Beard Up(11)

And I'd be the one to pull that silver handle that watched them fry.


      ///
       
         
       
        

That was a promise.

"Because I haven't gotten enough information on them to issue warrants for their arrests," I finally answered. "I got close once, and my father tried to have me killed. Started to go after my family."

"And what happened then?" Sean continued questioning. Always so curious.

I looked at him.

"I faked my own death."

His eyes went wide.

"And you left them," he guessed.

I nodded once.

"And Silas is protecting them?" Sean's voice sounded strangled.

Silas finally spoke up.

"Been doing that for a while now, but once I realized how deep this ran, I pulled in a few old buddies."

"Who?" Sean was beginning to sound impatient. "Not to sound like a dick here, but I need some more information. If you're not watching over them well enough … "

"Joker."

All his words stopped completely. I could hear the fucking leaves swaying and blowing each time the wind blew.

"Well … " Sean said. "That'll get the job done."

Silas snorted.

I grinned.

"And the boy that was living next to your wife?"

I gritted my teeth.

"A serial widower," I answered. "Been married four times, and each wife has died of a heart attack well before they should've ever had to worry about that shit."

"Just fuckin' kill him and get it over with," Sean grunted. "We aren't stupid. We know he had something to do with it, and I haven't even seen the file yet."

I chuckled, and then that chuckle vanished just as quickly as it came when Sean's next question pierced the quiet night air.

"When you get everything you need on your parents … what then?" he asked. "Are you getting your family back?"

I looked up at the night sky.

There wasn't a star in sight.

God damn city, always fucking up the stars.

"It's not that easy," I sighed. "I've been gone for a really long time now. She may not want me back."





Chapter 6


I married the man who was willing to start my car for me on cold mornings.

-Text from Mina to Audrey

Mina

I was sick to my stomach. I didn't want to do this. Oh, God. I didn't want to do this.

I looked over at my baby girl, sleeping blissfully in her bed, completely unaware of my turmoil, and closed my eyes in mortification. 

I opened a can of worms, and now I couldn't figure out how the hell to get them sealed back up in the can again.

This thing with Josh had gotten so far out of hand.

When I'd told him two weeks ago that I would go out on a ‘friends only' date with him, it had never occurred to me that he would take that opportunity and run with it.

He'd wormed himself into my life, and I had no clue what to do or say to get him out of it. I'd plainly told him how I felt in the very beginning, and it was like he'd taken that with a grain of salt.

Where I thought I had put up a clear roadblock, Josh just figured all he had to do was find a detour to get where he wanted to go.

And, apparently, he wanted to be with me.

I didn't want to be with him, though. I wanted him to go the hell away and not come back. I wanted him to get out of my life and to leave me alone after he left.

But after what happened earlier, I wasn't sure what I had to do to get him out of it.

Hell, he didn't even live next to me anymore, and he was still ruining my life.

I knew that I was leaving, though. That thing was concrete.

I'd already packed all of Sienna's and my things that we were taking with us. I'd waited until Josh would have gone to work, and then loaded our car up so full that I wasn't sure that Sienna would be comfortable enough on the ride to where we were going.

But, at this point, it didn't matter.

She either had to deal with being uncomfortable for a few hours, or I was going to be forced into having sex with a man who I didn't want in my house, let alone anywhere near my person.

I was leaving.

The rest of our stuff was being put into storage, thanks to movers. They would handle the rest of the packing and moving, as well as the cleaning of the house after we left.

I'd resigned from my job at the hospital, and I'd found a nursing contract in Uncertain, Texas that would last for the next four weeks while I tried to decide what in the hell I was going to do next.

The clock on the wall struck nine, and someone knocked lightly on the door.

I turned to stare at the door with uncertainty and sighed.

That was because I knew the man who was standing on the other side of the door, and this one didn't scare the absolute shit out of me.