“I’m so sorry, Tara.”
Lifting her gaze, she saw sympathy on Erin’s face and snorted. “Don’t be, Erin. I’m not. Even if I found out that Calvin wasn’t all he was cracked up to be, I got Colleen out of the relationship.”
Erin reached over and held her hand.
“You’re right, you know,” she admitted. “Carter is who he is. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not hurt. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean that I’m ready for a relationship with someone like my brothers and father. I guess maybe it really should just be me and Colleen.” Holding her sister’s gaze again, tears renewed as she said, “Thanks for listening.”
“Honey, you’ve been here for me my whole life, but especially in the last couple of months as I’ve tried to make sense of what happened to me and where I want to go from here. Holding your hand while you cry is little repayment.”
Heart still heavy, she sipped tea with her sister, filled with the familiarity and comfort of her parents’ table.
Neither woman noticed Rory standing in the hall.
18
Carter sat at the bar of the Celtic Cock, nursing his second beer. The pub, located near headquarters and between two of the fire stations, was a favorite hangout for first responders. Being a Monday night, it was less crowded than the weekend, and that was just the way he wanted it. A chance to sit, drink, and feel sorry for himself.
Lifting his beer, a movement near the door caught his eye in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar. Shit. He watched as a group of tight-jawed, hard-eyed men stalked straight toward him. Sean, Kyle, and Rory McBride. Close behind were Brock and Brody King. Fuckin’ hell.
Setting his mug back on the bar, he turned his stool and faced the firing squad. The five men circled around, giving him no room to move. It didn’t matter. He had no plans of running anyway. He turned his gaze to Sean, figuring as the oldest McBride, he would be the first to speak. Until getting to know Tara, he only knew that Sean and Kyle were brothers. Sean was quieter and known to analyze a situation or case carefully, usually dressed in button-down shirts and slacks in contrast to Kyle, who was always in jeans and boots. Kyle was quicker to temper, fast to action. Rory was the youngest brother, only known to Carter as a firefighter. And now that he understood the relationship between the McBrides and the Kings, he was not surprised to see Brock and Brody taking on a brotherly role as well.
“What the hell did you do to our sister?” Sean’s calm voice belied the fire in his eyes.
He opened his mouth to defend himself, then snapped it closed again. Nothing he said was going to make a difference to these men who cared about Tara. Shaking his head, he admitted, “I fucked up.”
“I’d say you did, asshole,” Kyle growled, taking a step closer and halting only when Sean’s hand snapped out and pressed against his chest.
He shifted his gaze around each of them, before coming back to Sean. “She was not part of my investigation. But she unwittingly gave me information about an illegal activity that was on the fringes of my investigation. I moved forward with my job but hoped it wouldn’t affect her—”
“There’s no way she would be unaffected by someone she knows getting arrested,” Sean said.
“I didn’t finish. I was going to say I hoped it wouldn’t affect her until I had a chance to talk to her. To explain what was going on and what happened. This has nothing to do with that nurse offering Tara antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription. We were already looking at the clinic and we were already looking at those employees. Somebody’s getting opioids to people in that lunch line at the homeless shelter.”
Sean remained quiet, but Carter had no doubt he was sifting through the situation. He glanced at Kyle, who appeared to be considering the investigation while still hanging on to his anger.
“That’s not all, from what I heard.”
He looked over at Rory, uncertain how to respond. Strangely, the thought ran through his mind that genetics ran strong with the McBride family. The three men looked so similar, no one would be surprised to discover they were brothers. The dark hair and intense expression in their blue eyes reminded him so much of Tara.
Rory continued, “Seems like you’ve been dating her, and no one knew about it. Why is that, Carter?”
“That’s for Tara to say. You have to ask her.”
“Hell, no. We’re asking you,” Rory growled.
“Tara’s decision to tell you or not tell you who she’s seeing is her business. From my point of view, we were never sneaking around, but I respected her wishes.”
Kyle bit out, “She’s got a daughter!”
His patience snapped and he crossed his arms over his chest, leveling his glare on them. “Yeah. Colleen. Her favorite color is pink, although purple is a close second. She likes birthday parties at Pirate Ship Pizza with her friends, doesn’t mind crappy pizza as long as she’s with those friends but thinks that the pirate captain mascot is weird. She likes hot dogs the way her mom fixes them but only wants ketchup and hates mustard. She’d rather have french fries than potato chips but wants ketchup on the side so that she can dip her fries and not get the ketchup on her fingers. She likes listening to bedtime stories but wants the reader to pretend that they’re the characters. She likes school but wishes they would let her read bigger books.
