Page 28 of The Locksmith’s Promise (The Promise Duet #1)

Bury Him

B axter

Leaving her had never been more difficult.

I brushed her hair back from her face, watching in wonder as her eyelids fluttered.

“Maggie,” I whispered. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Where are you going?” she murmured sleepily.

“I have to take care of a few things at the house I’m working on, but I’ll come home as soon as I can.”

Leaning over, I pressed my lips to her forehead.

Home.

Home was wherever she was.

The contrast between her warm bed and the icy, morning air meant I couldn’t wait to get back to her.

As if I needed an excuse.

Ten minutes later, I let myself into the house I was renovating and jogged down to the basement.

Here, the solitude embraced me.

Alone, with a hammer in my hand and no one around to distract me, I could think.

Waking up with Maggie in my arms after the agony of the night before, one thing was clear: I couldn’t let things go on like this.

She deserved the truth.

When my cell phone beeped with a notification from Jenny, it only confirmed what I already knew I needed to do.

Jenny: Meet me down by the docks or I’m coming to your place. This has gone on long enough.

I texted back, agreeing to meet in an hour and sat down on the bottom stair. With my head in my hands, I prayed that when all was said and done, Maggie would forgive me.

Unable to concentrate any longer, I locked up the house and began to walk, cheeks stinging with the cold. Before I realized where I was going, I stood in front of my father’s house.

And his truck shone like a fucking beacon in the driveway.

“What the fuck?”

Storming up the path, I near pulled the door off its hinges.

Vince fucking Moroni sat on my father’s couch smoking a cigar.

His chapped and wrinkled lips split into a mocking grin as soon as he saw me. “Knew you’d come eventually.”

“What are you doing here, old man? You’re trespassing.”

His smile twisted into a sneer. “Watch your mouth, boy. I’ve got a message from your father.” Forty years of smoking turned his mocking laugh into a wheeze.

He extended a wrinkled envelope. “He left you a letter.”

Snatching it out of his hand, I ripped it open.

It’s all yours now, boy.

The house.

The truck.

The job.

Kept tabs on you. See you walking in my footsteps.

You’re just like me. Thought you were better, but there’s no escaping your DNA.

She cried, you know. Never seen a woman so devastated.

You fucking deserved it.

All of it.

If it weren’t for you, she never would have left.

Consider this my final fuck you.

I heard him like he was right next to me, and my breath escaped in rough pants.

“You going to cry, boy?” Vince mocked.

With my father’s voice so clear and crisp in my head, I’d forgotten Vince was there.

I raised my eyes to his, barely seeing him through the mist of red obscuring my vision. “Get out,” I replied evenly, crushing the letter in my fist.

He sat back. “You know, I don’t think I will.”

I dipped my chin and stalked toward him.

The flash of fear in his eyes fed something wild and feral in my blood. Something I’d worked my whole life to eradicate.

Leaning toward him, I hissed, “I won’t fucking stop this time.”

He pushed himself off the couch and backed up hurriedly, tripping over his own feet on his way to the door.

“Not so tough now, are you?” I smirked and jerked my chin up. “Leave the keys on the table. All of them.”

Not that I wanted that fucking truck, but I didn’t need to see it all over town either.

“You try to come here again, I’ll have you charged with breaking and entering,” I warned, my voice hard as nails.

He tossed the keys on the table and backed up toward the door. Only once he got his hand on the doorknob did he snarl, “Fucking prick.”

I lunged toward him and laughed when he screamed and scurried out the door and down the driveway.

Checking the keys on the table to make sure he left the housekey along with the truck key, I walked out.

Despite the cold, I took the long way down to the docks to give myself time to calm down, dogged by the fear he was right.

That I couldn’t thwart my DNA.

Was I destined to live his life? Was coming back to this place a mistake?

I shook my head, Maggie’s smiling face and the freckles dusting Corwin’s nose assuring me it was not.

I wouldn’t ever give them up. Not without a fight.

I crested the top of the hill where the trail led down to the water.

Jenny was already there, a small, solitary figure sitting on the bench where we used to meet when we were teens.

I swallowed. What the fuck was I thinking agreeing to meet her here?

I should have suggested The Loose Moose or Miller’s house or any-fucking-where but here.

She turned her head from where she sat huddled in her winter coat and scarf and watched my progress until I stopped a good ten feet away from her.

I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

“I won’t bite,” she admonished softly, a hint of impatience and hurt in her voice.

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m good here.”

She sighed and nodded. “I ask that you listen without interrupting until the end.”

I nodded sharply.

I wasn’t ready to hear this, I’d never be ready, but I owed Maggie the truth.

With her mittened hands folded tightly in her lap, gaze steady on my face, she unwound the tale that ended with me waking up with her in my bed.

Every single word hit me with the force of a wrecking ball.

My arms numbed and dropped to my sides as I began to shake from the phantom pain of Miller easing my puss-crusted shirt away from my back.

I’d forgotten about that.

A tear rolled over what must have been a well-worn path over her cheek.

I searched her eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry,” I rasped.

She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Stumbling over to the bench, I dropped down beside her and stared out over the water.

“Did he—”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

She nodded shortly. “As sure as I can be.”

