The Teacher and the Soldier

By RJ Scott

Can Daniel persuade the man he loves to remain by his side in Ellery?

Luke left Ellery for college and his career as a teacher, and vowed never to come back, not to the parents who hurt him, or the town that never noticed his pain. He’s bigger than bigger than his dad’s abuse and his mom’s abandonment and he has a life that he’s happy with. But when his father is murdered he returns home, not to mourn for his dad, but to settle his inheritance and sell everything that reminds him of the painful past. His sole purpose is to rid himself of his stake in the Ellery Mountain Cabins and move on, but everything takes an unexpected turn when he encounters Daniel.

A former soldier, Daniel has managed to escape the haunting memories of his past and the weight of survivor's guilt by embracing a life of living to the fullest. With his tattoos, confidence, and unyielding determination, he co-owns Ellery Resort Cabins alongside Luke. However, it's evident that Luke wants nothing to do with his family's legacy. Despite this, Daniel finds himself falling deeply in love with Luke, believing with all his heart that Luke is his forever. But Luke has made it clear that he won't be staying in Ellery, and it's only a matter of time before he departs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RJ Scott
• Release date: May 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781785640674

RJ Scott

RJ Scott is the author of the best selling Male/Male romances The Christmas Throwaway, The Heart Of Texas and the Sanctuary Series of books.She writes romances between two strong men and always gives them the happy ever after they deserve.

Book preview

Chapter One

Only the darkening sky told Luke Fitzgerald what time it was. His cell was in the car with a dead battery, and he never wore a watch. The evening was drawing in, and with it the familiar coolness of a fall night in the mountains. If he wasn’t careful, he would get caught in the regular evening rain he remembered from his childhood. Coming here, to Ellery, to the place he’d called home for the first eighteen years of his life, was something he’d never thought he would do. Not while his dad was alive, anyway.

Leaning against the fence, he stared down at the town nestled in the V of the valley between Ellery Mountain and Mercury Peak. Where he’d been able to see things clearly a few short minutes before, now everything was blurring in the deep gray-blue smudge of evening light. Luke tracked a car’s progress by its headlights as it left the town and made its way up the mountain. There had been a few cars passing by today, but Luke was far enough from the road that no one had stopped to ask him what the hell he was doing rooted to the same spot for hours.

Shifting his stance, Luke pulled away from the fence and stretched tall. His back ached, his head hurt, and he felt like shit. Driving for eight hours straight was possibly the worst decision he’d made since he’d decided to come back to Ellery. His chiropractor was going to have a cow when he assessed the damage Luke was doing to the already heavy tension he carried through his back muscles and up into his neck.

The headlights shot intermittently through the spaces between the fir trees on each bend. Luke identified the vehicle on the last bend as a police car, the white standing out against the darkness of the trees. When it pulled onto the shoulder next to his car, Luke wasn’t surprised. Cops were far more attuned to cars parked off the main road.

The headlights meant he didn’t get a good look at the cop until he was less than four paces away. The new arrival stood loose-hipped, with his hand resting on the weapon in his holster. Peering through the gloom at the cop’s face, Luke knew that fate was fucking with him. Not only had an Ellery cop found his hiding place, but that Ellery cop was Corporal Finn Ryan.

Finn Ryan in the flesh. The man who’d been so closely involved in the death of Luke’s dad. Christ. Way to slap what Luke had hoped to avoid right up in his face.

Is there a problem, sir? Finn asked firmly.

Luke pushed his clenched fists into his pockets and stilled the anxiety rising inside him. No problem, officer, he said. Just visiting the town and spending a little time clearing my head after a long drive.

Finn took another step closer, and a look of recognition passed over his face. Luke remembered Finn as tall, dark, and rangy as hell, although his memories were of a boy of fifteen, not a man of… what would it be now? Twenty-four? He was five years younger than Luke, if he remembered correctly. Luke really didn’t want to remember anything about Ellery.

Luke? Finn looked momentarily taken aback before regaining his poise.

Hi, Finn.

They hadn’t been friends in school, just two people who’d known each other by sight. Luke had been in college while Finn was still a freshman. Of course Finn, being a resident, would have heard all the rumors about him and his dad. Hell, he probably knew everything that had happened. Familiar resentment built inside Luke. He was bigger than that—bigger than his dad’s abuse or his mom’s abandonment. Bigger than this town. He wouldn’t let this place drag him down again however hard it tried.

