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Back Hard to Lose
Chapters (55)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
  3. PRAISE FOR K. BROMBERG
  4. ALSO BY K. BROMBERG
  5. COPYRIGHT
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. EPILOGUE
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. COMING SOON
  55. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

But I care to listen to Gunner. I want to.

“You are amazing,” I whisper his words from earlier back to him, a smile on my lips as another tear slides down my cheek.

“I just needed to explain that to you. To let you know that I dated but didn’t get close like you, but for other reasons. You’re the first person I’ve ever shown both sets of scars to, Chase.”

“And both sets are beautiful to me.”

Gunner goes to speak and his voice breaks, so he stops and clears his throat. But I swear I hear him sniff on the other end of the line, and it makes me desperately want to wrap my arms around him and hug him tight.

It makes me hope that he’ll see the white lie I told at the beginning as nothing but a thoughtless, throwaway line I haven’t bothered to correct. And to beg him not to make it into a mountain.

He knows more about me than any other person. And I don’t want him to hate me. To think less of me.

Because I want more of him like this.

More of him.

Period.

“I, uh—need to get back to the bar.”

“Yes. Okay,” I say. Silence fills the connection, but he doesn’t hang up yet. “Liquid courage or not, telephone or in-person . . . thank you for telling me.”

“It was good to hear your voice. Night, Chase.”

“Night, Gunner.”

And when the connection breaks, I sit with my phone clutched in my hand against my chest. Isn’t that the classic Gunner I’ve come to know? Not the man he talks about being and having to heal from, but a man who wants to make sure I don’t feel more vulnerable than him. A man who called to answer a question that I haven’t thought twice about since I got back to my hotel room.

Who is this man and how is he so, so good?

My dandelion wish from earlier comes back to me, and I smile as I snuggle deeper under my comforter.

For more nights like this.

I thought that true at the time and I hope it more so now.

After our dance in the rain.

After the phone call I just received.

Definitely more nights like this.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Gunner

Seven Years Ago

SAL YANKS MY ARM WITH a force that has my body screaming.

Everywhere. A 1965 Mustang doesn’t exactly have the same safety standards that cars nowadays have—and fuck, does every muscle and bone in my body feel it right now.

It doesn’t help that Sal’s fists did a number on me after he found out about the accident last night.