Page 65

We stepped out onto the back verandah, which stretched the full length of the schoolhouse. The air was warm, but thankfully not too hot to sweat off the makeup that I’d put on for the first time since . . . I didn’t know when.

Jaxson led me to a swinging chair as if he’d known it was there, and I giggled as I plopped myself into it, sweeping my feet up under me.

He sat beside me, and the chair rocked gently with our weight. Reaching for my hand, he laced his fingers with mine. His grip was warm and steady, but the worry in his expression made my stomach twist.

He cleared his throat. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Okay.” My heart thudded against my ribs as I braced myself. This was going to be bad, I just knew it.

As his jaw worked, like he was wrestling with the words he needed to say, the gentle creak of the swing’s chains filled the quiet space between us.

“Jaxson,” I said softly, squeezing his hand. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”

He exhaled heavily, and his shoulders sagged. “It’s about my sister, Charlotte.”

I racked my brain, searching for her name in our discussions, but couldn’t remember.

“When Charlotte was sixteen, she went to her friend’s seventeenth birthday party.” The tension radiating off him was nearly visible.

My heart thundered as I dreaded what he was going to tell me.

“She left the party at around 7:30 p.m. after a fight with her best friend, Lola, the birthday girl. That was the last time anyone saw her.”

“Oh my god.” I slapped my hand over my mouth. “What happened?”

“The party was at Lola’s house, which backs onto bushland. Charlotte would’ve walked through that bush to get home. She’d done it hundreds of times before, just like she did nearly every afternoon after school.”

I placed my other hand over his.

“The police interrogated everyone. Our family, her friends. You wouldn’t believe the things people said.

That she’d run away. That she’d been abducted.

That our dad . . .” His voice caught, and he swallowed hard.

“That our dad was molesting her. They even accused Whitney of doing something to her because he was the only one without an alibi.”

“Jesus.”

“Nothing was ever substantiated,” he said, bitterness lacing his tone, “but it didn’t matter.

The damage was done. Our family was never the same after that.

Me, Parker, and Whitney all wanted to become cops because of what happened to our sister.

But Whitney never graduated. Those unfounded accusations followed him everywhere, and I’m certain that’s why he failed the psych evaluation. ”

“Shit,” I breathed. “I’m so sorry for you all.”

“It’s been twenty years, Tory,” he said quietly. “And we’ve never stopped looking for her. Not for a second.” Pain radiated in his words.

I hesitated, unsure if I should ask, but I needed to know. “Why didn’t you tell me this during one of our calls?”

He pulled his hand free from mine as he dropped his gaze to the worn wood of the verandah beneath us. When he finally spoke, his voice was heavy with guilt. “Because it’s my fault.”

“What?” I asked, stunned.

“The night she went missing. Mom asked me or Parker to walk Charlotte home after the party,” he said, his jaw tightening. “But I thought Parker was going to do it, and he thought I was going to do it. By the time her friend called to see if she was home, she’d been gone for nearly three hours. ”

My chest tightened as his eyes clouded with the kind of pain that never faded.

“Jaxson . . .” I said softly, my voice breaking.

“I’ve spent twenty years hating myself for it,” he said. “And Parker feels the same way. We were supposed to protect her, Tory. We failed her.”

“No,” I said, shifting closer to him. “You didn’t fail her. You said she left the party at 7:30, right?”

He nodded, his brow furrowing slightly.

“And your mom told you to pick her up at what time?”

“10:30.” He swallowed so hard I heard it.

“Then how could it be your fault? She left hours before you were supposed to meet her. You couldn’t have known she’d leave early.

And besides, if it had been the correct time for her to leave, you and Parker probably would’ve sorted out who was going to get her.

It’s not your fault, Jaxson. Or Parker’s. ”

He stared at me, his eyes searching mine, like my words were trying to sink in but couldn’t quite find a place to land.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quietly. “She’s gone, and we didn’t protect her.”

I let out a shaky breath, feeling the weight of his pain settle between us.

“Parker and I fought for years over it,” he continued, his voice thick.

“Years. We blamed each other, blamed ourselves. Until we finally realized how much the guilt was eating us alive, and how much we needed each other to survive it. Now, we’re inseparable.

And Whitney. I don’t know what I’d do without them. ”

“That’s what family is for,” I said.

He blinked at me, his expression unreadable. Maybe he was trying to work out how I could say that, given my own rotten sister, who I hadn’t seen in years.

"What about the investigation?" I asked gently. "Did the police ever find anything?"

"It's a cold case now. No clues. No evidence. Nothing." The resolve in his eyes hardened. "But my brothers and I will never stop looking for her. Ever. "

"And you shouldn't," I said, crushing his palm to mine. "You owe it to Charlotte, your brothers, and your parents to keep searching."

"That's just it." His voice softened, but his grip tightened.

"My life is divided between work, training K9s, and Charlotte's case.

And now with Parker heading the cold case unit, we might finally make progress.

" He met my gaze, and his intense focus took my breath away.

"I want to give you everything, Tory. All of me.

But sometimes my family needs me. I'm afraid our time together won’t be enough for you.

Or me . . . I want this to work. For us to work. "

"Then we'll make time, and we’ll make this work.

" I held his gaze. "We can train Onyx together, it will be fun. And I’ll help with Charlotte's investigation. I’ll be your fresh pair of eyes. We have something special, Jaxson, I know it, and I can see in your eyes that you know it. Our connection is our strength, the rest we’ll figure out together. "

His lips parted as he stared at me, disbelief washing over his features. For a moment, he seemed frozen. Then he crushed his lips to mine, hard and desperate, like a man who'd wandered in darkness suddenly finding light.

When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested against mine. "You're incredible, you know that?"

Smiling, I rested my hands on his chest. "I know."

He laughed softly, yet his chuckle was still laced with sadness.

The weight of guilt was carved into him like scars. He and his brothers hadn't forgiven themselves for Charlotte's disappearance, and maybe they never would.

But I was living proof there was life after tragedy. I was an orphan. And I survived.

And now I was his lover, and I was determined to show Jaxson that he was a good man . . . a man who deserved to find his happy place.