Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 130159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“I know.” She kissed him softly.
Pressed against her back, Beck let out a tense breath and pasted on a smile. “So it’s settled?”
Seth winced. “I have another problem. It’s something I don’t have the right to ask you for. But if I don’t, I’m not sure I can stay.”
The surgeon sent him a challenging glare. “Try me.”
“I-I lied.” He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling guilty as hell. But the sounds of Heavenly crying urged him on. “I can’t live here if Zach does. His tragedy hits too close to home. The memories… I thought I’d handled them. I thought I could deal. But I—”
“We know.” Beck reached over Heavenly to clap his shoulder. “We already figured it out.”
Relief curled through Seth. They had? Why hadn’t they said so?
She curled against his chest and looked up at him with imploring eyes. “We were just waiting for you to tell us.”
“Why? Angel, I can’t tell Beck who he can and can’t have living in his house. And Zach’s loss is so much fresher. Asking him to accommodate me is shitty and…I feel fucking weak. But not communicating with you two only made it worse. I retreated and got in my head…and I’m sorry.”
As Heavenly kissed his jaw in absolution, Beck shook his head. “I understand. But we all live here. We all need to be comfortable here. This should be our sanctuary, not someplace you try to escape by sleeping on the too-short sofa in your office.”
“You’re right.” Seth felt more than vaguely guilty. “I fucked up. But he’s your brother. He’s suffering, and he has nowhere else to go. He can’t stay on the streets, and every minute he’s out there, he could be recognized, harassed—”
“I have an idea that I’m hoping will suit us all. But first things first. Put Zach aside for a minute. Do you want to come home and be with us?”
Put Zach aside? How? “It’s not that simple—”
“It is. Yes or no?”
Seth gaped. If Zach wasn’t in the picture… “I never wanted to leave in the first place. I’ve never been happier than when I was here.” He glanced down at Heavenly. “I love you.”
She beamed up at him, her cheeks still rosy with satisfaction. “I love you.”
Finally, Beck smiled. “Then I know what to do. Just promise me you won’t abandon us again.”
That seemed like the simplest promise in the world to keep. “I won’t.”
And if he stayed with them, he’d reconcile what their future looked like—commitment and babies and forever. He just needed time to get it all straight in his head.
“Then I got you,” Beck promised. “Leave the situation with Zach to me.”
Despite the fact he and Seth had reaffirmed their bond with Heavenly and managed spine-bending satisfaction all around, sleep proved to be an elusive bitch. Though having her between them again felt right and finally gave Beck some optimism, his brain refused to let him rest. He’d spent hours dissecting everything Seth had confessed about Autumn and Tristan, the way they’d died, and his subsequent revenge. Beck had come to one inescapable conclusion.
There were holes in Seth’s story.
Oh, the PI had been thorough—even self-castigating—up through their murders. After that, the explanation had turned murky. Why had Seth gotten obsessed with that particular cold case? What about it had made him unable to let go? Unable to care about other cases? Newer cases? And once he’d gone down the dark road with that case, whose palms had he had to grease? Who in the seedy underworld had he asked questions of? And what sort of favors had he done for them in exchange for the name of his wife’s and son’s killer? Nothing legal, that was for fucking sure.
Beck didn’t blame Seth for wasting the asshole who had killed his family, but why had the murderer done it? Simply to cover up his cold-case killing? Or was there something deeper at work that would motivate a stranger to off a homicide detective’s wife and infant boy? If there wasn’t, why wouldn’t the killer simply end the detective hunting him down?
Other things didn’t add up, too. Once upon a time, Seth had knocked Pike out cold with one punch. The police academy hadn’t taught him that shit. Who had? Beck didn’t like the possible answers.
And the biggest question of all? Why would Seth have bared so much pain about the loss of his family, then given them double-speak to explain everything else?
Pieces of this story weren’t fitting together, and he’d get to the bottom of it. But right now, Beck had to deal with the situation in front of him. He had to talk to Zach.
He’d rehearsed ways to explain to his brother that, after inviting him to stay at the house, Beck was now asking him to leave. No, he wasn’t casting Zach onto the streets. His brother would have a place to stay. But if he wasn’t here, how was Beck supposed to help guide him through this new existence? On the other hand, if Seth couldn’t handle being around Zach, what choice did he have?