The Grumpy Roommate Gamble (Heroes of Huckleberry Creek #1)

ONE

GABE

Two lanes of black top disappeared into the darkness beyond the beam of my headlights. This twisty stretch of mountain road was all that lay between me and Huckleberry Creek. I’d lost count of the hours of travel getting us back stateside to the demobilization station at Fort Benning. Though fatigue weighed on every inch of my body, I hadn’t been willing to wait until tomorrow when a bus would take all the rest of the soldiers from Huckleberry Creek and the surrounding areas home. Instead, I’d rented a car. I wanted my house. My bed. And a chance to sleep for most of a day without fear of attack. After that, I might shower until the entire contents of the water heater had gone cold. It felt as if it was gonna take that long to really get the desert out of my skin.

It was after nine by the time I rolled down Main Street. I spotted only a handful of vehicles parked beneath the wrought-iron streetlights that lined the curb, likely belonging to the residents of the apartments above various businesses. We rolled the sidewalks up early on weeknights here, except for Doc Holliday’s Saloon, one of the only bars in town. The green of the old-growth trees overarching the street felt like a dream after the endless miles of sand that had greeted me daily for the better part of a year. More trees blanketed the gentle roll of mountains that rose on either side. I wanted to get out in those woods and soak in the quiet and the life until this nagging sense of dissonance finally dissipated.