The Best Goodbye (22 page)

“You were shot,” she said on a choked sob.

This was why I had to tell her. She needed to know. I had to face it, but at least it was done. I was done. This would never happen again. Benedetto had promised me that. “Yeah, but I’m going to be fine. I promise.”

She sniffled. I hated that she had been crying. “What happened? Why weren’t you at work? Or were you?”

When I’d gotten the text, I’d known I had to deal with this shit before it touched her or Franny. “I didn’t go to work. At least, not the work you know. This was from before. The life I lived before I came to Rosemary Beach. The reason you couldn’t find me for the last ten years.”

She lifted her head off my chest and looked at me. Her eyes were full of concern. Telling her this was fucking terrifying. I didn’t want her to walk away. Fact was, I’d chase her and beg her to stay if I needed to. But she had to know.

“It’s a long story. Begins when I thought you were dead and I left my dad’s. I was lost and homeless for a while, until I met a man. He gave me a home and a way to fight the pain and horror that consumed me. I want to tell you everything, but I’m fighting to stay awake on this medicine . . .” I didn’t realize it until I said it, but suddenly, I was drowning in waves of drowsiness.

She reached up and ran her hand over my head, brushing my hair back gently. “Rest. I won’t leave. I’m not leaving you.”

My eyes drifted closed as she continued to play with my hair. “When I tell you . . . you might try. But I’ll follow you,” I said with a heavy tongue.

“Good,” she replied, her words close to my ear.

Knowing she was there and not leaving was all I needed in that moment, and I let sleep pull me under.

•  •  •

When I opened my eyes again, I didn’t have to look to find Addy. Her head was beside me, and her hand was tucked into mine as she slept. She was sitting on the chair she had pulled over next to the bed. I gazed down at her and enjoyed the view. She’d always been so peaceful when she slept. I loved watching her. Knowing she’d stayed close to me like this while I slept made me smile.

“She’s been asleep for about an hour now.” Blaire’s voice startled me, and I turned my head to see my sister sitting on the other side of the bed, looking at me closely. “Major called Mase, who called Rush. Glad I got to hear it through the grapevine that my brother had been shot and was in the hospital.” Now she looked annoyed.

“Guys I used to work with didn’t know to call you,” I told her.

She arched her eyebrows. “But they knew to call her?”

I glanced back down at her. “Yeah, they knew to call her.”

Blaire let out a soft laugh so as not to disturb Addy. “I’d be hurt by that if I wasn’t so happy to see someone as sweet and kind as her holding on to your hand like you were her entire world. I like seeing that.”

She made everything right.

“You gonna tell her about this? About why you’re in here?” Blaire asked. There was the flash of sisterly worry that I expected. But what exactly did she know about why I was in here?

“What do you mean?” I asked, watching her closely.

She leaned forward and held my gaze. “Do I look stupid to you? People do not just get shot in this town. Something else is happening here. You go away to Dallas and meet Mase and Reese. A man who deserves to die threatens Reese, then ends up dead himself. After that, you come here. I’ve thought about it, and something is off. You don’t look or act like a man who wants to work in the restaurant business. You look like a man who knows how to handle a gun. So you getting shot in the leg doesn’t add up with what you’ve been telling me. And just to be clear, you don’t have to tell me anything. I just want you to know that I know something is up with you. Your past is sketchy. We don’t know much about your adopted parents, and you don’t talk about them. So yeah. Are you going to tell her the truth, at least?”

I nodded. Because I was, but that was all she would ever know.

Blaire smiled and stood up, then walked over to me and put her hand over my empty one. “Good. She’s the one person who needs to know you. The real you. To make this work, you can’t keep secrets. Trust me, I know.”

“Thanks. I agree with you.”

Blaire smiled and squeezed my hand. “If you need anything, call me. When you’re ready, I want to bring Nate up here to visit. I’d stick around, but I think you have all the help you need, and you probably want some alone time with her, too.”

“Yeah, I do,” I said.

“It’s going to be OK. She loves you,” Blaire assured me, then turned and left the room.

Once she was gone, I turned my attention back to Addy as she slept. It was morning now, and although I knew Addy well enough to know she had everything handled with Franny, I was still concerned about the girl waking up to her mom not being there.

