Chapter 2
It was refreshing to meet a woman who didn’t immediately want something from him, Deacon thought as he drove them back to the Wayfarer.
He remembered the venue from when he was a kid on the island, but in recent years, it had fallen into disrepair until the McCarthy family bought it, renovated it and reopened it in time for Julia’s sister’s wedding to Shane McCarthy.
At a briefing he’d attended at the police station as part of his new job, he’d been told the grand reopening of the Wayfarer would occur during Memorial Day weekend, with several days of events planned, including the wedding.
Evan McCarthy, who’d become a big star in the last few years, would be back on the island to headline the entertainment at the actual opening.
Deacon had gone to school with Evan and looked forward to seeing him again.
He followed Julia through the main doors of the Wayfarer and encountered chaos at the reception.
The bride came rushing over. “Oh my God! There she is.” Katie promptly broke down into tears as she embraced her sister. “Where’ve you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“Oh, I, uh… I took a break.”
Deacon jerked when someone roughly grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the fray.
“What the fuck, Deacon?” Blaine’s low tone was full of condemnation. “What’re you even doing here, and where did you go with her?”
Deacon wrestled his arm free of his brother’s tight hold. “I stopped by earlier to check out the new place, and she asked me to get her out of here for a bit. Not that it’s any of your business what I do.”
“Everything you do on my island is my business.”
“Fuck off with your police chief act.”
“It’s not an act. It’s a fact.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Your wife is looking for you.”
“You have no business here.”
“Actually, I do.” He winked at his brother. “Julia asked me to be her plus-one, so maybe we can turn this wedding into a double date, brother dear.” Deacon relished the fury that flashed across Blaine’s face before he schooled his features and stormed off.
Good riddance.
When had his brother become an even bigger drag than he used to be? Was it when he became the chief? Or had marriage done that to him? Deacon brushed off the unpleasantness with Blaine to focus on his “date.”
Julia was surrounded by people, including the bride and groom, so Deacon made his way to the bar, where he ordered a beer.
“Way to make off with the maid of honor, dude.” The young male bartender flashed a silly grin. “People were freaking out looking for her.”
Deacon took a sip of his beer, keeping his gaze fixed on Julia. “She didn’t think anyone would notice.”
“Oh, they noticed. Even had the DJ make an announcement.”
Deacon cringed. “Yikes.”
“Those are her brothers and sisters.” He wiped down the bar as he shared intel with Deacon. “From what I hear, they’re all close. The dad, who was a general, was a total bastard. Beat them up, beat up the mom. He’s doing time now.”
Shock reverberated through Deacon. She’d been abused as a kid?
Oh God… Deacon hoped there was a special place in hell reserved for people who abused kids and animals.
And men who abused the women they supposedly “loved.” He would never understand that kind of love.
In fact, that very issue was what had put him in jail.
He’d come to the defense of a woman he’d casually hooked up with when her ex-husband showed up at the bar where she worked, despite the restraining order that was supposed to keep him far away from her.
Deacon had gotten in the middle of their dispute, fought with the ex, landed in jail and gotten himself exiled to Gansett for his trouble.
As much as he didn't want to be on the island with Blaine breathing down his neck, he’d do it again to protect Sherri, who’d lived in fear of her ex long enough.
Before the cops had shown up, Deacon had put a serious hurt on him.
Word was that he’d broken his nose and ruptured a testicle.
Excellent.
Only thanks to Blaine intervening with the local police had Deacon avoided felony assault charges, so for that, he probably ought to be thankful to his brother.
However, gratitude toward Blaine made him feel a little nauseated.
He took another swig of beer, filled with bitterness that Blaine hadn’t wanted to hear the details behind the fight.
He’d just heard the words Deacon, fight, potential assault charges and jumped to his own conclusions.
If Deacon had to guess, Blaine probably would’ve done the same thing under similar circumstances.
His brother had no patience for bullies.
That was one thing they had in common. He’d never forget the time that Blaine had jacked up Darren Tuttle after he found out Darren had been hassling Deacon in school.
Blaine had dispatched Darren, who’d never again looked in Deacon’s direction.
