Page 2

Chapter One

Fifteen years of almost absolute silence, and now he was here.

Again.

It was twice now he had taken leave and come back to Jasper Creek in the last eight months. Just to visit his twin, and both times he hadn’t reached out to me.

I shoved open the door to Maverick’s Bar and Grill, my pulse hammering in my ears, my stomach tied up in knots. Laughter, the crack of pool balls, and the scent of fried food washed over me, but none of it mattered. Because I was here for one reason.

Beau.

“Damn, it’s crowded, Maddie. Good thing Michael said he saved a booth for us.”

I looked over at my friend and gave her a wan smile. “Yeah, that’s good,” I said, then I went back to scanning the room. I’d called ahead and Vic, the bartender, had told me Beau had arrived half an hour ago, so now it was just a matter of finding him.

“Are you even listening to me?”

I looked at Fallon again. “What?”

“Michael texted. He’s against the west wall. That means he’s near the jukebox. Come on.” Fallon grabbed my hand and started tugging me past the hostess stand and through the crowd.

“I see Michael,” Fallon cried.

And that’s when I saw him. And it was like the air got sucked straight out of my lungs.

It was Beau. Beau ‘Grady’ Beaumont. There, in the flesh. A man I hadn’t seen in fifteen years. Someone I’d considered my best friend since kindergarten, and here he was in Jasper Creek. Where he’d been for the last week and a half, and he hadn’t even reached out.

My stomach twisted.

Stop it! God knows this isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Think of Mom and Dad.

I let out a harsh laugh.

Fallon grabbed my hand and pulled. “Come on, Michael’s waving at us.”

I stood my ground. “I see Beau. You go on ahead.”

Beau was sitting at a high table next to people playing pool. He turned his head and his gaze zeroed in on mine like a heat-seeking missile. How was that even possible? But it was. Another set of silver-blue eyes looked at me, but I ignored him. It was Beau’s identical twin brother, Brady. Everybody had thought he was dead, but here he was, alive.

Again, I didn’t give a shit. My focus was on Beau. My best friend who I’d known down to my soul, a friend I thought I would never lose. The same man who had sent me only one letter during basic training, then never contacted me again, no matter how many times I had tried to get a hold of him.

Beau had been as much of a ghost as Brady.

Now he was back in town for the second time this year. Sitting at Maverick’s, after being home for over a week. Eleven days he hadn’t reached out to me. It cut deep. Deeper still because this was the second time he’d done this to me. How could I matter so little to him? What had I done wrong?

I blinked back tears.

Dammit, I will not cry .

This Beau was a stranger. He looked different. Broader, harder, with stronger edges in his face, but I could recognize his silver-blue eyes anywhere, anytime. His were sharper than Brady’s. A little more silver. Yep, that was my man.

Still, he wasn’t the teenager who’d left me with a gaping hole in my heart. Even though I’d agreed he needed to leave.

But what in the ever-loving hell gave him the right to ignore me like this? I deserved better!

“Maddie, let’s just go sit down. You don’t have to deal with this tonight,” Fallon pleaded.

“Go sit down with Michael. I’ll be there in just a minute.”

I swallowed hard, straightened my shoulders, and forced my feet forward toward the pool area. Each step felt like I was walking through drying cement.

I stopped at their table and tilted my head, looking Beau in the eye. For just a moment I thought I saw shock, guilt, maybe even regret, flash in his eyes, but it was then covered with a mask of fake cheerfulness.

“Doesn’t an old friend deserve a hug?” I asked.

His phony smile got bigger. Don’t ask me how I knew it was phony, but I did, and I wanted to shrivel up and die, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to do any such thing.

“Maddie,” he murmured, his voice like rough gravel.

I waited.

He stepped toward me and pushed his hands under my stiff arms, wrapping his bulging muscles around my waist. My eyes closed. It was as if every moment of my time with Beau came rushing back, and I circled my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

Then I caught his scent—clean, crisp, with a hint of leather and something unmistakably Beau. A shockwave sizzled down my spine, hot and electric, leaving my knees weak.

I went stiff again, but this time it was for a different reason.

This wasn’t a ‘Beau’ hug.

This was something else entirely.

Beau released me so fast, I thought I was going to fall. This time when I looked into his eyes, they were hot, penetrating, and slightly confused. But mostly hot.

I was sure mine were needy, and didn’t that just suck donkey balls?

“You’ve changed.” His voice was still low.

I only nodded. What could I say to such a stupid comment? After all, it had been fifteen years.

“You don’t have anything to say?” he asked.

I shrugged. “What else is there? I got my hug. Now I’ll go back and join my friends for dinner.”

“Why don’t you have dinner with Kai and me?” He motioned to his twin, who was watching the two of us with avid interest.

“No, I can’t. I don’t leave my friends hanging.”

A direct hit. Beau winced, and I smiled sweetly.

“Maybe we can set up some other time to meet. How does that sound?”

I shrugged. “Sure.” I turned to Kai and held out my hand. “It’s nice to see you again. Say hello to Marlowe for me,” I added, referring to his fiancée.

He looked between Beau and me, then shook my hand. Nope, not even a twinge of electricity. But I’d been pretty sure there wouldn’t be. Still, it was always good to make sure. I turned back to Beau. “I’ll see you around.”

“Wait a minute. I need your number.”

“Fallon and Michael are waiting to order. I’ve got to go.”

He frowned down at me. It was a look I’d never seen before. He looked hard and commanding.

“Hand me your phone, Maddie,” he ordered.

“Why in the hell should I?”

“Please?”

I wavered.

“I said the magic word.” He smiled. Shit, it was the Beau smile I remembered. All teasing and coaxing.

