Nate
JENKINS
Chaos. Absolute chaos.
I covered my face with my arm and coughed into the crease of my elbow. It was bad enough that it was the middle of the night; we didn't need the smoke making it even more hard to see. I squinted my eyes as I tried to force my eyes to focus. It was almost completely dark out here. I could see lights in the distance, but nothing that helped me see six feet in front of me. I continued to look for my bag that had my flashlight it in. It took a good ten minutes before I nearly tripped over it.
After another five minutes of feeling around my bag blindly, I pulled out my flashlight and shined it in every direction. "Ayden!" I called out as I started walking in the same direction as he did earlier. "Ayden!"
Dread filled me when there was no response. What the hell? Ayden said he was going for a walk, then thirty minutes later there was gunfire. The area we were in was well hidden and no one should have been able to find us. Our lieutenant sent us off on a mission so it was just the two of us. Ayden and I were good at what we did. There was no way in hell we should have been found. We just arrived here this morning and we were supposed to start our recon tomorrow when some of our fellow troops arrived.
This wasn't good. If Ayden was injured, there was no one to help us right now. I cursed myself that I let him walk off alone. We weren't in the safest area and I've had a bad feeling all day. But, noooooo. He wanted to sneak off to call Lanie. Of course, he didn't know that I knew he was basically in love with my little sister. After all-- I was the one that set them up.
Neither of them knew that I was playing Cupid when I brought Ayden home for Christmas. As I got to know him over the years, I started to see that he may be just what my sister needed. She's never had the best luck with relationships and I wanted her to be happy. From what I could tell, Ayden seemed to be doing just that. I saw the way her face lit up when she saw us for her birthday; and she wasn't looking at me.
I knew both of them well enough that, if they had known what I was up to, they wouldn't have given it a chance. Ayden wouldn't have even agreed to come to New York if he knew. Lanie...she would have been livid with me if she knew I was trying to interfere with her life. I learned my lesson with that when she dated Kyle in the tenth grade. Its how I became Nate: Meddler
I walked into Lanie's room and found her writing in her diary. "What boy are you writing about now?" I asked her with a sly grin.
She looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "No one. Go away, loser."
I entered her room and stopped beside her bed. "Come on, L. Just because I'm in college now doesn't mean you have to stop confiding in me." I sat on the edge on her bed. "Tell me. Who are you crushing on in school?"
She got up and sat back on her legs before letting out a long breath. "Fine. It's Kyle."
My brows rose. "Kyle? As in...my friend Kyle?"
She looked everywhere but at me and that was all I needed to know. Kyle and I have been friends since freshman year and this was definitely unexpected. And weird.
"Want me to put in a good word for you?" I asked awkwardly. It may be weird that my baby sister has a crush on my friend, but I would do anything for her.
Her expression was anything but happy. She was looking at me like I ran over her dog. "No! Nate, you better not say anything to him. Do you hear me? It will make things so much worse."
I laughed as I got back to my feet. "Fine, fine. I wont say anything."
~The Next Day~
I was sitting on the porch in my backyard making out with Cindy Thompson when Lanie came bursting out in tears. "How could you? You said you wouldn't say anything!"
Cindy got up and walked inside to give us some privacy and I got to my feet. "What are you talking about?" I asked her even though my gut told me it was exactly what I feared.
Tears were streaming down her face as she shoved me. "You told Kyle. Now he thinks I need my big brother to do everything for me. He came by the school and made a fool out of me in front of everyone."
My heart sank at her words. None of this was supposed to happen. "Lanie, I'm sorry. I know you liked him and I was just trying to help. I thought that if I--"
"No, Nate. You didn't think. You completely ignored me and now I'm the freak at school who needs her big brother to get her a date."
I reached out to her and she stepped back. "Lanie, I said I was sorry."
She rolled her eyes before storming inside the house. I didn't miss it when she said, "Sorry doesn't change anything."
