Chapter 22
brOOKS
"You have to be kidding me." I stared at the costume Connor held in his hand.
"I think it's kinda cool," Riley said, giving me a frowning glance.
"Cool?" I echoed. "It's fucking epic." Hating that it was Connor who came up with this idea, I took the black and silver mask out of Conner's fingers and gave it a closer look.
It looked vaguely like a skull, if the skull had shattered into a hundred pieces.
It was violent and beautiful at the same time.
"It's very you," Connor said as I held it up in front of my face. "You have a black hoodie and black jeans?"
My voice muffled by the mask, I said, "Of course I do. So we're all dressing like that? All black, and with masks."
"Yeah. Like all those social media videos," Connor said. "Masked men hunting our woman. I have the perfect outfit for Leah too."
"Genius," Riley said. He was looking down at his own mask. His was black and red, also the look of a shattered skull, but with fewer fragments. Connor's had more fragments than mine, but his was black and gold.
"Did you bring one for Josiah?" I asked. Between work here at the pub and him living where he did, I hadn't seen him for a couple of days. With any luck, I didn't sound like I was too eager for his company. I was trying to play it cool.
"Duh." From under his mask, Connor pulled out one that was completely black. The shattered effect was still there, but only if you saw it in the right light.
"You think he'll wear it?" I asked. Josiah was just as likely to tell Connor to shove it up his ass.
"He'll wear it," Connor said with certainty. "He'll want to do this for Leah. She's going to love it."
"Speaking of Josiah." Riley nodded toward the door leading into the pub.
I looked over as he stepped inside and gave us all a dubious look. As if he thought we were plotting against him. His face was all hard lines and angles, covered with stubble like he hadn't shaved for several days.
I couldn't help it, I dug the dark, brooding thing he had going on.
At the same time, it was conflicting. Before him, I never met a man I wanted to fuck.
Not that I'd admit to myself anyway. Like any normal guy, I fixated on movie stars and rock stars, but I hadn't let myself think about men in real, day-to-day life.
I had my share of hookups with women, and was never disappointed, but this was a whole perspective shift.
Between him and Leah, I might not look at another person for as long as I lived. Not like that, anyway.
The city version of me would have hated myself, but the guy I was becoming was here for it.
"Hey," Josiah said with a grunt. He stepped over like he wasn't sure if he should turn and walk back out again, or stick around and join in. The fact he was here at all seemed like a big deal to me. I knew it'd be a big deal to Leah.
"Connor has a present for you." Riley held out the mask to Josiah, while putting his own in front of his face. "We all got one."
"Is this Connor's way of saying we're all ugly as shit?
" Josiah asked. He took the mask and examined it closely.
His fingers tracing a line from the top of it, down to the jaw.
Appreciating the texture and subtle design.
I suspected he would have given any of the others back, but this one was perfect for him.
A dark mask to hide his usual dark mask.
What was underneath all those layers? Not someone who'd ever be light-hearted, that was certain.
But maybe we'd be able to get him to relax and show the real him to us. And to himself.
"Exactly," Connor said sarcastically. "We're too hideous to be seen."
"Speak for yourself." Riley lowered his mask. "It's almost a crime to cover this face, but I'll do it for Leah."
"Of course you will," I said. "This is going to blow her mind."
"I predict lots of blowing in our future," Riley said with a nod.
"If you keep saying that, I'm going to make you blow me right here," Connor growled.
Riley leaned over to me and loudly whispered, "He says that like he thinks I wouldn't."
I shrugged. "The place is closed." The door was unlocked because we anticipated Josiah, but everyone in town would be getting ready for Halloween. The pub was hosting a party, but Jacob gave me the night off to enjoy the holiday. I suspected that was Connor's doing, but I wasn't going to ask.
Connor tilted his chin up and regarded Riley for a moment. "We need to get changed and get to Leah's. You can suck me off there."
Riley gave him a salute. "Yes, sir." If he was disappointed, he didn't let on.
"Change?" Josiah asked. I'd forgotten he missed that part of the conversation.
"You look perfect," I said. I realised what I said and blinked a couple of times, trying to stop myself from looking like an idiot. "I mean, you're already dressed all in black. That was the plan here."
"Right," he said simply. I got the impression he saw straight through me, but he wasn't going to call me out. Not yet.
"Let's get out of here then," Connor said. "We have a woman to stalk."
"That sounds so messed up," Riley said, grinning.
"You can always sit it out," I suggested, expecting him to decline the kind offer.
Predictably, he laughed. "No chance." He slipped out the door behind Connor.
I gestured for Josiah to follow him so I could lock the door behind us. Also predictably, Connor checked to make sure I did it right. As if turning a lock was beyond me.
