Honorably Discharged

Accepting my career in the Army is over after losing my leg is hard. But the obnoxious, good looking, glass-half-full surfer in my physical therapy sessions is worse. And god help him if he doesn’t stop trying to give me advice. Living in a home with three of my closest veteran buddies is a challenge as we all have our crosses to bear and wounds to heal from, but mine only seem to be getting deeper with every step forward I take. I already have to adjust to a new life as a civilian. I don’t need a sexuality crisis to go with it.

After my medical discharge from the Army due to a brain injury, I’ve had to reinvent myself. Not easy when I can’t even remember what I ate for breakfast. Or the hot, older guy I went home with. Oops. When I run into him a second time and hit him up as if we’ve never met before, Jarek’s a little insulted. I can’t exactly blame him. But when he learns my memory is shit, he seems flattered I’ve picked him up twice.

Losing my hearing has far more consequences than I expected. The physical part is frustrating and annoying, but the emotional part is so much harder. I don’t belong anywhere anymore, always an outsider. And now there’s Dayton, the older, sexy firefighter who keeps popping up everywhere I go. At my gym, in my house, in my dreams. Wait, why am I dreaming about him? I don’t even like him—though that doesn’t seem to be mutual.

After my brothers-in-arms have all moved out, I’m suffering from a kind of empty nest syndrome. The only one left is Forest, Creek’s little brother. Except he’s not that little. He’s seriously hot and sassy, and the way I dream about him is anything but brotherly. But he’s too young for me, too innocent. Too…perfect. He doesn’t need a man with my kind of baggage. When he gets sick, I’m there for him, even when he allows no one else in. I will do anything to take care of him…and that includes marrying him so he’ll have health insurance.