Free Project: Rogue (Project Series Book 2) by J.L. Beck Page A

and more, every night when my head hit the pillow I was forced to watch a movie play out in my mind of things that I never experienced or remember doing. Still, I could feel it in my bones that the person I was watching was truly myself.
    “Is it not bullshit that to get a hot meal around here you have to get up before ten am?” Rambo asked, startling me right out of my skin. Had I been that engrossed in my own thoughts that I hadn’t realized someone had sat down in front of me and started talking.
    “Not really,” I responded, taking a bite of my sandwich. Outside of Killer I had started to meet others, pushing myself out of my comfort zone so that I could get to know what the Project society was about. Which is where Rambo came in. We met in the dining hall one evening, and seemed to get along from that day forward.
    Rambo was a big man standing at close to six feet two inches and weighing in at over two hundred and fifty pounds. To many, I’m sure he seemed like a scary dude, but to me, he was just a big teddy bear.
    “Seriously?” Rambo questioned.
    “Yes seriously, most of everyone here seems to be up and moving at the ass crack of dawn. You’re the only one I’ve met that hates getting up in the morning, aside from myself.” I smiled sincerely, happy to be out of my own mind and finally talking to someone who didn’t have any relation to what was going on in my life.
    Rambo smiled back, revealing straight white teeth. He was attractive looking with his boyish grin and soft eyes the color of coffee. I’m sure he would make someone out in society a very happy woman one day.
    “That’s just it, I don’t get how I fit in here.” He joked, taking a bite out of his PB & J. I laughed quietly under my breath because I’m sure he knew how he fit in here. We all knew how we fit in here. We were fucked up, that’s how.
    “If you don’t know how you fit in here, then that’s probably why you’re here.” I finished my sandwich and wiped away the crumbs of bread that were sitting on my black training shirt.
    “Smart ass. I completely understand why Killer is in love with you.” His words caused my eyes to lift to his. Killer’s name was always associated with mine in this place. I couldn’t go anywhere without someone assuming he was looming right behind me.
    “Why is that?” I was curious what people thought our relationship was all about. Most had no idea how we came to meeting one another. How I had tried to protect him for years, as we grew up, and how he tried to force me away until the day they took him away and told me he died. The painful memory still stung and pulled on the tender strings of my heart. I had Killer now, but it wasn’t without fight and loss.
    Aside from Killer and I knowing each other only the people that ran the Brotherhood got the files on each person that was brought in, or at least that’s what I was told.
    Rambo rolled his eyes and smiled before speaking, “You’re funny as hell. Beautiful, and you deal with the shit in this place like you have been doing it all your life. Killer should know how good he has it, having you I mean because if you were mine…” The color of his cheeks took on a red hue as his confession came out. “If you were mine I wouldn’t let you go a day without knowing how much I cherished you.”
    The way Rambo talked about Killer made my chest ache. Not because of what he said, but more so because of the way his emotions came out when he was saying them. Rambo knew the love Killer and I shared was a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Even we knew that, so why were we still playing around this thing between us like it was a cat and mouse game I had no idea.
    “Thanks, Rambo,” I said overwhelmed with emotion. I could feel tears on the verge of spilling over, but pushed them away as I got up from the table. I didn’t want to make myself look weak. I couldn’t, it would be the easiest way for someone to put a knife in my back.
    “Hey, I