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“And what exactly have I been missing? Where are your brothers tonight?”
    Three sheets to the wind. “Under the bar, which is wall to wall with food and beer, more than likely with, um, friends, too.”
    “This must suck for you, then,” Justice said glancing away, wondering what girl he’d had in mind for tonight before she trapped him.
    Hardly. “I’ve lived through worse.”
    True to his word, further down the hall right past a wide doorway was a healthy sized closet. Blue foam cushions the wrestling team used were on the floor and leaning up against each wall.
    “Nice and safe,” he said as he urged her in. “I’m going to head back and look for some batteries for this thing,” he said holding up the radio.
    Her eyes cast a wide glance at him, begging him to not leave her alone back there.
    “Five seconds. Settle in. My brother just texted again, said line of storms is right on us. They already lost power at the bar.”
    She shakily nodded then dropped her bag. When she looked up he was gone. One breath at a time. You want to be here...

Three
    J ustice kept pacing back and forth on the mats laid across the six-foot space. She could hear the thunder and wind whistling by the vents above her head.
    “It’s bad isn’t it,” she said when Declan came back looking like a man in charge, who didn’t care what was coming at him—he was going to stand tall anyhow. He had the radio in one hand, a flashlight under one arm, and a handful of towels. And his same tragically pissed expression.
    “Even if it was, we’re underground,” he said as he dropped the towels. He spread a few out then nodded for her to have a seat. The mats were soft but he had no idea how clean they were. If it was up him he’d have hunted down a feather bed for her to rest on, but this would have to do.
    He still couldn’t figure out how in the hell he’d managed to get himself in this situation or how he was going to make it to the end of the night without this girl twisting his head all over again.
    Justice slowly knelt down then leaned against the wall with her legs stretched out and crossed, and did what she did best—stared at Declan. He was impossible to read, but she loved to try.
    He was going through the bag he had with him, apparently taking inventory and not liking what he saw.
    Finally, with a grunt he handed her a bottle of water then sat down next to her and drew up one knee, the one closest to her, basically making a barrier between them.
    The barrier didn’t do anything to quell her butterflies. He had a history of being an ass around her. Then when she least expected it he’d kiss her and make her melt from the inside out.
    Both times he had decided to ignore her afterward, which basically told her she was just another girl, nothing special, so she reciprocated the gesture and made sure she didn’t look like a star-struck kid around him. In the past she could never decide if she was mad or hurt, knowing all the while it was both.
    It didn’t matter now though. The boy she knew was going to be gone in days. With most boys, it was hard to tell the moment they decided to man up and become a man. Not with Marines. Justice was pretty sure it happened in boot camp, across thirteen weeks.
    Right now, she was positive if she told him she had planned to get him to take her home it would only infuriate him. Nolan had to be teasing me... she thought.
    When she’d asked Nolan why he went after Murdock the way he did almost two months ago, he grinned and said, “Because Declan would’ve kicked my ass if a tear of yours went unanswered.” Her expression questioned him and he laughed in his carefree Nolan way. “He’s got it bad, but don’t worry. I’ve got your back until he figures that out. No broken hearts ‘round here.” 
    It was exactly what she didn’t need to hear, it made her watch Declan more, daydream about him more.
    Teasing her, throwing out some off the wall statement, was something Nolan was known to