Read Concealed - A Hiding From Love Novel #2 for Free Online Page B

in the road and nearly blowing up our supply truck. Then I had to kill a guy who came after us in the middle of the first night. Then I got shot when I tried to get us out in the middle of the second night.”
    I pause. Alexis is breathing rapidly, and her cheeks are pink.
    “Alexis had to be my nurse and bandage up my shoulder.” My voice is rough, and I can feel my body heating as I remember that night. Our first night together.
    “But the third night, we walked out and my guys were waiting for us at the mouth of the canyon the insurgents had closed off. So it all worked out fine.” I stop and Alexis finally looks straight at me. I see a brief flash of something – pain? Lust? Guilt? Whereas once I was able to read her so well, now I have no idea.
    “So you got shot, man? Show me! Did it hurt?” Mike is like a kid in a candy store. Jesus, guys who’ve never been in the military always think it’s so glamorous. Getting shot is no different than any other injury that hurts really fucking bad.
    “Nah, it was just a scrape. No biggie,” I say, trying to pass it off.
    Beth pouts and jumps up and down, bouncing her chest against my arm. I get the feeling she’s overdoing it on purpose. Maybe she likes to see her sister jealous too? “Nooo, you have to show us now! Please, Gabe. I want to see if my sister did a good job patching you up.” She bats her eyelashes at me and purses her glossy lips. “Pretty please?”
    With my free hand, I scratch my head. Yeah, this is humiliating. Utterly and completely humiliating. But I can’t see any way out of it without being a jerk, so I disengage myself from the tentacles of Bethany and slowly lift up my shirtsleeve to reveal the shoulder that took the hit in Afghanistan. There is total silence for what seems like hours although I’m sure is mere seconds. I can feel my face heating up. It’s kind of like tearing open my heart and exposing it to the outside air. It feels like a stinging, hot wind is blowing on my raw organ.
    “Oh!” Beth squeaks. “Um, wow.”
    “Nice work, dude,” Mike says, looking at me a little more sharply than before.
    Alexis stands there in total silence, her eyes glistening with what I recognize as tears. Goddammit. She cries over everything. She always has, and it’s always torn me up to see it. I’d do virtually anything to keep her from crying.
    She reaches out a hand as if she’s going to touch me then pulls it back, just like she pulls her love back every time I’m near her.
    “You never told me,” she whispers.
    “You never let me,” I reply.

 
    Alexis
     
    Te querré para siempre.
    I will always love you.
     
    I stand looking at Gabe’s shoulder, my heart pounding in my chest, my ears buzzing, my head full of static. I register Beth stepping nearer to me and Mike asking about the meanings of the various tattoos on Gabe’s arm and shoulder. Meanwhile, Gabe stares at me, his face blank, eyes burning through me, down to my core.
    I swallow as I let my gaze drift back to the scar. It’s about eight inches long and runs almost straight down the middle of his upper arm.
    Then, there’s the tattoo.
    Written sideways are two words in a beautiful dark blue script. Each runs along the scar, not on top of it but alongside it, as though it were the ruler mark on a paper. The first word is Alexis , and the second, Forever .
    Gabe slowly lets his sleeve slide down as Mike moves to his other side and starts asking questions about those tats. Gabe gives him vague answers while we continue to stare at one another. Finally, he blinks and his face readjusts itself into its normal, confident, carefree mask. But I know, for those brief moments we look at one another, the man I loved is still there, just waiting for me to let him out.
    And I can’t.
    Sensing I’m beyond action, Beth takes charge. Within a few minutes, she’s told Gabe and Mike we’re heading to Sixth Street, they say they are too, we all agree to look for each other at