Asshole.
I smirked at him, but his only response was to turn away and start down the sidewalk which was cleared of snow an hour or so ago.
None fell since, leaving it good to walk on, for now.
If fucking cold could be considered good.
It even smelled like cold. Although, this afternoon it was balanced with a smell of spices coming from the Snowdrop Café and the bakery on the corner.
Smells of Halloween. The scent of warm fires and carving pumpkins.
We made our way past the house Gavin Clarke lived in.
I'd been filled in on him and his role in town almost as soon as I arrived.
I felt sorry for him, but it was weird to think he might be Leah's father.
That whole situation was all sorts of fucked up.
I hated what it was doing to Leah, and I hated myself for being an asshole to her since we met.
There was nothing I could do about the past, but I could treat her better now. Maybe. Both of us enjoyed giving each other shit. Why stop now? I might dial it back a little, but that was all.
"Did you happen to see the people who took her?" I asked as I walked beside Josiah.
Were they people she'd recognised? People who were in her life now, like her mother. Like, a small voice said to me, my father. They said they hadn't met until years later, but was that true? If my father knew what happened to her all this time…
"It's hazy," Josiah said, his voice low so only I could hear. "Mostly I was looking at her."
"Is there any chance one was a woman?" I asked.
He glanced at me. "I've gone over and over it in my head, and I don't remember.
I just remember a dark car and her looking scared.
One of them wore a dark jacket. Black, or dark blue.
" He shook his head. "I've been trying to forget about it for twenty years.
Now I'm trying to think back and it's a blur.
I wish I remembered more." He seemed regretful. His eyes troubled.
"It was a long time ago," I said. "No one expects you to have everything locked into your brain."
Connor looked over his shoulder at us, the dip of his brows suggesting he disagreed.
"No one," I said firmly. "None of us remembers every detail of everything twenty years ago.
" I barely remembered my mother, who died about the same time Coral Clarke disappeared.
My father remarried a couple of years later, but that ended in divorce a decade ago.
Lucky for everyone concerned. If I heard another fight between them, I might have throttled them both.
Felicity Kent was a better match for him than her.
As much as anyone could be a good match for a grumpy, self-obsessed asshole like my father.
Yeah, I know, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
"Yeah." But Josiah didn't seem convinced. Of course not, he'd spent all that time beating himself up. That was going to be a difficult habit for him to break. I hoped he'd be able to.
I hoped I'd be able to help him. Would he even let me? Honestly, the real question here was, could he stop me? Leah and I might not be related, but we shared a stubborn streak. I couldn't remember a time either of us backed down from anything.
I glanced back at Gavin Clarke's house to see someone watching from the front window. He didn't move. I couldn't tell if he even blinked. He just stared at us for the longest time before the curtain dropped back into place, hiding him from view.
"That was strange," I said.
Josiah sighed. "Not for me. We haven't spoken to each other for twenty years, but whenever we're around each other, one of us will stop and stare. Sometimes I feel like I should try to say something, but then I don't know what. Sorry, I suppose." He dropped his gaze toward the sidewalk.
"I'm no expert, but you could start with hello," I suggested. "Or wait for those DNA results." They'd have plenty to talk about then. Amends to make. If that was possible.
"Yeah," he said softly. "There's still a chance…" He didn't elaborate and I didn't ask. We all knew what the possibilities were and that whatever happened, there'd be more questions. Hopefully some of them had answers to go with them.
I was half tempted to contact my father or my stepmother and ask them myself, but not only would that piss Leah off, they were her questions to ask. She'd want to see them face-to-face, to see the expression on their faces and hear what they had to say.
I won't say I wasn't tempted to do it anyway, because she and I had an antagonistic relationship for so long it was a difficult habit to break. We enjoyed getting a rise out of each other, but that would be a few steps too far, even for me.
Of course, even knowing that boundary, I still wanted to push it.
It seemed as though both Josiah and I had some work to do on ourselves. Admitting it was the first step, right?
"What the hell?" Connor's irritated words broke through my thoughts. "What are they doing there?"
"Good question," Riley sounded just as annoyed. His voice held a darker tone than I'd heard from him before. Whatever was going on, it sounded like he was ready to start throwing punches.
I tried not to think too much about how hot it was. Violence wasn't supposed to be attractive, but with these guys, it was scalding hot. Every word made me want to peel off my skin and crawl under theirs.
"Fuck," Josiah said, ducking his head.
"What is it?" I said, confused. We were a handful of steps from Leah's house. The door was open and she stood just inside, talking to two men I recognised. My new boss, Jacob Ferguson, and Riley's father, Henry.
What the hell were they doing here?