Once Broken (Dove Creek Chronicles) (16 page)

“Not for people. I’ve been fine to stand aside where it comes to vampires and everything that comes along with that. But these are people, not monsters.”

I was silenced by how dangerously close to home Solomon’s argument hit to what I had been thinking about the two I’d dispatched the night before. Hugo spoke instead.

“Then we must agree to disagree, old friend,” he said with finality. By the way Solomon shook his head, he took the matter as closed.

The front door opened and the three of us looked at it instantly. Alex walked in and I saw Sol drop his hand from where it had reached for his service weapon. The werewolf looked cautious, as though he sensed the tension that rode on the silence.

“C’mon in,” I said. “You’re just in time.”

“For?”

“One of these days, Alex, I’m gonna teach you about sarcasm,” I said before
brushing past him and leaving through the same door he’d just come in. The walls were feeling too close around me, and I needed to get out.

Alex’ sense of smell would be going to work as he checked out the scene and Solomon had experience searching out every minute detail. I assumed Hugo was working on a plan and that left me to just get out of the way.

The wind rustled the leaves of the big oak tree out front. I wandered across the porch, avoided the fourth board before the steps – it was still creaky. Heading toward the yard, I came just short of tripping over the toy truck I had noticed earlier. I stopped to pick it up, and held it as I continued down to the brick path. I stood still under the old tree and blinked back tears. Anger welled up inside of me along with the despair. I felt the clenching fist of guilt deep in my gut let go.

What kind of people could kill an entire family, a baby? The level of evil was incomprehensible. I felt a growing need to end their reign of terror more than ever.

And if I was being honest with myself, I was also afraid.

I tucked the little yellow dump truck in close to the trunk of the tree and walked around the side of the house. There was nothing specific I was hoping to find, though I was paying attention for some little clue, something more that we could go on.

It was just as Solomon said, the same scene as the ones before. By the time I reached the back door, I could see no signs of a forced entry and found nothing out of the ordinary. There was no sign that anything had gone wrong at the Jessop home. No one had noticed that anything was amiss until the two older children didn’t show up at school.

I supposed that the only positive in the matter was that we found out sooner. The trail wasn’t completely cold.

“Remington.”

I startled. So preoccupied by my musings, I hadn’t heard Alex come from behind me.

“Alex.”

“You’ve been avoiding me.” He stated it as though there was no other truth.

“I just saw you last night,” I objected.

“You are alright?”

“A few cuts and bruises. Nothing to write home about.”

He took another two steps forward, putting himself directly in front of me. I had to tilt my head up to meet his eyes.

“Remi, I . . .” He stopped, hesitant. I’d never known him to be at a loss for words, so for once I held my tongue. My eyes darted away toward the house as I waited. “I regret that I hurt your feelings. Understand that it was not my intent.”

I looked back up at him, shocked into further silence. An apology wasn’t what I was expecting.

“Thank you,” I finally said. “I appreciate that. But you don’t have to apologize, I—”

I didn’t get to finish. I was interrupted by Alex’ lips on mine and his arms around me. Though I was taken by surprise, the kiss wasn’t unwelcome. It was terrible timing, but I was troubled and being near the werewolf was as soothing to my nerves as it always had been. I moved my hands up to his shoulders as his tongue caressed mine. It was everything I thought it would be. Deep, hot, and soulful with an untamed quality barely bridled.

And it answered a question: It wasn’t love or even lust. He had saved my life and I placed a high value on that, maybe too high or maybe in the wrong way. Despite that kiss, I recognized that whatever spark there was between us, it wasn’t of the carnal variety.

Still in his arms, I looked up at him.

“For what can never be,” he told me, answering what I hadn’t voiced. “In another time and another place, perhaps. But here and now . . .”

“I understand. Really, I do,” I said. “That was one hell of an explanation, though.”

He smiled a somber smile and placed a chaste kiss on my lips. We embraced, an honest to goodness hug that held a note of sadness. We were saying goodbye to something that we hadn’t had, but both might have wanted. The wound to my pride was healed as I understood the reason behind Alex’ rejection. But just as I was coming to terms with that and feeling better for it, my newfound peace was shattered.

