Broken Barriers (Barriers Series Book 4) Read Online Free

about what she had gone through, I knew now that no matter what my loss, nothing, and I meant nothing, would ever compare to what my sister had gone through. That one night in college when the asshole she was dating nearly killed her will forever be a haunting memory. For years, I watched her hide her feelings from the world until Josh came into her life. I might have saved her that night in college, but it was Josh who ultimately saved both of us. After Sam’s ex-boyfriend came after her again, I still had my sister because of him.
    I had to make sure I got my life back on track, but I just wasn’t sure how.

Waking up to the soothing cadences of the loons on the lake and chirping birds outside my window was a lot different than waking up to the sounds of an incoming air raid alarm. I was lucky if I managed just a couple of hours of restful sleep in a single night.
     
    I couldn’t sleep. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get to that place where I could shut my eyes and drift off to a peaceful night of slumber. My adrenaline was still flowing, even after the alarms sounded almost two hours before. Camp Leatherneck was never a quiet place to be based. CH-53 Sea Stallion Helicopters, C-130s, and other military aircraft were a constant here. The base was located on the southern side of the Helmand Province and provided an easy gateway for most flights, but flight traffic didn’t stop just because we did. It was 24/7. I continued to lay here with my battery-powered night-light illuminating my bunk. My pillows had become uncomfortable behind my head and back a long time ago. The other guys were all in the same boat. Some were up listening to music on their headphones while others were typing out emails on their laptops to their wives and children back home.
    We were fortunate to have wireless Internet in our bunks. Most times, the guys would video chat with their families, but not tonight. We were all still trying to come back down from that rush we all loved and hated at the same time.
    My earbuds pumped an old playlist Courtney created ages ago with some of her favorite songs. Just about all my playlists consisted of good old-fashioned classic rock or grunge rock. Courtney’s mixes, albeit girlie and emotional, tended to have a calming effect that usually helped me remember those good times back home.
    Tonight was not one of those nights. As if the air raid siren wasn’t enough to raise my blood pressure, the email I had received from Courtney taunted me on my laptop. My fingers hovered over her email with the subject line “Please talk to me.” All I needed to do was tap the button twice to read it; instead, I shut the screen down and tossed it next to me on the bed. No matter what I did at that moment, nothing would have settled me down.
    This was my life now. I looked around at the guys in my unit. My brothers. One minute I thought this was the life I was destined to live. They had fought alongside me. But, then I wondered… should I have given this all up and stayed for Courtney instead of going active duty? I should have talked to Courtney and hashed this all out once and for all, but a part of me couldn’t do it. I knew once I did it and it was all out there said and done, my heart would be forced to shut that door I’d kept open for so long. I feared once that door was closed, I’d have nothing, and it scared me more than being in this war zone. She was still holding me together, and I couldn’t let that go.
     
    For so long I slept on edge, knowing that I could have been called on at any second. My rifle was hung—locked and loaded next to my bunk. There was nothing pleasant about sleeping on a twin-sized mattress that smelled worse than it felt. Of course, the snoring of just one of my bunkmates was enough to keep me up for hours as well. Yet, that wasn’t the root cause of why I still had trouble sleeping.
    Since coming home, it hadn’t been an easy adjustment to shut off that part of my life. Each