Read Online Things Lost In The Fire by Katie Jennings - Free Book Online Page B

done. Anger pulsed through him, bringing on an urge to fight back. Gritting his teeth, he reached for the small pistol he kept in his boot. He would have drawn it if one of the soldiers hadn’t grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to safety. By then, both of the Taliban insurgents were dead and the sound of gunshots faded with the dust.
    Three soldiers had been hit. Two fatally. Brody remembered numbly approaching the Humvee and seeing the blood. He hadn’t even known a body could bleed so much.
    He’d been flown back to the States that night. After the witness testimony came out about the incident, it was suggested that he resign from his position.
    Then the media storm hit.
    It was bad enough to have the mothers of the two slain Marines blaming him, saying that if he hadn’t distracted their sons then they would’ve seen the danger in the crowd. He understood their grief just as much as he respected it. But to have his colleagues, his friends, his family, all look at him in disgust was more than he could bear.
    He lost everything. Lawsuits and unemployment meant bankruptcy was his only option. It was an option he knew he wholeheartedly deserved. Hell, he was still alive, wasn’t he? While those two soldiers were dead. What did any of what he lost matter when he still breathed and they didn’t?
    He opened his eyes and forced himself back to the present. He tossed back the last of his champagne, though it tasted bitter on his tongue. He wished for something stronger, something that could chase away the guilt. But he knew from experience that turning to hard liquor never solved anything. All it did was intensify the pain the next day.
    It’d been two years since the incident, and still his reputation was in tatters. The only job he’d been able to get was freelance, and the only work that paid well enough was through the tabloids.
    His life had changed forever that fateful Tuesday afternoon. Maybe it was meant to be that way. He’d lived too good for too long, recklessly selfish without a care in the world. This was karma, serving up a whopping slice of retribution.
    His phone buzzed in his pocket and he considered ignoring it. But when he saw it was his brother, that guilt crept in again.
    “What’s up?”
    “ I saw you submitted those photos. ”
    “Yep.” Brody toyed with his champagne glass, rubbing smudges off it with his thumb. “I told you I was going to.”
    “ I know. Hey, so when you come to the party next weekend, this topic has to be off-limits. ”
    A wry smile lifted Brody’s lips. “You mean the old man isn’t proud of me?”
    “ I hope that money is worth it, Brody. I mean, you pretty much just ended a marriage. ”
    “A marriage that was a sham anyway,” Brody argued. “All I did was expose the truth that he was cheating.”
    “ And you made a pretty penny off it, too. Good for you. ”
    “If you just called to give me shit then I’m going to hang up.”
    Chase sighed. “ I’m sorry, I’m just on edge. Look, why don’t you come over for dinner tonight? We can have a couple of beers like old times. ”
    Brody could hear Chase’s wife Abby protesting quietly in the background. Why did that not surprise him? “I’m busy, buddy. Sorry. But I’ll catch you at the party next weekend.”
    “ Oh, okay. All right. See you then. ” He could hear Abby launching into a lecture with Chase right before the phone went dead. He tucked it back into his pocket and sighed.
    Why Chase tried so hard to be his friend was a baffling mystery. The man had every reason to disown him just like everyone else already had, and yet he still hung on. It was getting to the point where he was almost a goddamn pest.
    Though Brody knew that if Chase ever gave up on him, he’d lose the only real friend he had left.

 

     
     
    S ADIE PILED lunch meat onto a couple of slices of rye bread and sang along to Journey’s “Girl Can’t Help It” on the radio. She danced as she moved about the kitchen, not