5. Harris
5
HARRIS
A n hour later, on the way back from stuffing my duffle with everything I could possibly need, I left my apartment behind and got in my car. As I drove, I debated within myself—go it alone, or call for backup?
I glanced at my cellphone where it rested against my thigh before exhaling long and loudly. “Just do it already.”
At the stoplight, I snatched the phone up and mashed my thumb on Lee’s contact. It rang twice, then my brother’s voice came on the line.
“I didn’t get in until 2 a.m., so you’re damn lucky I couldn’t sleep in.”
“Oh shit,” I said, my eyes darting to the clock on the dash. It’d be 8:33 a.m. in California. “I forgot about the time difference.”
A loud yawn rose from the speaker. “Yeah, well, I’m about to head out on another job.” Lee had accepted a position as a bodyguard/security for hire. “I’ll be flying in and out of the country, so it’s good you called now. What’s up?”
“I want to conference Chance in,” I said. “Hold on.”
The light turned green, and I gunned the engine, smiling at the way the Mustang growled in response, then pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall. No sense causing an accident trying to fill my brothers in on the latest bombshell blowing up my life. Once I had parked, I scrolled down to Chance’s number. Chance picked up on the third ring.
“Harris?” he rumbled, the sound of an air impact gun loud in the background. Well, that made sense. Chance worked full time in his fiancée’s garage. He’d initially retired from the service to take care of our father in his last days. After the funeral, he’d found his niche, transitioning from badass SEAL to mechanic in the blink of an eye. From what I could see, he was loving every second.
“Let me conference Lee in,” I said, then pushed the right buttons. “Lee? You there?”
“Yeah,” Lee answered. “Hey, Chance.”
“Lee,” Chance replied. “Not to be a dick or anything, but I’ve got a motor hanging above a car and it needs to be installed by the end of the day. What’s going on?”
I stifled a chuckle. That was Chance in a nutshell. He’d give you the shirt off his back, but he’d never been one for idle chitchat.
“Two things,” I said, not wanting to drag this conversation out. “One, I’ve been deactivated from my Raider unit.”
“What the fuck?” Chance thundered as Lee shouted the same thing.
In as few words as possible, I told them about losing Shawn—about watching him die. About my CO insisting on a full psych eval. About my frustration— what the hell? I’m not broken. I can still do my job. What’s talking supposed to do that time won’t take care of?
I finished my venting, and at first, silence reigned. Then Chance spoke up, quiet and calm. “It sucks, and I agree talking isn’t comfortable, but, shit, Harris, you could have told us about Shawn.”
I couldn’t, I thought, but I didn’t say it. Whenever I tried talking about Shawn, I still saw his face. Still saw that smirk, that white flash, that?—
“I spent three weeks in a car with you and you didn’t say anything?” Lee made a tutting sound. “Not cool.”
I dropped my head back onto the headrest. “You’re right. I should’ve said something, but I can barely close my eyes without seeing it happen. Seeing him step on that damn IED.”
More expletives filled the speaker, but I barely heard them. My head was full of cotton, my gut full of lead. That numbness was back, that sense of distance , like I was watching the world through a thick sheet of glass.
“Then Dad dies on top of that,” Lee added. “I get why your CO is making sure you’re fit for duty. Just suck it up, say what they want to hear, and enjoy staying stateside instead of shipping out to some godforsaken hellhole.” He let out a chuckle. “Hell, make the most of it. Find a woman to keep you company and take your mind off things.”
I shifted in my seat. “Well.” I cleared my throat. “It’s funny you should say that.”
Silence met my ears. I swallowed and forged on.
“I have found a woman. Sort of. She’s someone I’ve known casually for a couple of years. Someone I’ve flirted with—look, the bottom line is, we hooked up the night before I came home. For Dad’s funeral.” I was stalling. Just say it. “And…she’s pregnant.”
The silence grew so long, I pulled the phone away to make sure I hadn’t lost the call.
“You’re going to be a father?” Chance finally asked.
“Yes.” I exhaled.
Lee cleared his throat. “Are you happy about that?”
I blinked. I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d been running on adrenaline, disbelief, and anxiety over what would happen next. Part of me wanted to run screaming for the hills. Another part of me was frankly in awe. Me. A father. I could hardly believe it. “I, um, I don’t know. Yes, I think I am, but it’s terrifying.” It hit me all over again, and I laughed out loud. “I’m going to be a fucking dad .”
“Congratulations, then,” Chance exclaimed. “Son of a bitch. I can’t believe it.”
“I keep thinking that very same thing,” I retorted, snorting.
“You going to marry the mother?” Lee asked.