“I don’t remember any of this,” I whispered, but it was a lie.

My back burned.

The edges of that nightmare glowing like the seared edges of a burning piece of paper.

My hands shook as fury rampaged through me, a wildfire set to destroy everything in its path.

Leaping to my feet, I paced back and forth. I clenched my fists in my hair and pulled, relishing the sharp bite of pain.

I couldn’t handle this.

Not this on top of all the years before.

I can’t see Maggie.

Hands shaking, I drew my cell phone from my pocket and called her.

“Maggie.”

God, Maggie .

“Hey,” she replied softly.

This would devastate her.

I hurried on before I lost my nerve. “I’ve got a few things to do today. I might not be able to see you until later.”

“What are you doing?”

I could barely hear her over the blood thrumming in my ears.

Fury ran like lava through my veins.

“I’ve got to see Miller about a few things. Can I call you later when I’m done?”

“Sure,” she replied easily, not knowing her whole world was about to implode.

“Thanks,” I rasped and pulled the phone away before slapping it back up to my ear and desperately adding, “Maggie, I love you.”

I shoved it back in my pocket and strove to control my breathing.

Bent over, I braced my palms on my thighs and forced myself to inhale deeply.

Ten years.

Jenny.

Maggie.

Cor.

I dropped to my haunches. That fucker brought me to my knees. “Fuck!”

Breathing heavily, I stood and turned to Jenny, blurting, “I’m sorry. I know it’s not enough, but I’m sorry.”

She shook her head.

My stomach clenched and soured.

I didn’t deserve her forgiveness.

“Bax, it’s not your shame.” Rising from the bench, she took a step back. “It never was,” she assured me. “But it wasn’t mine either and I couldn’t carry it any longer.”

Blowing out a harsh breath, she shook her head and actually smiled. “Thanks for listening.” Offering a final nod, she walked away along the path edging the water.

Locked on her retreating back, I turned her words over in my head.

Not your shame.

Walking out onto the dock, I stared unseeing out over the icy water.

Jenny had spread the past out in front of me like a rotting banquet, and it was worse than I feared.

How did I move on from this?

Maggie.

I sucked in a breath through my nose, expanding my chest with air before blowing it back out again as I jogged back up the hill with my cell phone pressed to my ear.

I needed to make sure before I dropped this bomb on her.

“Miller?”

“Bax.”

“Can you meet me at the station?”

“I’ll be there.”

A squat, red-brick building, the station housed both police and fire and it was exactly what you might expect. Grey walls surrounded pock-ridden desks tucked behind a Formica counter and buffered by a tiny vestibule.

Miller was already there by the time I picked up my truck and drove over.

I offered him a brief nod before barging inside.

The anger ignited at the docks had only grown.

Ignoring the officer manning the counter as well as Eric’s startled gaze, I stalked down the hall toward Sergeant Elliott’s office.

Miller ran in front of me, bodychecking me into the wall before blocking the hallway. “Take a fucking breath, man.”

“Move,” I snarled, my hands fisted at my sides.

He laughed and widened his stance. “You brought me with you for a reason, Bax. This is it.” Leaning toward me, he stared into my eyes and lowered his brow. “Take. A fucking. Breath.”

“Easy, man,” Eric soothed behind me.

My neck snapped around to take him in, decked out in his firehall uniform.

With his hands out in front of him, he continued, “It’s all good, man. Jenny called ahead to let us know you might be coming in. I don’t know what went down, but whatever it was, it had to come out. Now you can deal with the past.”

He paused, slowly dropping his hands. “Before it dictates your future.”

I heard the buzz of a phone coming from the office in front of me.

And the voice of the officer behind me. “He’s here, Sarge.”

A cold sweat broke out over my back.

A wave of dizziness weakened my knees.

How many people knew about this? About me?

Sergeant Elliott swung his door open and waved Miller and me forward.

As soon as he closed us inside, I shoved my pain away and whirled on him. “Is it true?”

He tilted his head to the side and settled back in his chair. “Is what true?”

“Don’t fucking play with me, Sarge,” I snapped, bracing my hands on his desk. “Did Jenny drop the charges so I could be free?”

Miller blew out a harsh breath beside me and seemed to deflate before my eyes.

It must have killed him to hold that inside.

Sarge nodded shortly, eyes steady on mine.

I gripped my hair and stepped back as much as his tiny office allowed. “My God. How could you let her do that?” A sound like that of a wounded animal broke from my throat. “He deserved to rot in prison for what he did to her.”

“He’s rotting in hell for what he did to both you.”

“You should have made her press charges,” I snapped. “She had to live here, face him all the time.”

He shook his head, slightly bemused. “That girl ensured he never knew a moment’s peace.”

His mouth twisted to the side as he leaned forward, folding his hands on his desk. “Our Jenny is the loyal sort.” He paused. “She’s also as stubborn as a moose.”

My chin hit my chest.

I didn’t deserve it.

Not any of it.

Not the bad.

Nor the good.

My breath sawed in and out of my throat.

Miller’s hand gripped my shoulder.

Sarge came around his desk and gripped the other one.

“You ready to bury him, son?”