A Reason to Love Read Free Page B

of him. “Spence, tell me what I can do to help.”
    He shook his head, still fighting for control even as the foul words poured from his mouth. For the second time that day, Melanie wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. It didn’t help; he was too far gone for a simple touch to be enough to soothe his fury.
    He managed to keep his touch gentle as he tugged her arms off him. “Get away from me, Mel. I don’t want to hurt you.”
    Her chin took on a stubborn tilt. “You won’t, Spence.”
    She sounded sure of that. He wasn’t. “I wouldn’t mean to, but I can’t promise anything right now.”
    Before she could respond, people came pouring out of the church, laughing and having a great time. They all formed up in two lines in the glow of the front lights of the church as they waited for the bride and groom to make their appearance. Spence lost track of Melanie in the crush. Rather than risk being recognized too soon, he faded farther back into the shadows and waited for his former friends to appear.
    He hadn’t thought through what he wanted to say to them, but he’d make damn sure it was memorable.

Chapter 3
    A handful of minutes later, Leif and Bridey finally made their appearance, followed closely by Callie’s parents and another couple, most likely Nick’s folks. It wouldn’t be long now. Spence’s gut did a slow roll as he waited to confront them. His conscience, what was left of it, was screaming at him that he should just leave. He was mad at Leif and even more so at Nick, but before tonight he would’ve sworn there was no way he’d ever risk hurting Callie.
    As it turned out, he was wrong about that. He couldn’t seem to find the strength to jump on his Harley and haul ass out of there. Even if he had been able to go, it was too late now. The happy couple had just stepped out of the church.
    Then Nick yelled something, but Spence couldn’t hear anything above the roar in his own head. Whatever had Sarge hollering also had Leif charging through the crowd and—oh, shit!—heading straight for Spence.
    And he wasn’t alone.
    Mooch cleared the crowd of people, his nose to the ground. Two more steps and he brought his head up to look straight toward the shadows where Spence had taken refuge. He yipped and charged forward. A few feet out, the dog took to the air, clearly trusting Spence to catch him. He held out his arms and stumbled back several steps from the impact of the happy dog hitting his chest.
    The furry beast wriggled with everything he had, which made it impossible to hold on to him. Rather than risk dropping him, Spence knelt down to set Mooch back on the ground. He remained at the dog’s level, letting the dog lick his face like crazy, the whole time whining and wagging his tail at a million miles an hour.
    For the first time since touching down in the States, Spence felt as if he was back with family.
    A pair of shiny dress shoes appeared at the edge of his peripheral vision. Leif. It had to be. Spence kept his face buried in Mooch’s fur for another few seconds before releasing the dog to stand up.
    The familiar sound of Leif’s voice washed over him. “Damn it, dog, let the man stand up. Sorry, buddy. Mooch likes soldiers.”
    Spence lifted his eyes to meet Leif’s gaze head-on and waited for the man to make sense of what he was seeing. It didn’t take long. Leif’s eyes widened in shock and his mouth opened and closed soundlessly like a damn guppy’s.
    He managed to choke out, “What the fuck? Wheels, is that really you?”
    Spence nodded as he stood up and moved back out of reach when Leif would have started toward him. “Yeah, it’s me.”
    Evidently, some of the other guests heard what Leif had said, because a shocked silence spread through the crowd, punctuated by a series of stage whispers as people spread the word. It took everything Spence had to step into the soft glow of the lights of the parking lot and stand his ground in front of all that intense