You missed the funeral, Finn offered. There was no accusation in his voice. He was simply making a statement, one that hung in the air with no possible answer Luke could give. Or at least not one that didn’t involve reiterating the contents of two years of counseling sessions and eight years of living his life.

Busy, was all Luke eventually offered in response.

Finn didn’t call him on the excuse. You’ve been up here a while, Luke. Widow Jenn called it in. Said a stranger had been standing here for hours, just staring down at the town.

Luke shrugged. He couldn’t deny that hours had passed as he’d gazed down at the town and the tiny, distant shapes of gravestones in the far churchyard of St Jeremiah’s. He’d deliberately stayed up here until darkness had begun to creep over the mountain. Call it self-preservation, but there was no way he was driving into Ellery in daylight.

Widow Jenn is still alive? he said.

Finn took the change of subject in his stride and nodded. Ninety-eight and thriving on ten a day with a glass of whiskey, he said.

Luke snorted a laugh. Does she still have those binoculars? Widow Jenn was one of the more colorful characters in town, and when he was younger she’d had her fingers in so many pies—evidently that hadn’t changed.

You got somewhere to stay? Finn asked.

Is that cop-speak for what the fuck am I doing?

Shit. That had been a gut reaction. Luke regretted the words as soon as they’d left his mouth. It wasn’t Finn’s fault, any of this. He hadn’t been a cop back when Luke had had to leave town.

No, Finn said evenly. I assume you’re back to deal with the Ellery Resort issue.

Luke narrowed his eyes and regarded the solid, calm presence of Finn Ryan in his uniform. Finn hadn’t once mentioned Luke visiting his dad’s grave, which meant inside the cop’s head he was filing away what he knew about Luke and making assumptions. Never mind that they might be the right ones. It pissed Luke off that people assumed he would do things a certain way because of who he used to be. Not this town, not his dad… not even his cheating ex had the right to get inside Luke’s head and presume they knew what he was thinking.

I am, Luke said. He extended a hand for Finn to shake.

The cop didn’t hesitate. He shook Luke’s hand with a firm grip.

We probably need to talk, Finn began. About what happened. About my part in it.

No need for talking. What’s done is done.

The man who wanted to kill me—

I said no. Luke couldn’t stop the panic in his voice, and it scared him to be showing it to the very first person who’d crossed his path.

Finn held up a hand to indicate that it was okay.

I need to get moving. I booked in at the hotel.

Nice to see you again. Finn offered the few words with sincerity.

The whole sentence made Luke shudder inwardly. He didn’t need platitudes.

He didn’t answer. Not when his only answer could be, Wish I could say the same.

He climbed into his car and made it to the outskirts of town in a few minutes, with Finn not far behind.

The night was really upon him by the time he stepped into the reception of the Mountain View Hotel. Paperwork signed and card scanned as a deposit, he finally got to his room when the clock on the nightstand showed eight p.m. He put his phone to charge then, on autopilot, he took a shower in the clean and tidy bathroom.

The bed was comfortable and the TV had cable—all the comforts of home. He ate an energy bar to calm the hunger in his belly, and when he’d run out of excuses for himself, he checked his charging cell. He’d been avoiding the damn thing for a week, and there was a hell of a lot of missed calls and texts. Silently, he scrolled through the texts, which started off angry, moved to pleading, then to demanding. The last one was Zach completely losing it, and hell, Luke couldn’t blame him.

Zach was the one who’d been cheating. Outwardly, he was the one who over the last two years had destroyed everything they had together. But Luke had let him. He knew that. He’d allowed Zach to control him and his life, fallen into that easy pattern of behavior where he’d hidden his own wants and needs to keep someone else happy. No wonder Zach had cheated on him, when Luke had changed his personality so drastically.

Tell me you at least got there safe.

A simple text and at last one he could answer.

Here, he replied.

He thought about what else he should say. He and Zach had been together six years and had a mortgage together. He wanted nothing of the investment in their small condo, which had been scraped and saved for with his teacher’s salary and the money Zach made as a veterinarian’s assistant. Luke owed Zach some response. The paperwork for transferring everything into Zach’s name should have been dealt with weeks ago. But it had arrived the same day he’d heard about his dad, then it had just sat there. He’d proved his dad right. He had nothing that would last forever, and he’d fucked up big time.

Signing and sending tomorrow.

As soon as he’d sent the text, he deleted all the voicemails without listening to them— several from Zach and three from an unknown number. He couldn’t face listening to anything. He was done.

Daniel Skylar was way beyond angry. His day had gone from a