Prologue

Six Years Ago

Wesley Blake

The rain comes down in

sheets as they lower the dark cherry casket into the ground. My

heart is broken, and my soul feels like it has been torn in half

and I know this is the worst pain I will feel until the day I must

bury one of my blood brothers.

Tommy is gone.

My best friend is

dead.

Brain cancer ravaged

him and now he is at peace. Or at least that is what the pastor

will have us believe. But I’m alone. The person who has been by my

side since before I could remember is being lowered into the ground

and I’m not quite sure how I will cope with this latest version of

normal. We all knew it was coming but that doesn’t make the loss

any easier to manage.

My gaze is torn from

the coffin as it disappears from view beneath the dark earth and I

scan the people standing in the cemetery, umbrellas protecting them

from the worst of the elements. The weather is miserable, just like

I am.

And then I see

her.

Karmen.

Standing alone in the

rain, her features vacant as she stands in the downpour, staring at

her feet. I know she’s crying by the way her body is shaking.

In a few long strides

I have her pulled against my chest, not caring who is watching.

This girl grew up in front of me and is probably the only person

who understands the pain I am feeling. Tommy is — was — her older brother, her

only brother. Right now, she isn’t a sixteen-year-old girl, she

isn’t the pest that always followed us around. In this moment, she

is my soul mate. Our pain bonds us together for the rest of our

lives. Both of us broken beyond repair.

We breathe each

other’s pain and silently share our heartache in the downpour. I

hold her until the wracking sobs calm and the casket has been

covered with dirt. Long after everyone has left, we are standing

alone in the cemetery with the rain beating down on us, soaking us

to the bone.

“What now?” she asks

softly, and I wish I had the answers but there aren’t any words to

heal the wounds no one will ever see.

“We live,” the words

fall unbidden from my lips. “We seize life and conquer our fears.

We chase our dreams, and we push the limits. And every time we

achieve something, beat someone, or have a major life moment, we

smile and know that Tommy is looking down on us.”

“I like that.” She

smiles sadly as she steps away from me. “Living my life for me but

for him as well.”

I nod, choked up,

unable to speak.

“I’ll see you around,”

she says turning to walk away.

Catching her wrist, I

wait for her to face me again. “I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, Wesley. But

you’ll move on and forget about me now that Tommy is gone.”

“You’re family,

Karmen. I swore to Tommy that I would take care of you.”

“That’s a nice idea,”

she says with a roll of her eyes. “But I won’t keep you to that

promise. You should be able to live your best life as well.” And

then she walks away from me, leaving me alone in the rain beside my

best friend’s grave.

She doesn’t know me as

well as she thinks she does. I will be there whenever she needs me,

I will be there to fill the shoes of the brother she lost, and

there isn’t a single person on God’s green earth that can stop

me.

I made a promise and I

fully intend to keep it.