Chapter Four
Dominic
“They gave you a week off. Why’d you only take three days?”
Bradford was driving today, and normally that would piss me off since I liked being in control. But I was feeling anything but normal, so I’d let him. I’d thought that would shut him up so I could sort out the hellscape inside my head, but he continued to badger me.
“That’s the fourth time you’ve asked me today. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted to get rid of me.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he sputtered. “You’re the best. I wanted to drive with you from the first day I joined the force.”
“Yeah, why’s that?” It was slow and we were heading to the Blue Bird for lunch.
That second text from my father demanding to know where my mother was had ruined the peace I’d been attempting to rebuild in my life up here.
The jewelry store heist compounded my anxiety, as my name had been printed in the paper along with Emerson’s.
They’d called us “two heroic deputies.” My father might read the story, and I wouldn’t put it past him to call Simms and whisper in his ear in an attempt to damage my reputation.
Maybe go so far as to send his cronies up here to make my life miserable.
Michael Starr left no stone unturned when it came to getting rid of his enemies, and despite me being his only child, he still hated me for helping my mother escape their horrible marriage.
His tentacles were long enough to reach up here and ruin me. I had to watch my back everywhere.
“Well…you were in the NYPD, so that’s automatically a cool factor. I still can’t understand why you wanted to move up here.”
“You ever been to the city?”
“No. But from everything I’ve seen on television, it sure as hell beats this little one-horse town.”
It surprised me how many people up here had never been downstate to New York City, but then again, most people I knew from home had never been to the Adirondacks.
People tended to stay in their little bubble and not venture far from home unless they were running away from something.
Once my mother left, I’d had nothing to keep me in the city and every reason to leave.
An outsider could be seduced by the fast life and the glamour, but those of us who lived with the sights and sounds embedded in our bloodstream knew that if you scratched the surface of the glittering facade, a second world of ugliness resided beneath.
I pulled into the diner parking lot and cut the engine. “You know the old adage, the grass is always greener? Don’t believe all the hype. The city is great, but there’s a lot to be said for a quieter, slower way of life.”
“Maybe so, but you got to live it, at least. I grew up here, and sometimes it feels like I’ll never leave. It’s the same shit every day.”
We entered the diner and took a booth by the windows. Mary Ann came and poured us coffee. We’d hooked up once and had remained friendly, which was why she gave me a genuine smile.
“Hey, you two. Your usual?”
I always ordered the tuna on wheat with fries while Bradford got the burger deluxe.
“Works for me.”
Bradford shook his head. “I’ll go for the turkey on whole wheat, no mayo. And a side salad.”
Mary Ann’s brows rose high, but she merely nodded and walked away. Amused, I couldn’t help poking him. “Turkey? Salad? Since when?”
“Lila’s into health and nutrition and stuff. She said less meat and fried foods is better. So I figured it can’t hurt to try.”
And there it was. The reason I had no desire to enter a committed relationship.
“You’ve known the girl for all of three minutes, and already she’s changing you? Not a good sign.” I’d be damned if I’d do that for any woman.
Color rose in Bradford’s cheeks. Yeah, he was young, but he needed to learn to stand up for himself. “I told you we dated in high school. Besides, I’m cool with it.”
“That’s sweet. She wants her man all healthy and shit. Is she gonna buy you some new clothes too? Or she doesn’t mind those ratty jeans and band T-shirts you live in?”
“Not like I’m in them for that long.” Bradford smirked, and I rolled my eyes.
“Dude. Eventually you gotta come up for air. If you have nothing in common but sex, it’s gonna get boring pretty fast.”
Mary Ann brought over our food. “Here you go. Lemme know if you need anything else.”
“How’s Brianna? She still on the swim team?” I asked, and Mary Ann’s face brightened.
“Yeah, and she’s doing great. She’s spending all her time in the pool this summer.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Brianna was Mary Ann’s nine-year-old daughter. At sixteen, Mary Ann had gotten pregnant. The father was some summer guy she’d had a fling with, and then he’d disappeared. She’d confessed that she didn’t even know his last name.
Being someone’s stepparent, and children in general, weren’t in my wheelhouse. Getting through each day was about as much as I could handle.
Mary Ann left us, and Bradford picked up his sandwich. “You were together, weren’t you?”
I bit into my tuna sandwich and chewed. “We hooked up, yeah. Why?”
