"So," Turning in my seat I clapped my hands on my knees. A good thirty minutes has passed of us driving and I was tired of the silence. "You've never told me why you enlisted in the Marine's."

"I didn't?" Logan glanced over.

"Nope. I don't really know how you met my brother either."

Logan was quiet for a moment, making me think he wasn't going to answer.

"I enlisted right after I graduated high school."

"Did you always want to join?" Helping out at the VA I've heard so many different stories about why people enlisted in the military. They all ranged from 'everyone in my family did so I did too', to 'it felt like my duty to help my country'.

"Not really. My senior year a recruiter came to my school and it kind of went from there."

"When did you meet my brother?" Over the years I've heard little bits of Logan and my brother being in the same task force but both rarely talked about it in front of me.

"It was my second tour. I had just been re-stationed overseas where your brother was." I stayed quiet, listening intently as Logan talked. He rarely talked about his time in the military...or really anything in general. I was going to take anything I could.

"I got assigned to his task force and we just became friends after that. When you spend weeks together you have no choice but to become friends. I actually looked up to your brother."

"Wait, really?" A small smile tugged at my lips. The thought of Logan thinking my brother was somehow cool was kind of hilarious.

"He was three years older than me and already a Sergeant. It's not an easy rank to have." I often forget my brother was pretty badass in the Marine's. Being a Sergeant usually took years and a lot of experience, add on that my brother was in charge of a task force....yeah he was pretty damn cool.

It was a little weird being reminded that Logan was close to my brothers age. Thirty-three where I was twenty-five.

"Do..." I hesitated in asking my next question.

"Hm?" Logan glanced over, waiting for me to continue.

"Do you regret enlisting?" I asked. I chewed on my bottom lip as my question lingered in the air. I once asked my brother that question, needing to know if he regretted going and leaving our family...leaving me. His immediate response was a sharp no. Like how could I ask him such a question.

At the time I was 18 and his answer hurt. He didn't regret leaving for eight years. The years without my big brother sucked. He was someone I wanted to come home and talk to. To take me to get ice cream when someone picked on me in school. On top of him being gone so long he got hurt.

Hurt enough that he had to come home and heal. It was beyond horrible watching my big brother hurt, laying in bed and wincing every time he moved. The only reason he didn't go back was because of my parents passing away shortly after.

For the longest time I thought he resented me for making him stay. If I had been older, or if we had other family, I could have stayed with them while he went back to the world he was in the past eight years.

The day I asked that question was the first time we ever brought up his time in the Marine's. We would always skirt around the subject when it was brought up. Clearly painful for both of us.

I remember being so mad and hurt by his words. But later that day when he came to my room he gave me the real honest answer. While he didn't necessarily regret enlisted, he regretted leaving me behind.

Knox admitted leaving me was the hardest thing he ever had to do. Coming home for brief stays and seeing me more grown up than the last time, knowing he was missing out on my childhood. It killed him.

That day was the first time I saw my brother cry in front of me in....well forever. Telling me he was sorry he missed out on so many years. Years we couldn't get back. It was that moment that changed our relationship. I no longer held onto the resentment of him leaving me and he got to let go of his regret of leaving.

A part of me wanted to tell him he didn't have to answer but my curious side won out and kept my mouth closed.

"I don't know." Logan eventually answered. I knew from his tone that was the end of that discussion. I let it go as I looked out the window.

* * * * * * * * ** *

"Um." I mumbled looking out the front window at the snow starting to fall. By fall I mean it was really starting to come down. I nervously kept my eyes on the road in front of us.

Even with the windshield wipers going it was hard to see in front of us. My fear grew the harder the snow fell. Flashes of my parents appeared in my mind. The weather was just like this when they crashed. Driving in the snow has always been one of my biggest fears since that day.

"Logan." I whispered, my hands curling around my thighs. He didn't reply but he slowed the truck down even more, the windshield wipers going a bit faster.

As the seconds went by the snow got worse. You could barely see inches in front of the car. I didn't like this at all. The thought of something happening to us made me start to shake.

"Olivia." I barely heard Logan over the roaring in my ears. "Olivia it's okay."

"It's not." I shook my head. My fear coming out loud and clear.

"I won't let anything happen." Logan reached out to grab my hand, his fingers brushing over mine before the truck suddenly jerked to the side.

A scream bubbled up in my throat as we swerved. Logan grabbed the wheel and jerked us in the other direction, slamming on the breaks. Thank god for seatbelts as I slammed forward. When the truck came to a stop I was hyperventilating, gripping the strap of my seatbelt.

"Olivia!" Hands touched my arm and then my cheek. "Liv!" Logan turned my head to look at him. His eyes were wide and he had an almost frantic look on his face.

He looked me up and down as if to see if I was hurt. I didn't realize I was crying until his thumb brushed my cheek, wiping away a tear.

"It's okay." He whispered, looking me right in the eyes. "Breathe with me." Logan took a deep breath, nodding for me to following.

I sat there with Logan's hand on my cheek slowly following his breathing pattern as my heart started to slow down. We stayed like that until my breathing returned to normal and my tears started to dry.

"Good girl." His thumb brushed across my cheek again. Everything was quiet as we sat there in his truck, snowing fall down around us.

"It isn't safe to keep driving. There's an exit up ahead and we'll find somewhere to spend a few hours at. Okay?"

My voice wasn't working but I gave him a nod. I didn't want to drive in this anymore. There was no way we were going to make it to Rutland in this weather. The image of my parents crashing was on repeat in my head.

Logan kept his eyes on me for another minute, making sure I was okay, before dropping his hand from my cheek. The lose of warmth from his hand made me shiver. Knowing he needed both hands to drive I forced myself not to reach out and grab his hand.

I stayed quiet as Logan carefully eased us back onto the road and headed for the exit ahead. The fear from what just happened was now pushed to the back of my mind as I now thought about the fact I was going to be spending the night with Logan. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Whelp here we go! Now we are finally at the good part of the story, aka my favorite parts that I've written of this book. The sexual tension between these two are killing me. Like make out already geez. 

From here on I will be posting 3 chapters a day until Dec 23rd! Yep three a day...I really do spoil you guys. Someone in the comments said I'm basically Santa and I'm not gonna argue :D So just make sure you are starting on the right chapter or you'll be lost a little. On Dec 24th the entire book will be up for you all to read! I mean who doesn't want to binge read a Christmas book on Christmas Eve?!?

Love you guys so much!!! I'lll see you tomorrow!! 

<3 <3 <3

-Ken