Time to Bounce (Carter Brothers #6)

Prologue II

I am looking to rehome myself. I’m tired of adulting. I’m house broken.

— Athena’s secret thoughts

ATHENA

Boom .

Boom .

Boom .

Boom .

Boom .

Boom .

The six-gun salute had me jolting with each blast of the gun.

“ Ma’am .”

I looked up to see the assistant chief of the Dallas Police Department standing in front of me.

I blinked, wondering how I’d missed him walking up to me.

“ This is for you,” he placed the flag in my lap. “ I want to thank you, thank your brother, for giving it all.”

My brother had fought in the war in Afghanistan . He’d been to Pakistan and spent six months there.

He’d been to Kuwait , Japan , and Germany , all with his stints in the military.

He came home, joined the DPD , and died within a week of being out of orientation.

I was so lost.

My one constant in life… and he was just gone.

My mother, who was dead silent next to me, looked like she was a shell of the person she used to be.

A shell of the person she was before she and my dad had been shot with me in Dad’s arms.

I looked over at her and saw the scar on her forehead.

With that scar came her new recluse nature.

Honestly , I was surprised to see her out of the house.

She didn’t leave it much.

Just went to show how much she loved Gavrel .

I loved him, too.

He was hard not to love.

Me , however, I didn’t get the same kind of treatment.

I felt like my mother blamed me for my dad’s death.

I’d been there the night Mary Beth had been taken. In my mother’s eyes, I was the reason for her life changing for the worse. I was a constant reminder that she’d lost my sister, yet I still remained.

They slowly started to lower the coffin into the ground, and my breath hitched.

Alone .

I was so alone now.

“ I want you to stop looking.”

I glanced over at my mother. “ What ?”

“ Stop looking for your sister,” she whispered. “ You’re the reason he was there. You had a hunch, so Gavrel went, like he always did.”

I felt her words like a slap to the face.

“ He was at work, Mother .” I looked at her.

Was she really that out of touch with reality?

“ The only reason he got a job there was because of you,” she accused. “ He wouldn’t have come home if you hadn’t asked him to help you look for her.”

I didn’t know what to say.

I mean, my brother had come home because he was too highly ranked to be a field soldier.

He didn’t like the work anymore.

Was she really saying this?

“ I don’t want you to look anymore.” She turned to fully face me. “ If you keep doing it, I don’t want anything to do with you anymore.”

I couldn’t stop the betrayal from showing on my face. “ That’s really what you want?”

My mom twisted away, giving me her shoulder. “ I’ve wanted it for a long time. You were just too stupid to see it.”