“Remi, what the hell?”

I let go of Alex and peered around him to find Casey coming toward us. Even in the dim light coming from the streetlamps, I could see the anger in the rigid set of his shoulders and the clench of his fists.

Alex turned and stared him down, though his words were calm and even. “It wasn’t her. I took a liberty that I should not have, considering.”

I put a hand on Alex’ arm and moved around him. “Thanks, Alex, but I’ll take responsibility for my half of that.”

To Casey’s credit, he was in full control of his ire. But as I got close enough to him, I saw hurt mingled with the anger. It was enough to draw an apology from me when I hadn’t planned on offering one.

“I’m sorry, Case. We didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“Save it. You wanna go around kissing a dead guy instead of a living, breathing man? Fine. I thought we had a good thing going . . . Guess I was wrong.”

He turned to go back the way he had come and I took a step toward him. “Casey, wait.”

He waved a hand and kept going without looking back. I stood
there and watched him go, feeling guilty for having hurt him.

“I’m sorry I caused you a problem with him,” Alex said from behind me.

I shook my head as I turned back to face him. “Don’t say you’re sorry. I’ve had enough apologizing for one night.”

chapter twelve

“Did I see Casey outside?” Hugo asked as I went back into the house.

“Yeah, he dropped by to check on us,” I said.

I chanced a furtive glance toward him. He seemed to accept that vague explanation easily enough. At
the very least, he changed the subject.

“The markings on
all the bodies are the same as the ones before,” he said, sounding stricken but composed. “There is no need for you to examine the scene, too.”

I sensed that he was trying to save me from a sight I would never get over, and I accepted that without argument. I wondered – as I often did – how Hugo could see some of the things he saw and remain so even-keeled. It was an ability my father had failed to master and one I was still working toward myself.

“Thank you,” I said. “We should probably get out of Sol’s way.”

Not that we were in his way precisely. He was nowhere I could see him and that left me to assume that he was off performing the technicalities of his job.

“Yes, of course,” Hugo agreed. “Come. I can take you by your house to get your husband’s truck.”

I raised my eyebrows at him as if to ask,
How did you know
?

He answered with a shrewd look. “I overheard your call to Dylan earlier
,
mija
.”

Our leader is not a chatty man when there’s nothing to chat about, so we sat in comfortable silence during the drive over to Westview. I was left to mull over the awful night, both for the Amasai and for me personally.

The one remotely high moment was the kiss Alex had surprised me with, the tension it had resolved, but I found it difficult to be at all cheerful about it. That poorly timed apology had single-handedly ruined a perfectly good arrangement with a gorgeous, sweet man. I understood that Casey might have been jealous or had his feelings hurt, but what we had was supposed to be casual. Fun while it lasted.

It hadn’t last long, though, and it was my own damned fault. Sure, I could’ve blamed Alex’ dismal timing, but it takes to two tango as the saying goes. I hadn’t exactly pushed him off me in disgust.

I was no closer to solving my problem when we arrived at the house I used to call my home. Hugo offered to wait until I could get inside and make sure Dominic’s truck was still running fine, but I declined and thanked him all the same. This was something I wanted to do alone.

It felt strange to use my key in the front door, like I was sneaking into someone else’s house. Some of the furniture I had bought with Dominic was still there, intermingled with Dylan’s belongings. I had removed all of the deeply personal things long before, packed away the pictures and Dom’s clothes. I was pleased to see that my brother was taking excellent care of the place. It looked lived in, but the furniture was dusted and the floors were clean.

The memories weren’t as overwhelming anymore. I didn’t feel choked by thoughts of what had been taken from me. As I made my way through the house to the garage entry door, I did feel a little sad but my spirits were bolstered as I opened the door to find the late model Ford truck exactly where I’d left it. I stepped onto the running board and slid onto the driver’s end of the bench seat, and I was reminded of what –
who
– I was fighting for. The engine turned over the very first time I pushed on the clutch and gave it a go. I smiled, heartened by the positive result.

