My Soldier: A Miliatary Romance by Leah Holt Read Free Book Online

this crap before I get stuck having to learn on my own and burn your clutch out.”
    Sitting in the driver's seat, I clicked the seat belt in. Looking over at Kevin, he expanded his lids to their limit, hands shaking as he buckled himself in. “Don't kill me.”
    “Asshole,” I spat, smiling as he mocked me with fear of my driving.
    “Alright, push the clutch in, and hold the brake.” Nodding my head, I pressed my feet down onto the pedals. “Now, pull the shifter back so it's not in gear and it's sitting in neutral.”
    “How will I know it's in neutral?” I asked, gripping the knob tightly in my palm. Looking down at where the gear pattern had been at one point, the spot was now worn and bare.
    “It'll have give to it, watch, just pull it back.” Placing his hand over mine, he jiggled the shifter. “See?”
    “Yeah, I see what you're saying.”
    “Alright, now start the engine.”
    The motor turned over, roaring to life. Flicking my eyes up towards the house, I caught our mother standing in the window. Her eyes were lined with a smile, arms folded over her chest as she watched us in the road out front.
    My mom's hand came up and gently cupped her lips, and even from that distance I could see the light tears cascading over her cheek bones.
    Kevin was right, our mom was going to have a much harder time with him leaving than any of us. He was her baby boy, the only boy.
    When they wrote the description of a mama's boy in the dictionary, they absolutely could have used my brother as the prime example.
    “Now what?” Holding the wheel with two hands, I could feel my heart start to beat faster inside my chest. I wasn't exactly the best driver to begin with, so my nerves were on edge.
    “Keep the brake and clutch pushed in, then push the shifter to the upper left into first gear.” His finger pointed at the spot where I assumed it once had the number one. Sliding the handle up, I felt it click into place. “Okay, here comes the tricky part.”
    “Tricky part? Why? Why is this the tricky part?”
    “You have to release the brake. Then while releasing the clutch give her some gas, but not too fast or the car will stall. Go gently till you feel the pull.” His hands mimicked my feet against the pedals, slowly raising one then pushing down the other.
    “Here we go.” I whispered under my breath, letting the pressure lift off the balls of my feet. The car began to jerk, bouncing hard in the front end.
    “Slower, slower, now give it some gas.” Kevin's palm fell to the dashboard, his body leaning over his lap. “More gas, more gas.” The car bucked and jumped, then the engine fell quiet. “Try again.” His finger raised up, twirling in a circle.
    Repeating the same motion, I began to feel what he had been trying to explain. The car started to roll forward, my fingers tightening around the shifter.
    Kevin pressed up in his seat, leaning over to look at the speedometer. “Alright, when you hear the engine start to turn high pitched, and the RPM's start to hit three or four grand, then shift into second.”
    “Slow down, where's second gear?” My eyes darted between the center console and the road.
    “Just pull it straight back.” The sound of the motor was growing, a whirring squeal was piercing my eardrums. “Now! Shift now!” he barked.
    “Stop yelling at me!” Yanking the shifter back, a loud grinding noise filled the car. Panic hit my chest, the nerves in my body turned cold. “What the fuck is that?” I asked, pulling my foot off the gas, and the clutch.
    As the car jumped and came to a violent halt, Kevin said, “That is the sound of you grinding the gears, V. Let's try to not do that.”
    Suddenly, in the rearview mirror the blazing flash of red and blue hit my eyes. Snapping my head to the side mirror, there was a police officer who pulled up and stopped behind us.
    “Fuck, Kev, it's a cop.”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “So?” My head whipped towards my brother, jaw hanging open. “Why is he