Truth Is Found (26 page)

“Where to, boss?”

“Our place, Kane. I’m going to sober him up, and then kick his ass. If you hear screaming, no need to come running. I promise I won’t hurt him too much.”

Kane laughed.

He had no doubt someone was in for a world of hurt.

Justin was screwed.

CHAPTER Twelve

Shopping For Fate

Wednesday Late Afternoon

Her place was definitely interesting.

Before meeting Nyx, Beau had never been to a place quite like this. The whole idea of psychics seemed so odd to him. Well, that was until he met Tori and fell into the new family. Since that moment, nothing surprised him.

Nothing at all.

It was odd but he was at ease around Nyx. So much so, that he didn't think he could ever date anyone else. Then again, there wasn’t a line of women waiting for a chance to be swept off their feet. Yes, he’d had plenty of action, but nothing that ever made him want more.

He never thought of himself as a player.

Beau had been too busy saving the world. It took a toll on his body, mind, and soul.

Then along came the sexy spider, and her name was Nyx. She trapped him in her web, and not in a bad way.

Everything seemed so much better the second his lips touched hers.

He couldn’t believe in the mere days since they’d met, he’d fall for a woman who played with the dead in her mind. It was so strange to him, and honestly, Beau was off balance.

As he walked from area to area in her apartment, he studied the woman’s space.

She was a loner. There wasn’t one personal photograph to be found.

No mother.

No father.

No siblings.

It made him wonder why.

Had her past been damaged by one of them? All of them? It made him curious. Were they the trauma that brought Nyx her gift?

The more he moved around her space, the more he wanted to study her. In fact, the more he learned, the more he craved her.

He couldn’t help it.

He was only human.

At that very minute, she was naked and in the shower. He offered to hold her hand--outside the curtain--of course, but she declined.

Maybe it was for the best. In his head, he could picture her trapped between him and the wall as his hands and mouth plundered her sexy, smooth body.

He throbbed in need at the visual.

Beau was forced to take a few deep breaths to clear his mind. What he wanted, and what he was willing to do were two different things.

He was a gentleman.

He wouldn’t hurt her by taking what he wanted.

No, he’d wait--
even if it was killing him
.

Who knew he could be such a saint? At least he wasn’t like his sperm donor. They all knew he raped and pillaged at his own whim, and Beau refused to be anything like him.

Hell would freeze over first.

As he wandered, Beau heard the water shut off. Then he could hear a pause in all normal sounds of someone getting out of the shower.

Before he could register anything else, there was a horrible thud.

Racing toward the door, he found it locked. “Nyxie, are you okay?”

There wasn’t an answer.

“Nyx, honey, are you okay?”

Beau waited a few more seconds, and then he made up his mind.

He did what he had to do.

With all he had, he kicked in the door.

Well, so much for Beau being cool, calm, and collected under pressure. His heart was pounding, and his adrenaline was amped.

When he entered, Nyx was on the floor. She was wrapped in a towel, but she looked pale and disorientated.

There was no doubt in his mind what the issue was. Their time apart had weighed on her, and she looked to be in pain.

Not hesitating for a single second, Beau swept her up in his arms. He carried her out to her bed, refusing to let her go. As she lay against his chest, he knew she was still awake. While her breathing was shallow, her eyelids were flickering.

“I’ve got you, Nyx. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have let you go. I’m sorry.”

She murmured to him, “I’m fine. He’s backing off now that you’re here.”

“What did he want?” Beau asked. “What did my brother do to you?”

“He’s angry, that’s all. I’ve blocked him out for too long, and he’s worked up. It’ll be okay once he gets it off his chest. It’s just that he’s like a freaking drill sergeant in my head.”

Her hand went to his cheek, and she gently stroked it, all the while keeping her eyes closed.

Beau hated this.

He hated that his brother was hurting her.

It was hard to watch her suffer because of him.

“Let me talk to Trey. Can you hold out a few more minutes with him yelling?”

She shook in his arms. “I can, but you don’t want to…”

“Trey! Talk to me.”

Nyx looked up into his eyes. Hers were filled with so much pain, but if he wanted a direct line, she’d give it to him. “He’s angry.”

“I can handle him. You just hold on for me. I’ll get it done fast, and then we’ll silence him again.”

Beau slid her off his lap. Slowly, he moved away from her, knowing that she was going to hurt. Her body bowed as her hands went to her ears to try and block out the noise that only she was hearing.

“Trey! You’re hurting her! Stop!”

It didn't take long for Nyx to start channeling him. “You need to take Tori home! You need to leave now! The winery is full of dead. You have to go. Save our sister. Do your duty!”

The voice was Nyx’s, but Beau knew who was coming through.

“Trey! You have to calm down. You’re killing her! Don’t hurt her!”

“She’s just the link! She shut me out for too long! I have to be heard!”

He wanted to rage himself. “She’s mine! You’re hurting what’s mine to protect!”

“Unsafe. It’s all unsafe. No one is protected where the dead roam unchecked.”

Beau noticed that Nyx released her ears, so his brother must have calmed down. “She’s mine, Trey. You’re hurting my woman. We’re blood, and you’re torturing the woman I care about.”