It had been a while since I’d driven a standard, but it came back to me as I went through the motions. Dominic had made sure that I could drive the stick shift, in case of an emergency. I pictured the wry look he would give me if he could see the nature of my emergencies these days.

I looked up at the visor to see the garage door opener still clipped to it and pressed the button. Like clockwork, the door slid upward, and I backed out of the garage and down the driveway. I made sure that the garage door was closed once again before I left. It was still well before dawn, so I picked up my phone as I meandered out of the residential neighborhood. I tried to call Casey, but somehow I wasn’t surprised to get his voicemail rather than an answer. I didn’t leave a message.

With the mood I was in, company wasn’t something I much cared to have but I drove back to headquarters to wait for Casey to get back from being on watch. He might not have wanted to talk to me, but I had plenty to say to him.

When I got there, the only vehicles parked outside were Garrett’s and Gabriel’s. What Gabe was doing there, I didn’t know and I huffed a sigh of annoyance. I hoped my personal drama hadn’t reached them just yet.

That proved to be wishful thinking.

Both men looked up when I entered the sitting area and wore uncomfortable expressions, like I’d caught them in the act. I got the uneasy impression that they had been talking about me.

“Uh, hey Remi,” Garrett said. “Rough night?” To his credit, he had at least didn’t try to pretend that everything was fine.

“You could say that,” I replied, cautious until I could assess just how much they knew.

Gabe stood up from his chair and took two paper cups from the coffee table. “C’mon. Let’s take a walk and talk about it,” he said. He offered me one of the cups. “For you. It’s fresh.”

I took the cup and sniffed in appreciation. “Thanks, but I came to wait for—”

“Casey?” h
e supplied. “He’s not coming back this morning.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s okay. Let’s go talk, Rem.”

“Fine,” I consented. “Later, Garrett,” I added as I passed.

Gabriel followed me to the front door and slipped past me to open it. “Thanks,” I muttered as I walked through the doorway.

The hour was past late and somewhere in the range of very early. It was an odd time for him to be out and about, considering his day job.

“What are you doing here right now?” I asked.

“Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d stop by for a while until I head to the office,” he answered.

I pursed my lips and bobbed my head once to show that I understood. The coffee was hot on my tongue as I took the first sip. Gabe had gotten it just right: plenty of cream and not too much sugar. How in the hell did he always know these things?

“So what did you do to Casey?” He asked with a look of affected innocence. He raised his eyebrows as he took a drink of his coffee – an open invitation for me to answer.

I stopped in the middle of the walking path. “I didn’t do jack sh—”

“Remi,” he interrupted and stopped two paces in front of me. “I was teasing.”

I gave him a look that told him just what he could do with his teasing.

“Hey, whatever happened, I only know that he’s upset enough that he didn’t want to risk seeing you this morning. Just thought you might wanna talk about it.”

Starting to walk again, I closed the gap between us and kept going. “Are you offering as my partner who wants my head screwed on straight, or as a friend?”

“Both.”

“Fair enough.” I shrugged one shoulder. “He caught Alex kissing me.”

We reached the edge of the reservoir and began to climb the grassy slope. Gabriel blew out a breath and I thought maybe that wasn’t what he was expecting me to say.

“Alex kissed you?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I told him no.” In for a penny, in for a pound. I decided that I might as well unburden myself of the whole truth. “I kissed him back.”

“What am I missing?” He asked as we topped the earthen barrier of the reservoir and sat down.

I stalled, drinking from the cup as I decided what to tell him.

“It was closure,” I said. “A little while back, before Casey and I were seeing each other, I kissed Alex and he wasn’t receptive.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” he said.

“It does?”

“You’ve been weird around him lately, but I couldn’t figure out why.”

“That obvious, huh?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“I know you’ve always had this sort of hero worship thing with him, but romantic feelings? Remi, he’s dead. This is his afterlife.”