“I don’t know.” I traced a finger over the steering wheel. “We’re using my forced leave to get ready for the baby—and get to know each other better. She’s amazing, no doubt, but we need to figure out how we’re going to be as parents. If it feels right, then hell, yeah, I’ll marry Rachel, but until then, I can’t even think about it.”
“Hey, speaking of additions to the family,” Chance said, “I wanted to update the two of you on what I’ve learned about Dad and the admiral.”
Hadn’t that been trippy. All our lives, we’d thought Dad was an only child. Come to find, when Chance was going through some old papers while cleaning out the master bedroom, that Dad had had a half-brother all along. They’d had some kind of falling out years ago, and as far as we could tell, they’d never spoken again. Our whole lives, we’d had an uncle living on the other side of town—a Navy admiral, a hero—and we’d never known he had any connection to us at all.
The admiral had passed away a few years back, but Chance was still holding out some hope that we could get the whole story if we just poked around enough.
“Some of the old timers around town still remember Dad and his brother from when they were kids,” Chance said. “Mrs. Winchester—you know, the lady who used to work in the mayor’s office?” I’d forgotten that she had the same last name as Rachel—they probably weren’t related, but I made a mental note to ask her, all the same. “Anyway, she actually dug up an old picture of the two of them and gave it to me the other day. Here, I’ll send it to you.”
My phone beeped with an incoming text message. Pulling it up, my breath caught a little at the sight of Dad as just a little kid, maybe five or six years old, sitting up on the shoulders of a teenage boy. They were both grinning widely, looking pleased as punch just to be together.
What the hell went wrong, Dad? I couldn’t imagine anything that would make me turn my back on my brothers. Family meant too much to me. Sure, Chance and Lee and I used to fight as kids. We were three rowdy boys crammed into a small house—it was pretty much inevitable. But we were always there for each other when it counted. Sometimes, it seemed like my brothers were the only ones I’d ever be able to count on.
I couldn’t understand what had happened with Dad and the admiral…but I could still take a lesson from it. Family came first. I wouldn’t let myself lose sight of that. Especially now that my family included a baby on the way who needed love, care, and protection. I had no idea if I was ready to be a dad, but I was more determined than ever not to screw it up.
I bit into the ham and cheese sandwich Rachel had made me. She’d cut it into halves for me and secured it with toothpicks, and those little extra touches had left me feeling oddly touched. It had made me feel cared for, like when Mom was alive. I thought about telling her she’d be a good mom, but maybe it’d sound weird, just out of the blue.
It all felt surreal when I took a moment to think—sitting at Rachel’s table, enjoying my lunch. I’d known her intimately, but I hardly knew her at all. What was her favorite sandwich? How did she take her coffee?
She snapped her fingers. “Hello? Earth to Harris?”
“Uh?” I said, intelligently.
“Is there any chance you’re wrong?”
“Wrong about…” I frowned. “Sorry. I must have zoned out.”
She set down her sandwich and swigged water from her glass. “The step. Is there a chance it wasn’t sabotaged? I can’t stop thinking about it.”
I polished off my sandwich and brushed the crumbs off my shirt. “I’m not wrong,” I said. “The nails had been pulled out. The hammer left marks, the claw gouging the wood.” I fiddled with my glass. “Someone deliberately weakened that step so it would collapse.”
She frowned, looking pained, and I wanted to kick myself for not wording it gently.
“I can see my mother sending a building inspector, but not sabotaging a step.” Rachel pushed her plate away. She’d barely touched the food. “Mom’s selfish, but she’s never hurt me. Even drunk, she’s not violent. That isn’t her.”
“But destroying your business is something she’d be fine with?”
Rachel pressed her lips together. “She doesn’t, uh… It’s hard to explain. I guess, in her head, the ends justify the means. She’s probably thinking she’ll dig up that treasure and give me a share, and I’ll be happy. Hell, I’ll be rich. She doesn’t get that it’s not about money. That this place, this business, means something to me.” She wiped at her eyes. “She’d hurt me. She would. She has . More than she knows. But she wouldn’t attack me physically. That isn’t her.”
“It’s not just her, though,” I interjected softly, my anger rising as I remembered seeing Rachel falling through that step. She could have been hurt if I hadn’t caught her. Badly hurt, even. I reached for her hand. “Besides your mother and Darryl, does anyone else have a grudge against you? You have any enemies?”
“None that I can think of.” Rachel rubbed her stomach and I watched, fascinated. Our baby was growing under her hand.
“Darryl was mad yesterday. Really pissed off.” Rachel sat up straighter. “He was making threats?—”
“What?” I jerked forward and my knee bumped the table. “You said he insulted you, but you didn’t mention threats. What did he say?”
