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“I don’t expect them to do exactly what they’re asked. I’m just making sure Azelie is safe.”

“Why do you care? Isn’t she a LeBlanc?”

“Because she’s not quite fifteen, Mark. Because I don’t give a fuck what her last name is. The beef is between her grandparents and my parents, not her. Yet somehow she’s mixed up in all the shit that’s going on.” I clamped my teeth together as we approached the gate, and his hand wrapped around my arm.

“So, it’s true. O’Connor attacked them at their house. Or he allegedly sent some dudes to do so,” Mark said.

“Small fucking towns,” I grumbled. I knew I shouldn’t have been so shocked that everyone already heard about what happened last night, but I was still a little surprised that the rumors had spread so fast.

“Sorry, man.” He gave me a tight smile as I paused at the gate.

“Army?” I asked, noting the dog tag around his neck.

He nodded. “You walk like a military man yourself.”

I raised a brow and chuckled. “There’s a distinctive military walk now, is there?”

“You haven’t put your hands in your pockets once. You’re constantly watching everything around you. And you—”

“All right, all right,” I inserted without directly confirming as we stopped at the edge of the track. I ripped my attention to a slender blonde hooking her arm around Cory’s shoulders. Narrowing my sights onto the two teenagers, I strained to filter out every conversation through the crowd of kids except for theirs.

“Hey you,” she said, standing an inch or so taller than Cory, and she smoothed out her already perfectly curled hair.

Cory’s eyes widened, and a hesitant smile lifted on his lips. “Becca, hey!”

“I thought your idea for honoring our military men and women with this whole fundraiser thing was such a great theme idea. You’re taking me to the dance on Friday night, right?” she continued.

“I-I-I—” he stammered as his eyes darted around the track.

“Great. I’ll send you the color of my dress. Anyway, are you going to the mother/son, father/daughter dance on Saturday? I volunteered us junior girl captains to be in charge of it. I figured that having the sophomore girls plan it would be a little…insensitive, you know, what with Azelie’s poor circumstances.” Becca shot a wry smile at Azelie, who was in earshot of the conversation but seemed to be doing really well either pretending not to hear her, or ignoring her. Instead of the expected sympathy I should have felt for Azelie, the walls of my heart hardened with nothing but pure anger.

“What do you mean?” Cory asked, his brows knitting together.

Becca returned her gaze to Cory and cocked a hip. “You know how she doesn’t have a dad at all? Or the fact that not a single person in her family has been involved in the military. Even her grandpa—”

“It’s not her fault, though, is it?” Cory interjected.

Despite my blood boiling with rage over a fucking teenager’s dig at another teenager, I remained still and let a smidge of pride trickle through my veins. Cory was clearly being hit on by an older girl, yet hadn’t been willing to let Azelie be thrown under the bus.

Tipping my head to Mark, who was clearly watching the same interaction, I nodded at Becca. “Is she dating Cory? Or is this some flirtation thing?” I asked.

Mark pulled his lips into a thin line. “I know they’re flirting, but last I heard, she doesn’t want to put a label on things.”

“What’s she the captain of? I heard they got the entire track and field teams and cross-country involved.” I glanced back briefly at Azelie. She remained facing away from Cory with her arms crossed tightly in front of her chest. Faint red outlined her eyes as if she was doing everything in her power to not cry. Macy stood in front of her, chatting her ear off about who the hell knew what, clearly oblivious to the gossip that was tearing Azelie apart.

“She runs hurdles, if I remember correctly,” Mark replied. “Look, I know I want to step in and smack Cory across the backside of his head, but that would make shit worse.”

“Yeah, I know.” I clenched my teeth together and then raised a brow as an idea danced through my mind. I may not be able to change the factthat Azelie wouldn’t be going to the students’ dance with Cory, but there was something I could handle.

“Good to meet you, Mark. But I’ve got some phone calls to make and some errands to run,” I quickly said and pushed off the fence.

“See ya.” He lifted his chin in a nod as I jogged away from the track.

Reaching my bike, I snatched up Azelie’s helmet and paused as another person came into view.

There was no way. Strutting across the parking lot toward me was a tall, much more muscular man than the last time I’d seen him, heading my way. His dirty-blond hair, however, hadn’t changed a bit in the fifteen years I’d been gone. His thin lips pulled wide into a smile, and his blue eyes lit up as his features crystalized in my vision.

“The rumors are true,” Turk shouted and waved.