Soon she’d have both of us there every morning. She would also have her own room, and I’d drive her to school every morning. I wanted to make up for all those years I’d lost with both mother and daughter.

I heard deep voices talking quietly as I slowly opened my eyes. I could feel the warmth of River’s hand as it enclosed mine. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, but when I woke up, I discovered his sister, Blaire, had been there. I’d never met her, but before River had figured out who I was, I had seen her visit the restaurant before.

Now it sounded like he had more visitors. I felt River’s hand tighten over mine.

“Good morning,” he said raspily.

I blinked and focused on him. “Hey,” I replied, hoping I didn’t look a mess.

His smile softened even more, and my heart did a little flutter in my chest. “You need to crawl up here beside me next time you sleep. You’re going to be stiff and achy now.”

I straightened up and stretched. “I’ll be fine. You needed your sleep. I would have bothered you.”

He shook his head. “No, you would have felt so damn good I would have probably slept longer.”

I felt my cheeks warm, and I wanted to lean up and kiss him.

Someone cleared their throat behind me, and River’s mouth turned into a smirk as he lifted his eyes to the other people in the room. I’d forgotten they were there.

“Addy, I’d like you to meet some friends of mine,” he said. I turned around, surprised to see a man with a woman beside him. Her long dark hair was in stark contrast to the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. She was holding the man’s arm, and a kind smile was on her face. The bump under the sundress she was wearing made it easy to see that she was pregnant.

“Hello,” I said, with a smile in her direction.

Her face broke into a pleased grin as she held out her free hand to me. “Hello, I’m Reese. It’s so nice to meet you,” she said, then turned her gaze back to the man beside her. “And this is my husband, Mase.”

Husband. Oh, I liked that even better. River had married friends.

Mase was tall, with dark hair just long enough to keep pulled back in a low ponytail. His worn jeans fit him nicely, and the plaid button-down shirt he wore was long-sleeved, but he’d rolled them up to his elbows.

“Glad this one found a woman who can put up with him,” Mase said.

My back stiffened, and my smile vanished. I decided I didn’t like this Mase guy very much. “Excuse me?” I snapped, ready to defend my guy.

Reese laughed and hit Mase’s arm. “Stop it before she takes a swing at you.” She looked at me. “He’s teasing. We’re both very happy that Captain has found someone who cares about him like you obviously do. We want him happy.”

Mase made a sound in his throat that sounded like he might not agree, but he didn’t say more.

“You’ll find I’ve got a colorful group of people in my world I call friends,” River said from behind me.

I reached back and held on to his hand while studying these two so-called friends of his.

“Stop it, you two. She’s going to hate us, and I want her to like us,” Reese said with a worried frown. “These two didn’t always see eye-to-eye on things, but in the end, they became friends. We live in Fort Worth, and the second we heard about his accident from Blaire, we got on a plane.”

“His dad’s private jet,” River said with an amused tone.

Mase rolled his eyes, and Reese just smiled bigger. “OK, fine, it was a private jet, but we were in a hurry.”

These two had a private jet? He looked like he belonged in Texas but not like he should have a private jet.

“Mase here is Kiro Manning’s only son. He hates to admit it, but he is,” River explained.

I knew that name, but who was it? I had heard it before. I just wasn’t sure where.

Reese giggled and looked up at Mase. “See, she doesn’t even know who Kiro is, so you’re safe. No fangirling.”

“Fangirling, my ass. Even when she realizes who he is, she won’t be fangirling your ol’ man,” River said, sounding annoyed now.

I glanced back at River.

He grinned. “I fucking love that you don’t know who Kiro is. You know that, right?”

Dangit, who was Kiro Manning?

“Slacker Demon, baby. His dad is Slacker Demon’s lead singer.”

That was when my jaw dropped. Because I might not remember the band members’ names, but I sure as heck knew who Slacker Demon was. River squeezed my hand and frowned.

“His dad is in Slacker Demon?” I asked in a whisper, even though they could hear me.

“Yes, and he’s not nearly as impressive as you’re thinking,” Mase replied.

“Yes, he is,” Reese piped up.

I was slightly overwhelmed. How did River know these people?

“I own a ranch and raise horses. I’m not some damn rocker’s kid.” Mase sounded annoyed.