“She’s cute and seems nice. Just wondering why you weren’t interested. I mean, you just said if all you’ve got going is sex, it gets boring.”
Before answering, I swallowed and drank some coffee to ease the tightness in my throat. “Because I’m not looking for a ready-made family, nor to start one. Mary Ann’s a great person, but she knows I’m not father material.”
Bradford ate some of his sandwich and picked at his salad, and I could tell he really wasn’t into it, but his desire to be who Lila wanted was greater. To his credit, he stuck it out.
“I dunno, man. You act like you’ve got your shit together.
I bet you’d be an okay dad. I know I’m kinda looking forward to it one day.
Taking him to a ball game or fishing. I’ve got three brothers and sisters, and we all played together.
My parents were great—we had Sunday dinners and big holidays together.
Now that they’re older, we all chip in and do it for them. ”
My sandwich finished, I pushed the plate away. “What if you have a girl?”
“Doesn’t make a difference, except I’d probably have to lock myself away when she turns sixteen ’cause no punk is gonna be allowed to touch her.”
“I bet. But see, I don’t have that urge to reproduce.”
Bradford smirked. “Only the urge to merge, huh?”
Glad we were back on a more lighthearted track, I grinned. “You got that right.”
The door bells tinkled, and Emerson walked in, holding hands with Natalie, the pretty girl I’d seen him flirting with at Dolly’s. They sat on the same side of a booth, and she immediately clung to him and began kissing his neck.
I was unaware I’d made a face until Bradford laughed.
“I thought the two of you would’ve made peace after what happened at the jewelry store robbery.”
A chill ran through me, and I grunted. “There is no ‘two of us.’ ”
His brows raised high. “You had beef in high school?”
“No. We had nothing. I barely knew him.”
Technically true, and lucky for me, Emerson knew enough to keep his mouth shut about what he did know, both while on the force in the city and up here.
“And you moved up here with no idea he was living in Appleton Falls?”
“How could I?” I sipped my coffee, praying he’d shut up.
Sooner or later my lies would catch up with me but today was not that day. Too many moving parts of my life were beginning to smack up against each other, and I was busy playing whack-a-mole, slapping down one problem while another popped up. And Emerson Kane played the lead in most of them.
Thankfully Bradford remained silent. Mary Ann dropped the check off, and I paid. We stopped by Emerson and Natalie’s table on our way out and they were still kissing.
“Get a room,” I dropped, and Natalie giggled while Emerson’s face burned.
“Maybe we should take the food home, honey, and have lunch in bed.” Natalie rested her head on Emerson’s shoulder, while her fingers teased along his thigh.
“I’ve been staying with Emerson and taking care of him after his terrible ordeal, poor baby.
” But even as she spoke, her heated gaze raked me from head to toe, leaving me cold.
I didn’t like the vibe I picked up from her.
We left them and walked out to the parking lot.
“Man, she looked like she was ready to pounce on you.” Bradford unlocked the patrol car. “You think she’s playing Kane? That sucks.”
“Yeah, well, he’s gonna have to figure that out for himself. Not like he’d believe me if I told him.”
We were in the patrol car and doing our sweeps around town, and Bradford continued to question me about Kane. “I don’t understand something. How can you barely know him if you went to school together? Weren’t you in the same classes?”
We made a sweep of Main Street, and then I decided to take a run past Devlin Summers and Brody Martin’s home.
Too many times we’d found traffic backed up on the road, as people stopped to take pictures or simply stand and wait, hoping the superstars would appear.
I knew they spent a good part of the summer and autumn in Georgia, so keeping an eye on their property while it was vacant made sense.
“Because,” I drawled as I turned onto the semi-paved road that led to their home, “we had more than seven hundred kids in our high school graduating class. You think I knew everyone?”
“You’re shittin’ me.” Bradford’s eyes bugged out of his head. “We don’t even have that many in our entire school.”
I grinned. “Big city.”
“But you knew Kane.”
Memories washed over me like the ugly gray waves of the ocean at Brighton Beach.
Yeah. I knew him. I knew how relentlessly he’d been teased and how he’d pretended not to care.
I knew I hadn’t done anything to stop it and sat silent as my friends would make fun of him failing to climb the rope in gym or how he’d collapse from exhaustion after attempting to perform twenty push-ups.