At times, having Blaine around had been fortuitous. Now was not one of those times, Deacon thought as he caught his brother glaring in his direction.
Deacon ignored him and returned his focus to Julia and her family.
From what he could tell, there were three sisters and four brothers.
Some were blonde like Katie, and others were dark-haired like Julia.
An older woman he assumed was their mother stood with them, a fierce-looking, tattooed dude by her side.
Deacon would bet they had a good story to tell.
People fascinated him. Why did they do the things they did? Why did they hurt the people they supposedly loved? Why did one person appeal to him when another didn’t? What motivated them? In his career in law enforcement, he’d seen the worst of humankind—and the best.
He liked to think there was more good than bad in this world, but ten years as a Boston cop had given him reason to wonder.
A knee injury had led to a medical retirement from the BPD, which was when he’d started over as harbor master in Harwich.
That job and that town had suited him, until the night he’d stepped up for a friend and had his life upended once again.
Whatever. He’d survived upheaval before, and he’d survive it this time, too. Hopefully, he could get through this summer without doing something really stupid, like punching his brother or falling for Julia.
Julia hated that everyone was upset with her, even after she’d apologized for worrying them.
“What’s going on with you?” Owen asked when the others had dispersed from the impromptu family meeting in the middle of the dance floor.
“Nothing is going on. I just needed a break.”
“In the middle of Katie’s wedding?”
How could Owen possibly understand what it felt like for her to see him and Katie happily settled with their true loves while she recovered from being screwed over by yet another in a long string of losers?
The three of them had been a team for so long that Julia wasn’t sure how to go on without them available to her at a moment’s notice.
Intellectually, she knew they’d still be available to her, but emotionally… They didn’t come first with each other anymore, and that was the part she was having trouble accepting.
How many times had they had to rally around their mother or one of their younger siblings or each other during the decades of hell they’d endured at the hands of their father? Too many to count.
Long after they’d become legal adults, the three of them had moved when their family relocated with the military so they could continue to be available to their younger siblings.
It’d been madness, and even now that the monster was in prison, it was still hard to believe the nightmare was really over.
“Jule?”
She glanced at Owen, whose brow was furrowed with concern for her. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked why you needed a break in the middle of Katie’s wedding.”
“I… I’m not sure. I just felt a little overwhelmed and needed some air. Deacon offered to take me for a ride, and I thought Katie was set with Shane for the next little while. I didn’t mean to upset everyone.”
“I think you hurt her feelings by leaving.”
Julia certainly hadn’t intended for that to happen. “I’ll smooth things over with her. Don’t worry.”
“I am worried. You’re not yourself this weekend. Whatever’s going on, I wish you’d just talk to me about it.”
There was no way she could tell her older brother about being taken for a ride by a man who’d used her to set up his life with another woman.
She’d withstood enough humiliation since she’d put those pieces together.
She didn’t need more. “It’s nothing you need to worry about, O.
You’ve got your hands full with Laura and the kids. ”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have room in my hands for you, too, if you need me.”
His sweetness brought tears to her eyes, which, of course, he noticed. Owen had been primed since early childhood to be on the lookout for trouble in his family and knew it when he saw it. He put his arm around her. “Julia… Please talk to me.”
“I will. When I’m ready to.”
“Promise?”
She nodded and leaned into his embrace, drawing strength from him the way she had her entire life. “You know what I do need?”
“What’s that?”
“A job. You know of anyone on Gansett who’s hiring?”
“Why do you need a job?”
“Things went south with mine when the new boss came in and ruined everything. I figured I’d stick around for the summer on Gansett.”
He didn’t need to know she was flat broke and couldn’t afford the flight back to Texas.
Before she lost her job, she’d bought a one-way ticket to Gansett, hoping she might get some vacation time to spend on the island after the wedding.
She’d also booked the cowboy strippers for Katie’s bachelorette party. Both had been nonrefundable.
“I’m sorry about the job, but thrilled you’ll be spending the summer. I’ll ask around. We’ll find you something.”
“Thanks, O. I’m also looking forward to getting to know my niece and nephews, my brother- and sister-in-law and the man our mom has fallen so hard for.”