Rachel waved a hand dismissively. “Nothing explicit. He was upset that I laughed at his offer to buy me out. Then he ranted about how I’m just a fad. How one day, I’ll beg him to buy me out.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t what he said that was threatening, exactly. It was how certain he sounded.”
My hands clenched into fists on my lap. “Why didn’t you tell me this yesterday?” I would have demanded to move in right then.
“It’s nothing. He’s just a bully. He likes to make threats, but deep down, he’s a coward.”
I wasn’t convinced, but without evidence to the contrary, I couldn’t argue. I frowned. “This pirate treasure—how much is it supposed to be worth?” People had been known to do crazy things when a lot of money was involved.
Rachel shrugged and a spot of color returned to her cheeks. “No one knows any details about it, so it’s hard to say.” She picked up her barely touched sandwich and took a bite. That lifted my spirits, at least a bit. Rachel needed to eat, but she didn’t seem hungry. Weren't pregnant women supposed to eat for two? Then again, I knew nothing about what was normal. I’d have to remedy that as soon as possible. Google was about to become my bestest friend.
Rachel glanced up at me, and her cheeks turned pink. I found her blush charming, and I leaned in closer. “Penny for your thoughts?”
Rachel’s flush deepened. “The treasure,” she said. “I might’ve, y’know, tried to find it myself. Before I even owned this place. When I was growing up.”
I quirked a brow. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah. I was nine or ten, and I’d ride my bike to the library and scour everything they had. Not just the books either, but old magazines and newspapers. I dug up some old articles, even a map. But all I found at the X was an old grackle’s nest.”
I leaned forward, hanging on every word. I was loving this glimpse into Rachel’s past. Into what made her the incredible woman she was. She smiled and kept going, getting into her story.
“The older I got, the deeper I dug.” She took another bite and quickly swallowed. “I interviewed people, folks around town. This guy whose family’d been here since South Carolina was just a colony.” Her gaze had gone far away, focused out the window, down to the whitecaps breaking on the beach. “He said the pirate was real. His six-times-great grandma knew his lover.”
“His lover?”
Rachel’s smile softened. “The legend has it that the treasure was for her. He buried it here for her, but she never dug it up.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“There are a few theories on that. Like, he wrote her a letter telling her where to dig, but the letter never arrived. Or it did, but he never came home, and she didn’t want his treasure if she couldn’t have him.” She sighed, low and sad. “One thing all the stories say: she sat here every day, where we are now, watching the seas, waiting for his safe return.”
I covered a grin. She was a romantic. Who would’ve guessed? This tough, gorgeous woman—this fierce fairy—had a secret romance fetish, buried down deep. She was so steadfast and practical, but here she was, sighing over the story of a pirate and his love. I wondered what else I’d find beneath her tough shell, and warmth flooded through me, right down to my toes.
“As far as the treasure goes, no one can even agree on what it was, much less where it was buried, but they’ve all got their theories. Fantasies, more like.” Rachel’s voice lost its softness as she turned back to me.
I instantly missed the romance I’d glimpsed within her. If Rachel noticed my reaction, she gave no sign. She finished her sandwich and pushed her plate away.
“Most likely, there is no treasure. In hundreds of years, someone would’ve found it.”
“We could try,” I said. I wanted her excited and engaged again, wanted to see that spark of romance bright in her eyes. “We might not find pirate treasure, but this property’s so old, there’s bound to be something of interest squirreled away somewhere.”
Rachel’s blue eyes flashed, and her smile began to grow as she studied my face. Entwining my hand with hers, I pressed my case. “Just because we’re grown-ups doesn’t mean we can’t go exploring. And if Darryl and your mom are right and there really is something valuable here, shouldn’t we try to find it before they can?”
Rachel licked her lips, and a new tension rose in the air around us. God, I wanted to taste her again. Was her mouth as soft and sweet as I remembered? I tightened my grip and inched my face closer?—
“Fine,” Rachel said, leaning back in her chair. “We’ll join in the hunt. But —” She stood up, her chair scraping loudly against the floor. “—only if we find the time between working on the house repairs and preparing for the baby. And I can’t stress this enough: there’ll be no digging, none , till we’re sure there’s something to dig for.”
Rachel turned away, and just like that, the spell was broken. But I still chalked this talk up as a win. I knew more about Rachel than when I’d started, and she continued to make plans that included me.
“In the meantime, we’ve got a bachelorette party to get ready for,” she tossed over her shoulder as she put our plates in the sink. That was less of a win, getting roped into that, but I dredged up my best good-guy grin.
“Just point me to the tulle, and I’ll get started on those decorations.”