I exited the highway and was glad to see there wasn’t a line to enter the base. I loved living on my side of town, close enough to the post, but far enough from my dad that I could breathe.

“Here we are,” I said, as if he couldn’t see the bright lights ahead of us.

He shifted his hips and pulled out a dog-eared wallet from the pocket of his ACU pants. He dropped his military ID into my open hand. The tips of his warm fingers grazed my skin and I jerked my hand away. His ID fell between the seats.

“Damn it. Sorry.” I shoved my fingers into the slim slot and managed to grab the card just as it was my turn to approach the guards.

“Welcome to the Great Place,” the soldier working the gate said.

“Really?” I couldn’t help but tease him.

Ever since the soldiers were required to recite that ridiculous motto, I gave them shit about it. I couldn’t help it. I did it in Texas and carried it on to Georgia.

“Yes, really,” he said, his tone neutral. He inspected our ID cards and the standard decal stuck to my windshield.

“Have a good night,” the soldier told us, though I knew he didn’t care about our night.

He probably thought we were together, that I was some barracks whore driving us to this guy’s small room, where we’d have sex while his roommate slept in the other bed. Who even came up with the term barracks whore? And why did I think it so freely, without considering that the soldiers were also sleeping with random strangers? I felt like shit knowing how easily the word whore slipped into my head. I made a mental note to get better at the way I think about other women.

“Uh—I don’t know where I’m going,” I reminded Kael.

“It’s a right up here,” he mumbled, as I was passing a street on the right.

“Right now?” I jerked the wheel to make the turn in time.

He nodded.

“Next light. Turn left there. There!”

“Dude.” I rolled my eyes, stopping my car for a second.

“What?” The way he asked seemed like he’d forced himself to respond. I felt like he wanted to get out of my car as soon as possible and the thought sort of pissed me off. I didn’t necessarily want to be playing taxi for a stranger who was allegedly Elodie’s husband’s bestie. I barely knew Phillip as it was, and his friend acting this way didn’t exactly improve my opinion of Elodie’s man.

“Sorry. Just go up a little further. It’s there on the right. The brown building.” He gestured in the general direction.