{"product_id":"the-man-i-refused-to-lose-arete-resort","title":"The Man I Refused to Lose (Arete Resort)","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI keep coming back to Arete.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFifth visit. Same mountains. Same memories I can't shake loose. The men who made this place bearable are gone, and I've run out of good reasons to keep showing up.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen Walker Rhodes walks through the door.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOur medic. A bullet took him out early. I was the only one left when it was over, or so I thought. Five years of nothing. No calls. No explanations. I don't know if we were protecting each other or just protecting ourselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHe's harder now. Doesn't smile the way I remember. But he looks at the leg I came home without and calls it a story. He looks at me like I'm still worth something. And then he tells me I'm wasting everything the families of our dead have sacrificed to give me.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHe's always been the only man who made me wonder if I was as straight as I believed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen they come for him, I stop wondering. Badges. Guns. The whole ugly machine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI call my mother at three in the morning. I board a plane. I spend every favor I have left to make sure he gets a fighting chance.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI want you. That's what I wanted to say.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut I didn't.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books Prime","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45922706522303,"sku":"15706620-fdc7-44a6-b751-8b353f9d1172","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0761\/7550\/7647\/files\/dbf48f5a3b7579f04fcecbce4bb59308.jpg?v=1785190068","url":"https:\/\/books-prime.com\/products\/the-man-i-refused-to-lose-arete-resort","provider":"Books Prime","version":"1.0","type":"link"}