Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Lana couldn’t help the hitch in her heart when she heard the cute guy mention he was going into the Army to go special forces. It was actually a huge issue between her and her father.

She wanted to join the Army, like her mother had, and see the world. Her father wanted her to find a nice boy to settle down with. To just be content with being a housewife and pop out a bunch of screaming crotch-goblins.

She understood her father’s reasons for not wanting her to join the Army. Her mother had been killed six years ago in Afghanistan and it nearly broke him.

Her mom had been an intelligence officer for the Army, working with the special forces teams. Her father had also been in the Army, a Ranger, which was how her parents had met and fell madly in love.

“Maybe, if we’re lucky to achieve our dreams, we’ll get to work together.”

Lana couldn’t help the smile when the hot guy smirked at her. Well, shit. Her first day and she already salivating over the high school football captain.

When the teacher came in and started talking, Lana turned her focus on to class. It was hard as hell with the hot guy sitting next to her.

“Want to be lab partners? I promise I won’t blow up too many experiments in class.”

Lana looked over at Jayson and quirked an eyebrow at him. She could see he was teasing her with his statement, but couldn’t help the shaking of her head at his statement.

“Yeah, sure. Don’t you already have a partner though?”

“Nah, I tend to work alone, but since you’re new, I’ll make an adjustment and concede to work with you so we can make sure you don’t blow up the school.”

“This coming from the guy who wants to be an explosive expert in the Army.” Lana shook her head as she turned her focus back to the teacher. “Sure. If anything goes wrong, it’s your fault though.”

Lana watched Jayson out of the corner of her eye as he stared at the side of her face. When he chuckled low and shook his head, she smirked and continued to face forward.

Yep, she was fucked, and it was only the first day of school. Lord, she hoped his ex-girlfriend didn’t try anything.

For the next couple of weeks, Lana settled into her new school, new house and new life. She knew she was the outsider in the school since she was from Colorado, so she wasn’t expecting to make a lot of friends.

What she wasn’t expecting was the ease she had made some of those friends. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew it was because of the easy friendship she had with Jayson.

He had taken her around after their AP chem class and introduced her to a couple of his friends that he claimed he trusted. Which was only two people.

Lana fell into a routine with everything. She would wake up, get dressed, and then rush to school in hopes of seeing Jayson before her first class. She only had three classes with Jayson, which was a huge bummer.

Lana took classes at the local community college to give herself extra credits. She already had all but three of the credits she needed to graduate high school.

When she officially graduated high school in the spring, she would also be graduating with her associates degree. Unbeknownst to her father, when she turns eighteen next month, she was signing on the dotted line to join the Army.

She would go to her classes and verbally spar with Jayson until they were both laughing. Then, at the end of the day she would go home, do homework, and make dinner for her and her father. Rinse and repeat.

“Hey, trouble! You coming to the game this Friday night?”

Lana looked up and saw Jayson sitting down next to her at the outside table where she had been slowly eating her lunch while she studied for a test they had later on. She looked at Jayson in confusion at his question.

“You want me to come to a football game? Won’t your girlfriend be there?”

“Well, I’m hoping she would be, which is why I’m asking if you’ll be at the game.”

Lana’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Jayson who stared at her smirking. She was getting ready to punch him in the nose when he reached over, picked up her hand, and held it in his.

“Okay, so maybe I should explain it better. I’m not only asking if you would come to the game and watch me play, but I’m also asking if you’d do me the honor of being my girl?”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Jayson, why do you want me to be your girlfriend? That Ashe chick has made sure I got the message you two are together.”

Lana never told Jayson about the not-so-subtle message that got delivered to her about not getting her hopes up of getting her newbie claws into Jayson because he was taken by a real woman.

“Let me guess, she had Haley and Amber come as a show of force?”

“Yep” Lana popped the ‘P’ loudly.

“I’m so sorry. I wish I had known about that. I would have handled it. Lana, I promise you, I am not getting back with Ashe. I don’t want her. Haven’t for a long time. I want to join the Army. She doesn’t want me to leave Hellburn Falls. She has no ambition and she’s a mean girl. I am not down with that shit. So, let me explain a few things so you can think about them.

“I’m a dominant guy. I know what I like and what I don’t like. I like a challenge in life. I want someone who has ambition, drive, spark, and isn’t a bitch to people around her. That is you. You’re fun to talk to. You make me laugh. You are nice to people. You go out of your way to help others no matter what. You don’t give a shit about being popular. You are just you and that is something that makes me fucking crazy about you.”