“It’s been rough. I didn’t expect it to be this hard.”
G.B. walked right up, his eyes burning, his face as relaxed as ever. “Hi.”
Duke smiled with his teeth. “Hey.”
Cait frowned. “You two know each other?”
“Yes, we do.” G.B. put his hand out. “How are you?”
The only reason Duke shook the goddamn thing was that he didn’t want Cait involved any further in what was going on between them. She’d made her choice, and it was the right one—and that was the extent of her entanglement.
Also, as soon as he could, he was going to tell her everything—he’d already decided that over the course of the day. But not here, at the frickin’ cemetery, two minutes after she’d buried her student.
G.B. smiled like the motherfucker he was. “So, Cait, can you take me back to my car? I have to go to rehearsals.”
She stepped away. “Oh, yes, of course.” She glanced at G.B. “Will you give us a moment?”
Yeah, G.B., run along there, asshole, would you.
Only Duke knew exactly how pissed off the guy had to be as he nodded like nothing was doing and sauntered away.
Cait turned to him and rubbed his arms. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Me, too. Lucky coincidence.”
“Listen, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to go home and finish my work tonight. With everything that’s been going on, I’m worried about getting behind, and the deadline is coming soon. If I press through, I can get it all wrapped up, and then…”
“Yeah. Absolutely. You just call me, okay? I’m around.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” She lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed him briefly. “See you very soon?”
“You got me, lady.” He tucked some of that hair behind her ear. “Anytime you want me.”
He watched her walk off toward her car, pausing to let a minivan by before crossing the lane.
When she left, G.B. was in her passenger seat.
Across the distance that separated him from his brother, Duke could feel the hatred like an ice pick going into the side of his head—and for a moment, he nearly shouted after her.
But his brother was a shit, not a killer.
And this was quite a moment, wasn’t it. Without meaning to, it looked as though Duke had won the game he’d taken himself out of.
As Cait drove them back to wherever they’d been, Duke couldn’t imagine the conversation. At least G.B. had nothing on him, though; he’d always kept his nose clean. What was the guy going to do? Tell her how Duke had been with a woman and G.B. had come along and knocked her up and left her and the kid high and dry?
Yeah, that would reflect well on the SOB.
So strange … G.B. had been full of hate since the day they’d been born, almost as if there had been a set amount of morality that had had to be split between the pair of them—and Duke had gotten the largest balance by far of however much there was.
And it wasn’t like he himself was a rabid Good Samaritan or some shit.
Look what he’d been willing to do to Cait.
Until he’d come to his senses, that is.
Jim strode across the lane toward the grave site. As he closed in, he was cursing himself. Of course Sissy would want to be at her own funeral—and he should have been the one to take her. He hadn’t known when it was though … and the criminal thing? He hadn’t thought to find out.
Most of the people who’d come were wandering off, but not Sissy or her family. The grave was a square hole cut in the earth, a yawning mouth set to claim the remains in the coffin. Sissy’s mom and dad and sister were on one side … Sissy on the other. And whereas her family were looking down; she was staring at them.
Adrian, who was off to the side, gave a nod.
“How’s she doing?” Jim asked as he came up to the guy.
Dumb fucking question.
Adrian shrugged. “She’s amazing. That’s how she’s doing.”
“Oh.” Jim cleared his throat. “Yeah. Good.”
Talk about inappropriate. He wasn’t actually chaffing at his buddy over here because the bastard had taken the girl to her
Wow. Classy.
With tangible sorrow, her parents put their arms around their remaining daughter and the trio turned away, leaving Sissy behind.
“Gimme me a minute, would ya?” Jim asked.
Not waiting for an answer, he went over to Sissy. “Hey, there.”
She jumped as if surprised. “Oh, hi.”
Instantly, he recognized that something was off with her. But come on, like this was happy times? “How you feeling?”
“Good. You know, fine. Okay. I’m all right.”
He wanted to put his arms around her and pull her into his chest. He wanted his body to be what she held on to as she struggled to find her footing. He wanted to be the guy she turned to when she needed something, anything.
Instead, they just stood side by side, as her eyes clung to her mother, father and sister. The emotion in her face was so powerful, it was like a tangible object, something with heft and substance and a handle to grab onto.
God knew she was going to be carrying that shit around with her for a very, very long time.
Just as he was about to tell her how sorry he was, she shook her head and met his eyes. “So, how’s work?”
Bizarre thing to ask about, considering what she was going through, but maybe she needed the distraction?
“Good. Fine. You know.”
Guess two could play at that game.
She nodded over at the tall, dark-haired man Jim had been tailing for the past twenty-four hours. “Is he the soul?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”
“Listen, Sissy, I can …” Do what? Take some more time off? Not going to happen. Devina might not have shown up here, but she was, as always, a busy little bitch.
God, he couldn’t believe she’d somehow infiltrated the spell around the mansion. And crap, he needed to tell Adrian what had happened. It was just so damned embarrassing. He had, however, redoubled the protection at the house. Maybe it had weakened because he’d had his head up his ass—
“… was he an angel, too?”
He shook himself back to attention. “I’m sorry?”
“The other guy? Who’s with my old teacher over there?”
Jim pivoted. “I’m so not following this. What?”
“Over by the Lexus. That singer with the ponytail. He’s got a halo, too—but everyone can see him.”
About twenty-five yards off, a blond-haired woman was getting into an SUV with a man who was tall and had long black hair. Neither one appeared to be particularly happy, but there was certainly no glow or anything around either of their heads.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Jim said gently. Damn it, he wanted to go home with her—
“The guy has a halo, like you and me.”
Cranking his head back around, Jim frowned. “Halo?”
Sissy rolled her eyes and made a little circle around her skull. “Can’t you see mine?”