Reese patted his arm. “I know, baby. You’re nothing like him.”

“What the fuck ever,” River said behind me. He was enjoying this, apparently.

“I think we’ve visited enough. Let’s give Captain some rest, and we’ll call to check in later. Rush and Blaire have been at us to visit for months, so we’ll be there if you need anything,” Reese said.

“Thanks. Appreciate it, but it’s all good here. Give my nephew a hug for me,” River said.

“Sure thing,” Mase replied, and they left the room.

I turned back to River. “Wow, OK, that was interesting.”

He sighed. “They’re part of my past that I need to explain.”

Mase had started to figure things out. I could see it in his eyes as he studied me. When I’d told them Addy was from my past and I’d loved her since I was a teenager, it had only enhanced his suspicions of why I’d been so focused on Reese before they married. He knew her father had something to do with the death of her stepfather, who had molested her. DeCarlo couldn’t resist giving them a small hint.

But that was all Mase knew. Now I was sure he had started to piece together more of the puzzle. Which meant I had to talk to Addy before things blew up in my face and she heard the truth from somewhere else. I needed to be the one to explain it to her. Not that I had an excuse worth a damn. Killing someone was hard for anyone to accept. Even the lowest scum on earth.

Addy’s heart and soul weren’t wounded and broken the way mine had been when I thought I’d lost her. Trusting that she would forgive me and accept this was asking a lot. Losing her wasn’t possible, either. Telling her the truth was my first step. I’d deal with the next step once I knew what that had to be.

“Do you like them?” she asked, breaking into my internal battle.

“Yeah, I do. He’s a good man, and Reese is special. You’d love her if you got to know her. There’s just so much they don’t know about me that clouds their view of me. Things I want to explain to you. Things that scare the shit out of me to tell you, because I can’t lose you.”

Addy sat down in the chair she’d slept in and kept her nervous gaze locked on me. “This doesn’t sound good,” she said softly.

It
wasn’t
good. It was dark and twisted and so completely fucked-up. But it was who I was and why I was here today. If I’d known for a moment that she was alive, I would have spent those years tracking her down. Searching for her. Saving her . . . and myself.

That wasn’t how it had played out, though, and the past was something I couldn’t change.

“I ran. I couldn’t deal with the fact that you were gone. I hated everyone. Especially my dad, who never took the time to get my mom help. He left us there with her, and I thought she took your life. I was so angry and fucking empty.” That was the easy part to tell.

Her hand came up and covered mine. That small touch helped some, but I wasn’t sure she’d still touch me like that once she knew the whole truth.

“I lived on the streets for more than a year. I became good at it, or as good as you can be at living on your own at sixteen. One night, I decided to rip off a wealthy man. I normally spotted their wallets and got them without a hitch. I was fast. I didn’t keep credit cards. I even destroyed them so no one could use them. I had some moral compass. But I did take the cash, just to keep myself fed. Made friends in the alleys so I could keep myself clothed.” Stopping, I waited to see if she would comment. Stealing was the least of my sins. If she didn’t accept that, then what I had to tell her was going to destroy me.

“Go on,” she urged with a soft whisper.

“That night, I successfully took the wallet of Chicago’s biggest crime lord. And he could have killed me. He had several men surrounding him, but I never even saw them until I took off running with his wallet, which he had no idea I’d swiped. But one of his guys did, and they stopped me. He couldn’t believe I had his wallet, because he had felt nothing, but his guy pulled it from my coat pocket and tossed it to him. The man studied me for several moments. I knew by looking into his eyes that I was in trouble. There was power there that would terrify a normal person. But I had nothing to live for.”

Her hand squeezed mine tightly, and I knew she didn’t like hearing that. I picked her hand up and brought the back of it to my lips before continuing.

“He asked me my name and how old I was. Then he asked me how I felt about living on a boat. I didn’t know what to say, so I was just honest and said it would be better than living in a box. So he took me home that night and gave me a place to live on his boat. Over the next year, he groomed me. Trained me. By the time I was eighteen years old, I was one of his. I observed his world, knowing that I wasn’t OK with all of it. As soulless as I felt, I still had a heart. I couldn’t condone it all, but I did see that he was operating in the areas where our judicial system failed.”