“Thanks for clearing that up that for me. I hadn’t noticed,” I retorted, acid dripping from every sarcastic word. “Anyway, that’s the point. It was just a kiss to put the whole thing away. Casey was never meant to know about it.”

I felt ridiculous explaining it to him, but Gabe nodded to show that he understood. “So that’s it? It’s put away?”

“Yes, and that’s what I’m trying to explain to Casey. I don’t get why he’s so upset. He’s the one who said our relationship came with no strings attached.”

“He said that?”

I nodded. “So I just assumed that I’m like all the others. You know how Casey is . . . He goes through women like he might not get to every one of them on the planet in his lifetime. I figured we’d have our fun then go our separate ways.”

Gabriel shook his head and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” I questioned.

“Remi, you’re not a woman who could be ‘like all the others’.”

“Thanks . . . I think.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “You shouldn’t have assumed. Men who’re after only one thing don’t
offer fix your car and take care of you when you’re hurt. He was falling in love with you.” He pointed it out as if it was the most obvious thing.

“But it was only a
couple weeks,” I said, dazed by the revelation.

“You’ve been friends for a couple years, though. You hurt him bad, Rem.”

I felt miserable. Whether or not I had any feelings for Casey beyond friendship and pure physical attraction, I didn’t want to be the source of any pain for him.

And there it was: I didn’t
know
that I had significant feelings for Casey.

He was gorgeous and kind. He was a buff, rough-and-tumble cowboy that could make any woman with a pulse want to go take a roll in the hay. I was attracted to him. I adored him. But I wasn’t in love with him and never would be. Nevertheless, I felt like a tee-totaling idiot for hurting him.

“What is it?” Gabe asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t love him,” I answered, honest as I looked back at him. “I feel bad that I was such a clumsy
ass
, but that’s it.”

He just nodded at first, as though I’d only confirmed something he already knew. “It’ll be okay. He’ll cool off, then you can smooth things over.”

I looked out across the reservoir to see the first glow of purple and gray peeking over the other side. What a long night it had been.

“So why were you with him anyway?”

“Pardon?” I asked, taken off guard by the question.

“If you didn’t love him, why were you with Casey?”

Drawing my knees up to my chest, I put my arms around them. My first instinct was to tell Gabriel that it was none of his damn business and leave it at that. But he sounded genuinely curious, so I gave him a real answer.

“I like Casey. I enjoy being around him and I’m attracted to him, but I’m not ready to give away my heart again.”

“You will be one day,” Gabe guessed. “Just hafta find the right one for you. Alex and Casey aren’t.”

“Oh, they aren’t?” I asked with a
small smile.

“No,” he answered simply and got to his feet. He offered me a hand to help me up. “C’mon. Let’s get back. I’ve gotta get to work and you need to go get some rest.”

I
BARELY SLEPT. I TOSSED
and turned and turned some more. There was too much that my mind was trying to process. Though I was sorry for messing everything up with Casey, he was the least of my worries.

It was difficult to wipe the images of so many casualties from my memory. I thought of the family, the little toy truck on the front porch. Had Hugo done me a favor by shielding me from their violent end? I wasn’t so sure. My imagination provided a picture that may have been worse than the reality.

The faces of Jude Abram and Benny Jenkins haunted me as I recalled the scenes of death at their homes as well. They had no families to miss them, but that didn’t make their lives and deaths any less important.

I remembered – reluctantly – the pair of Triple Six I’d killed barely forty-eight hours before. The eerie howls of the werewolves jerked me out of a fitful sleep. Looking toward the clock, I struggled to get my bearings. I wasn’t sure when I’d dozed off, but I hadn’t slept long judging by the time.

It wasn’t yet noon, but I gave up on the notion of getting any more sleep. I got up and stumbled my way into the bathroom. As I finished up, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The dark circles under my eyes had faded a little, but in their place were bags from the lack of shuteye. Nothing some coffee wouldn’t fix.

As the pot was filling, I checked my messages. My mom had called early and left me a drawn out recording that included a good chewing out for not calling her after my wreck. I chuckled to myself, thinking she would really flip her lid when I told her that it was no accident.