“There were no drugs in my car.” The truth slapped me in the face. “Reed beat the hell out of me for nothing. They told Nan it was a mistake, sent us a check for $250, and that was that. They haven’t pulled me over in Briar since no matter how many cops I cut off, flip off, or speed by. I pissed on the police department in broad daylight once to see what would happen, and guess what? Nothing.”
My world collapsed as truth pelted down, the lies combining in one fatal blow.
I gnawed at my lip, desperate to keep it together, to get out the words he needed to hear. He’d given me his truth. I had to share mine. “He said they found drugs… that you said they were mine…” I felt so stupid. So horrible. So undeserving. “He said the only way I’d be safe was if I left.”
I’d believed the worst in him. I failed him.
“He set us up.” His voice was much steadier than mine though deeper than ever, a low rumble that threatened a storm Briar had never seen the likes of.
Dad passed off sending me to California as the gift of salvation. He’d given me a gift alright, a mountain of lies wrapped up in a tiny bow, delivered by the man who was supposed to protect me all along.
“But why would he do that? Why? He loved me! I was his favorite!” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, desperate for comfort. “I did nothing wrong! All I’ve ever done was love you!”
“Then why did you believe him?”
His question was like a two-by-four to the stomach, a second round of pain ringing when I realized how pathetic the answer was.
“He never lied to me!” I cried, a tremor of sobs rolling through me. “Maybe he wasn’t around much, but he never looked at me like that before! He never hit me! I knew it had to be bad for him to react like that!”
I’d never forget the weight of the guilt and shame he thrust onto my shoulders as he rattled off all the things he’d done for me and all the ways I’d let him down on the way to Portland. It was a dance we repeated many times over the years, more things tossed to the top of the pile as he saw fit. I’d beaten myself up over a lie for so long, thankful he’d saved me from danger, a danger that hadn’t been real.
“He’s always hated me, Joey.” He snaked the glass from my hand, setting it down beside his before draping an arm around my shoulders, giving me everything I’d ever needed in an instant. “But it’s okay. I hate the rotten son of a bitch, too.”
He stole so much.
So much love.
So much time.
All the things I’d hated Luke for had been his doing all along, and he watched me suffer, inflicting more lashes when I was already down
But I couldn’t hate him. His lies, however harmful, brought me to California. To Scott. I got to share a few short years with a great man and learned what true love was again with Linc.
“Why would he do this?” I wondered aloud, sinking against Luke’s chest. “He left us alone before that day. He’d give his usual list of complaints, but he always got over it. It’s like he flipped a switch.”
“Like a man panicked,” Luke noted, stroking my shoulder gently. “Like a man about to lose everything.”
“But why us?”
He’d already retired from Congress by then, and in between his grouchiness, he’d been okay. Maybe distant, spending more time at the cabin up north than at home, but nothing made sense about any of it.
Luke’s fingers drew lazy circles on my skin. “Because I was going to propose.”
I stiffened, the world suddenly feeling a thousand times colder, Luke’s hand blazing hot against my flesh. “What?”
“That’s why we were going out to the canyon.”
“Did he know?” I asked, terrified of the answer.
Luke chuckled, the rumble of heat fluttering across my skin as his mouth hovered above my shoulder. “Of course he did. I asked him for your hand while you were working at the diner.”
My father had him battered for loving me. For wanting to love me forever. I was going to be sick, the room seeming to tilt at his words. “What did he say?”
“He told me to stay the fuck away from his daughter.”
“And then what?” I asked, hanging on every word of a horror story, a part of my own history I’d never heard.
“I told him to have a good day. Then I fucked his daughter.” There was laughter in his voice at the end, classic Luke humor piercing through the moment.
I smacked his chest. “I’m being serious, Luke!”
“So am I!” he shot back, a hint of comedy lingering.
Despite the added pressure of a proposal, it still made little sense. Dad objected to me marrying Scott, but he skipped the wedding. He could’ve done the same with Luke.
“I don’t understand any of this.” It was too much, a whirlwind of information. I didn’t know whether to cry, scream, or curl up into a ball. I couldn’t make a scene at Liv’s wedding.
“Neither do I, but we won’t understand it. You can’t understand evil without an evil heart.”
I shoved against his chest. “He took you from me! He lied, and he stole something we’ll never get back — time!”
“But you have Lincoln,” he breathed. “And you met your husband.”
I did. I met a man who plucked me from loneliness, chasing away the depression that settled in where Luke had been, filling the role amazingly well. I loved him, as much as I loved Luke, and losing him hurt the same. And like Luke, he was never good enough for my father.
“He hated Scott.”
“At least he’s consistent,” Luke chuckled, running a hand along my side gently. “But now I know you didn’t