I reluctantly pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket and handed it to him.

“What’s your passcode?” he demanded.

I ripped my phone out of his hand, turned away from him, and keyed in my six-digit passcode. He was grinning when I turned back to him and slammed the phone in his hand. He keyed something into my phone and I heard a ring. It came from his back pocket.

“There, now I have your number, and you have mine.”

“Gee, I feel so special.” I yanked my phone out of his hand again. This time, I shoved it back into my jacket pocket.

I gave a little wave to Kai and didn’t look at Beau as I hustled my way back to Michael and Fallon. I needed a drink. A double. I deserved it. I had successfully confronted my past, and it was finally a closed subject. I could move on.

“You, okay?” Fallon asked, as I slipped in beside her.

“I’m fine.” My phone beeped with an incoming text, so I grabbed it in case it was from one of my sisters or one of my cases.

UNKNOWN:What time should I pick you up tomorrow night?

I stared down at my phone in disbelief. The absolute audacity of that man.

“Is there a problem?” Michael asked.

I shook my head and continued to stare down at my phone as another message came in.

UNKNOWN:I see you looking at your phone. If you won’t answer, then I’ll pick you up at seven.

MADDIE:Am I supposed to be impressed that you know where I live, since you couldn’t be bothered to stop by any sooner? So, no. Don’t bother showing up. I won’t answer the door.

UNKNOWN:A Marine Raider never abandons a mission. I’ll see you at seven.

MADDIE:Do what you need to do

“Maddie? Everything okay?” Fallon asked again.

“Everything’s fine now,” I assured my friend. “And everything’s going to be much better when I have a twenty-four-ounce beer in front of me.”

Michael laughed.

Well, at least I fooled him. But Beau? He probably thought I’d won that round. But my hands were still shaking, and deep down, I knew the truth.

I hadn’t won a damn thing.

I’d just kicked a hornet’s nest, and the sting was coming.

* * *

I paced my living room. Usually it felt a lot bigger, but tonight it felt tiny. I felt trapped. I looked down at my smart watch. Twenty minutes to seven. Glancing over at my dining room table, I saw my laptop open with bills and piles of paperwork from work scattered around. Normally, I would have tidied that up, but I wasn’t going to go to any extra effort for Beau. Nope, I didn’t want him to think he was getting any special treatment.

I slid my hand down my curly hair and winced. The elixir I had put in to make my curls bouncy seemed to have lost its effect. I hustled to the bathroom and checked it out. I sprayed some more on my hair and applied another coat of pink lip gloss while I was at it. But it wasn’t for Beau, it was for me. Sometimes I just liked to look nice when I was spending time at home.

I snorted.

Yeah sure.

At least I hadn’t gone overboard on my clothes. It was just leggings and a pretty, off-the-shoulder sweater. Normal.

Kind of.

Anyway, he probably wasn’t even going to show up. I marched back into the living room. My stomach was roiling with nerves. I grabbed the remote and started scrolling through possible options of things to watch. Maybe there would be some people searching for bigfoot. That would work.

My phone rang.

I rolled to my side and grabbed it out of my purse sitting on the coffee table. I saw it was Polly Owens.

It took me a couple of seconds to remember who that was. When I did, I got scared.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Avery? It’s Polly. The Jacksons’ neighbor.”

My stomach clenched again. I knew exactly who she was. She and I had talked a couple of times since Eli Jackson had become one of my at-risk foster kids.

“What happened? Was it bad? Did you have to call the cops?”

“You got it in one.”

I winced. Eli was six years old and his home was a nightmare. His mother, Colleen, had been in and out of rehab so often, she was due a free sandwich. For the last three months, she’d been living with some lowlife who had a history of domestic abuse.

“Are they still there?”

“No, they left. That’s why I’m calling you. There was yelling and screaming. It was Colleen and Bruce. I even heard breaking glass. I waited for the cops in my front yard. I’m not afraid of Bruce. I have a gun. The police asked me questions, then they went and knocked on their door. Colleen talked to them. She must have said something good, because they said that they didn’t have probable cause to search the place, and they were going to leave.”

“What about Eli?” I asked Polly.

“That’s the same question I had for the cops. They said that Colleen had told them he was with his grandmother for the night. I’ve lived here next to Colleen for two years. I ain’t never heard tell of any grandmother. I told the cops that, but they said that wasn’t enough reason to search the place.”

“So, they’re gone?” I asked.

“Yep. But I’ve got a bad feeling. You left your card with me after that time Eli was left at home by hisself for three days. I figured you might could do something about this.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Owens. I’ll be right there.”

I shot to my feet and ran to my bedroom to get my socks and boots and put them on. I snatched my leather jacket and raced to the kitchen table where my files were. Eli’s was on top. I grabbed it and threw it into my work satchel. I hefted that onto my shoulder along with my purse.

My heart pounded as I thought about the small boy in that house. It just wasn’t fair.

Yeah, when was life ever fair?

I reached the door when a knock sounded. It was a sharp, firm rap against the wood.

Ahh shit. It’s Beau.

I yanked the door open. “I’ve gotta go. We’re going to have to do this dance some other night.”

His brow furrowed as he looked down at me. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t have time.” I turned and locked my door. “There’s a kid in trouble who needs me.” I jogged down my porch steps and headed to my carport.

“Hold up. What do you mean there’s a kid in trouble?”

I hit my key fob and my Jeep unlocked. I got inside and shut the door. Beau stood at the bottom of my steps, hands on his hips, eyes narrowed. Not just pissed. Confused. Frustrated. Maybe even a little hurt. No; that last one I was just imagining.

Keep it together, Avery. Remember, we don’t give a shit .

Only Eli mattered.