He nearly said ‘love’, but he wasn’t sure how Nyx would take that, or if she could even hear him. The last thing he wanted was to rush into something and frighten her. Besides, he didn't know why he was so connected to a woman he just met.

Beau had his own demons to work through.

Nyx’s body relaxed, the bowing stopped, and she spoke calmly, channeling Trey. “Go home, Beau. Go home. Take our sister and get out of here. There are things that will hurt you both if you stay.”

“We can’t. We have to help the dead. Tori is on a mission, and she has to complete it.”

“
GO HOME
!” Nyx screamed, her body bucking in some invisible hold Trey held on her.

Beau reached for her hand to reconnect them. “She’s mine!” he shouted back. “I won’t let you hurt her!”

The trickle of blood down Nyx’s face from her nose was all that was left. Trey was gone.

She was safe again.

“Nyx?” he asked, touching her face. She was ice cold and not responding. That alone scared the shit out of him. Beau hated that this was happening to her.

Maybe it was good that she’d passed out.

Christ!

He had to find a solution to this. If not, he’d stay by her side until they died. Beau couldn’t let her hurt.

Over his dead body.

Oh, and his brother’s.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

Littlemoon Investigations

Owner’s Apartment

When he woke up, his face was hurting him. It was like someone punched him in the face with a fistful of bricks.

Then Justin remembered what had happened.

Tori.

He’d been leveled by his brother’s wife.

Son of a bitch!

As he opened his eyes, she was there. Tori was in Julian’s favorite chair, her feet were up on the coffee table, and she was watching him.

There was a mix of sympathy and anger in her eyes, and Justin knew he was in for it. Tori was going to kick his ass around the room, and she would probably enjoy it.

“I see you’re awake.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, trying to sit up. The second he did, the room wavered, and he knew he was going to be sick.

“I also see that you raided our home and wrecked the place,” she added.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I was drinking. I needed to find Julian’s stash.”

“What the hell were you thinking, Marine? You know you can’t run around like that. You have a wife and a life now. You have responsibilities. You own part of our business, and the last thing we need is the media catching you acting like a child.”

He looked over. “Can we do this later? I’m going to puke.”

“No,” she stated. “Someone has to have a
‘come to Jesus’
talk with you, and it’s going to be me.”

“Hold that thought,” he muttered, storming toward the bathroom to toss his cookies.

As he purged in his brother’s bathroom, Tori moved behind him to hold his hair. Her eyes filled with sympathy for the man. He’d done a number on himself.

“Marine, you’re a mess.”

Yeah, he was well aware, and it was humiliating at best. The last people he wanted to see him like this were the ones he’d let down.

“Get out of here, Tori. I’ll be fine.”

“No, Justin, you won’t.”

“Stay away,” he growled, wiping his mouth with a towel before he headed to the sink. Any conversation that they had now would be a bad idea. He was drunk, sick, and angry.

God only knew what he’d do.

“Shut up, Justin. We’re going to talk, and then you can shove me away. I promised my husband that I’d handle this, and I will.”

She strode back into the living room to wait for him. When he finally emerged from the bathroom, he looked like shit.

No, he looked worse.

A two-day bender would do that to a person, and their liver.

“Sit.”

He stared at her.

“So help me God, Justin, I’ll get up, come over there, and beat your thick skull in until you comply. We’re in the middle of a hot mess, and I had to leave Julian alone out there. So sit your ass down!”

He realized that his brother may be in danger. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, but you’re not. Now, you may want to hate me for the rest of our lives, and if you do that’s fine. It’s going to piss Clarissa off, and make holidays awkward, but that’s your choice. I have some things I need to say to you.”

He didn't speak.

Apparently, Tori nailed it on the head.

“I’m going to say something to you that I’d never say to Julian. I’m going to trust you to keep it between us.”

He lifted an eyebrow. It had to be important if she was asking him to keep a secret from his twin. They never did that, and she knew it.

“I’ve relived that day over and over again in my head. I’ve done the
‘what if’
scenario so many times that it haunts me. I’ve cried, I’ve asked why, and I’ve lost so much sleep over it. In the end, I’ve come up with one conclusion.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“If I could, I would have traded my pregnancy for Vivian’s. I would have sacrificed our child for yours.”

He stared at her.

“Even though we had to fight to get pregnant, I would have offered it up because we love you both. I would have carried this on my shoulders, instead of yours.”

Justin knew just how big that declaration was. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you obviously can’t carry the weight. It would have killed us, but it wouldn’t have torn our marriage apart. This is killing the happiness you found. No one should lose a child, Justin, and it sucks that Vivian did, but now she’s lost even more. You’re walking away, and she’s afraid.”

Her words resonated with him.

She was right. His marriage hung in the balance.

“You’re on the cusp of losing everything.”

Justin jumped up and began pacing. It wasn’t lost on Tori that her husband did the same thing. In fact, now that Justin was growing out his hair, they looked identical.

“I failed her! I’m the man, and it’s my job to keep her safe. I feel so damn helpless right now. All I wanted to do was wrap Vivian in my arms and protect her. I failed. I’m not mad at her, or you. I’m mad at me. What kind of husband am I? My wife went out, got in a car, and I couldn’t save my child. I lost my child, Tori, and I got lost. I don’t know how to get back, or if I ever will get over this.”