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“Shit yeah, he talked about him. The guy was obsessed with gettin’ Daddy’s approval. At least, up until Dunc fucked up that hit.”
My body tensed at the way she so casually mentioned Nash’s shooting. I did my best to keep my expression blank, but on the inside, my heart was thundering against my sternum.
“Well, for one thing, them cop pants looked mighty fine on that man’s ass.” Tina Witt might have been a horrible human being, but she was not wrong on that particular point.
She looked at me like I was stupid. “He felt it moved their relationship into a healthier place. How the hell do you think he felt about it?”
No one was truly alone in this world. There was always someone a person would turn to when they needed help.
I wondered how Nash would feel knowing that Tina Witt had a raging crush on him. I also wondered if that meant he’d never come to see her in jail.
Tina shrugged. “Maybe it was that I mentioned how fine the chief’s ass looked one day or that I told him that the chief hadn’t done me wrong like every other fucking resident of Knockemout. He never looked at me like I was a nobody.”
Despite my best efforts to save him, my father was a homeless addict. That failure never got easier for me to stomach.
I was tempted to turn around and walk out the door. But just as I recognized the tell, I also recognized the need to confront the bad. It was part of my job, part of who I was.
We Morgans weren’t huggers and for good reason. Years of disappointments and trauma had made physical affection between us a foreign language. I’d always promised myself that when I had my own family, it would be different.
Despite the fact that he’d turned into a toxic father figure, Duke Morgan had made me a better cop. And for that, I was grateful.
Bullet holes and broken hearts.
“I just wish I woulda kept trying to look to the light instead of sinking into the dark,” he said. “A man can learn to live in that dark, but it’s no life.”
Maybe the dark was an empty, meaningless existence, but it was the light that could burn you. I needed something from Lina that she didn’t seem willing to give. Something that was as essential to me as oxygen. Honesty.
I fantasized about marching into that room, pinning her to the bed, and throwing that towel on the floor.
There was fire beneath all the ice she was throwing at me.
It was official. My instincts were gone. I couldn’t see through a leggy temptress with secrets in her eyes.
“You think anyone besides my family knows about my history? You weren’t the only one opening yourself up, Nash.”
“I don’t trust you and I don’t want you anywhere near my family. You’re reckless and you use people to get what you want. You’re going to get someone hurt.”
But do you really wanna go up against me when it comes to testing his loyalty? Because I won’t hesitate to make sure you lose your oldest friend.”
I went, but only because looking at her made my chest hurt. Like she’d managed to do more damage than the two bullets I’d taken.
Sinful Suit Daddy.
WILLLDDDDDDD
He’d known every one of my teammates by name and was the team dad who made sure everyone got home safely from games and practices.
unwilling to do a deep dive into why I’d spent the last several days swinging back and forth between mad and sad.
forcing my exasperation into the box with my mad and sad.
Having overly loving parents wasn’t something that I could take for granted, but it also wasn’t something I was thrilled about.
Stupid Nash and his big, stupid mouth.
“You always look like a badass video game heroine ready to kick down a door or grab a sexy gun-toting guy and bang him into oblivion.”
“Maybe he’s here to have sex with you. Like some kind of dark sexy fairy granting dirty wishes,” I teased.
“He didn’t say something mean and offensive to you, did he? He’s supposed to be trying to get better at that.”
“This idiot practically has ‘put a fuckin’ ring on it’ tattooed on his fucking ass.” Then he jerked his chin in my direction. “And that pain in the ass has ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ tattooed on hers.”
“They get together and it’s time for her to go, he’s gonna get his stupid heart broken and she’s gonna feel bad about it. Then they’ll both end up taking it out on me. So I told Nash to leave it be and then I find out he’s climbing into bed with her.”
“I knew there was something off with Lina’s story. And when Knox voiced his concerns about her, I did some digging. Then I tracked her down and threatened her.”
“Lucian, that’s not how we solve things,” Amanda chided like he was a six-year-old mid temper tantrum.
“Baby’s breath is stupid. Fight me,” he said.
“Is that a new thing with you youngsters? Friends with partial benefits? Netflix and cuddle?”
“If I have to come over here again, you’re all in trouble,” Waylay said, making eye contact with each of us.
blame you,” Knox and Naomi said at the same time. They grinned at each other.
No more caffeine. Or red meat. Or man-induced stress, I promised myself. I’d open my meditation app and do yoga after every run. I would practice breathing exercises every hour on the hour and take nature walks. I would get the hell out of Knockemout and never look back.
The sooner I forgot Nash Morgan existed, the better.
I’d spent half the night defrosting frozen vegetables on my chest while listening to guided meditations and trying to will the stress from my body.
“Are you robbing me?” I knew Knockemout was a little rough around the edges but this seemed excessive.
“But I wasn’t honest with you. I kept things from you,” I pointed out, wondering if perhaps they’d forgotten my treason.
“He will be if he finds out you were planning on leaving town without telling any of us,” Naomi said.
“Agreed. Rule number one: No lying. We aren’t here to pretend everything is fine. We’re here to be here for each other. I said here too many times. Now it doesn’t sound like a word. Here. Here?”
“I’m not fine. I am a disaster. Even my family doesn’t know what I do for a living because they can’t handle the thought of me anywhere near even the slightest whiff of danger. If they had any idea how dangerous my job is, they would fly out here, form a protective shield around me, and force me to move home with them.”
“Thank you for the unfingered nuts,” I said.
“Honey, we know. No one thinks that. Not even Nash. He’s a Morgan. They say stupid things when they’re mad. But I have to tell you, it’s nice to see him mad,” Naomi confessed.
“Friends make friends better. We accept the bad parts, celebrate the good parts, and we don’t torture you for your mistakes,” Naomi said.
They both continued to stare at me like big doe-eyed, needy cartoon characters. “Make it stop,” I begged Stef.