My thoughts came back to the present and I hated myself in that moment. After that day, I swore to her that I wouldn't meddle in her business. I promised her that I was going to stay out of her personal life. Now, not only have I meddled again, but the man she was in love with was currently missing.
The more I looked for him, the more I thought about the past. I wanted to warn her about Adam when she first started dating him. Instead I kept my promise. But Ayden...I had a good feeling about Ayden. When I saw the two of them together, laughing or talking, it felt really good. I wasn't sure my plan worked until New Years.
When I told Ayden to kiss Lanie, I thought he figured out what I was doing. Thankfully, he didn't seem to put two and two together. I think he was more baffled by me suggesting it. But the way they looked at each other when they kissed at midnight told me everything I needed to know. I was right; and that made me so happy.
I've been hoping she would open up and tell me about their relationship when I was there for her birthday, but she seemed to have a lot on her mind. I wish I had more time to spend with her. I knew she was probably irritated that I spent so much time with Jules when I was there, but that was to give her some privacy with Ayden.
I meant what I told Lanie about wanting to find something real. Jules wasn't what I wanted. I was upfront with her about it and she didn't seem to care. I knew the type of woman she was. I wasn't blind when she hit on Jackson and Ayden. That's who she was. But I wanted more. I wanted what Ayden and Lanie had.
Speaking of my best friend, my worry continued to grow as I looked for him. We were in the middle of nowhere with no backup and that didn't bode well. What we needed was to call for help. As soon as I reached for my phone, it went off.
"Hello?"
"Nate! Oh, my God. Are you okay?"
"Lanie?" I asked as I shoved my finger in my ear. The signal was bad where I was and Ayden had the sat phone. "I can barely hear you. What did you say?"
"Ayden-- talking and I'm sorry. I love-- gunfire. I think someth--- wrong. Nate? Hello?" Fucking Christ. She was hysterical. From what I could understand, she was on the phone with Ayden and heard the gunfire. Goddamit. This was not good. Not good at all.
I ran my hand over my face as I tried to catch my breath. My heart was racing, and the fact that I could barely understand her made it worse. "Lanie, calm down. I'll find him, okay? Did you hear me?"
"Please, Nate. He--and--can't breathe. I'm scared."
A frustrated groan escaped me. I thought the signal was only this bad when people drove through tunnels or in horror movies. "Listen to me, Lanie. Call Harper and Jackson. I want you to stay with them. I'm fine and I'm going to find Ayden. I promise. Lanie? Did you hear what I said?" There was more static then I heard the three beeps that told me the call dropped. "Fuck!"
I have never felt more helpless or alone in that moment. I buried my hands in my hair, fisting it in my hands until it hurt. Then I screamed. I screamed until I couldn't anymore. What. The. Fuck. I inhaled a deep breath as I tried to get control of my emotions. Okay, I needed to find Ayden. That was priority number one.
If I found Ayden, then we could use the sat-phone to call for help. I could also call Lanie and tell her everyone is alive and well. Mainly because I refused to make the other type of call. The kind where two men in uniform showed up at your door with tragic news. Yeah, fuck that.
I started walking in the direction Ayden went. You couldn't have walked too far. He was smarter than that. We both were smarter than that. We knew when we were alone on a mission never to leave the other in danger. Sometimes, yes, we needed a little space. That's why tonight when he said he wants to go for a walk and I saw him grab the sat-phone, I didn't say anything.
When I got almost a hundred feet farther in the direction Ayden went, I felt my feet kick something hard on the ground. When I pointed my flashlight at it, I froze. The sat-phone was in pieces.
What did this mean? Did this mean that Ayden was dead somewhere? Did it mean that he may have been taken by the enemy? What the fuck did this mean?
"Ayden!" I called out again as I tried to look everywhere all at once for any sign of him. Soon the minutes turned to hours with no luck. As I started to feel my adrenaline wear off, and my exhaustion start to take its toll on me, the sun started to rise.
Not good. Definitely not good.