but her stepfather would probably prevent that

“You really want to be a Marine?” Celia said, sounding doubtful and I could see she didn't like the idea "You'll get sent soerous You could die"

“I could die if I stayed and tried to take the business legit”

That was the truth It was hard to break ties with the family I was proud of what itimate parts But I wanted to be completely clean

I took a long sip of beer and gazed out over the ocean, thinking of the future, not sure what direction to take in the hed heavily, and then turned to her Her beautiful big brown eyes were liquid and so deep

In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think that if she were anyone else, this little emotional moment wouldso venal, but I was just as much a hot-blooded American man as any other

"I'm proud of you," she said, "no matter what you do" She smiled at me