Protection

Chapter 11

This is honestly complicated. I answer, "There are good and bad things that come with it. I mean, I guess it's more good than bad, considering you can do a lot with money." Like pay for your hospitalized mother. I wish for a moment that he would have been the one born rich instead of me. He needs the money a lot more than I do. But then again, it would be better to wish that his mother had never gotten cancer. On this topic, I decide to inquire, "How many people are in your family?"

This is risky; Four never talks about anyone in his family, rarely even his mom. I get why he wouldn't want to be reminded of her, but the rest of his family? Who knows if he has brothers or sisters—

"Three. Me and my parents," he grumbles. Obviously a tough topic for him, but hey, at least we have made progress. "If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

Easy. "Hawaii."

"I guess that was a dumb question," he continues on. "You can go wherever you want anyway. I'm surprised you haven't been there ten times."

I shake my head and contradict him, "I only went once when I was little. My parents don't exactly take many family vacations, let alone let me go anywhere alone."

He tilts his head at me, his sunglasses sliding down on his face slightly so that I can see his eyes. "You don't go anywhere alone anyway," he reminds me. "And I'm not trying to sound like I'm just using you for your money, but we could go on a trip somewhere."

I giggle at him and reach over to hold his hand. "Of course not. You're not like that." Realizing that my hand is still curled around his, I let go and casually get back to the game. "I don't want to push you or anything, but...why did you go into the military?"

"I wanted to get away from home," he snaps. I didn't mean to make him upset. I look down at the soft sand guiltily until he sighs. "I'm sorry. Like I said, there are things I need to tell you, but not yet."

"Okay," I say. "I understand." But that doesn't mean I'm not dying to know what made him want to leave. I could never imagine being so annoyed with my family that I would want to leave them to go across the world and spend years in a war zone.

He smiles at me apologetically. "Good." After several seconds of silence, he questions, "What do you want to do for a living? When you get older, that is."

I shrug unconvincingly. "I'm not sure."

"Come on, Tris. You always have an answer for everything," he teases.

"Okay, okay." I put my hands up in surrender. "Just...promise not to make fun of me?"

"I won't." His serious expression makes me take his word for it.

I bite my lip and stare out at the waves licking the shore. "I want to be a mom. When the kids are old enough, I'll get a job obviously, but...I really want a family more than anything else."

When I glance over at him, expecting to see a mocking look on his face, I instead see him staring at me admiringly. I thought guys would think that was cliché or lame.

"You know, you are completely unpredictable, Tris Prior."

I'll take that as a compliment.

Blushing, I push on, "Anyway, my turn. Why is your nickname 'Four'?"

"Who said that was my nickname?" I glare at him sarcastically, although I am enjoying his lighthearted behavior. He grins. "I'm kidding. But, um..." He scratches the back of his neck like he always does when he is nervous. "When I was first deployed in Afghanistan, there was a pretty terrifying situation. I was new and with my squad of five..."