“And cruel women.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you tryin’ to tell me somethin’?”
He snorted. “Babe, there isn’t a cruel bone in your whole body. Now, sarcastic bones? Ball-busting bones? You’re lousy with those.”
“I don’t know about that,” she admitted, turning to stare out at the dark waves. The moon kissed their peaks, making them shimmer in the light. Somewhere out there were the last two men who had tried to do wrong here tonight. “After the hijacking three months ago, I feel like a poisonous seed was planted inside me and now it’s grown into a bloodthirsty tree.” When he turned to her, she went on. “I wasn’t sorry to see those men killed tonight. And Iwassorry when those last two got away. Surely that speaks of cruelty.”
“Nah. You’re just human. There’s a difference.”
“I’m not sure I see it.”
He pursed his lips as if trying to arrange his thoughts. Finally, he said, “A cruel person is violent to achieve some self-serving end or to satisfy some sadistic need to inflict pain on another. Resorting to violence to defend yourself or those who are depending on you to defend them, wishing to put a period on a man’s life to make sure he doesn’t put a period on yours, is simply human.”
The way he said it, with such conviction, suddenly reminded her of how he’d behaved toward the masked men during the second standoff. Baiting them almost as if hewantedthem to give him a reason to pull his trigger.
“And which one are you?” she asked, absently picking at the splinter in the base of her thumb. “Cruel or simply human?”
“I’m both.”
The quick way he answered made her chin jerk back. Then, she thought about it. “I reckon all the men in your line of work…uh…previousline of work probably feel that way after a time.”
He shrugged one large shoulder. “Maybe. But I was born that way, not made that way by good ol’ Uncle Sam.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I inherited my cruel streak from my father.” His eyes were lazy and half-lidded in the shadow of the lighthouse; nothing moved on him but the hair across his brow when a soft breeze decided to ruffle it. But she knew he was watching her reaction intently. “It’s stamped into my DNA,” he finished.
She swallowed, careful to keep her expression calm. After the hundreds of emails, she would have said she knew Bran. But she was beginning to realize she’d just scratched the surface of him. And right now he was showing her what lay underneath all the charm and wit and swagger.
Inherited my cruel streak from my father…
It could mean so many things.
“It’s funny,” he said, but there was no humor in his voice. “I have this wonderful life and all these friends who aremorethan friends, they’re family, ’cause I chose to become a SEAL. And I chose to become a SEAL because of him, that rotten, brutal bastard. So, it’s like he’s the alpha and omega of my life. Responsible for all the bad shit and all the good shit too.”
Maddy didn’t know what to do with her hands. If she kept picking at her splinter, she might dig a hole through her hand. And she didn’t dare reach for him. Not when his casual stance belied the tension running through him. She thought if she cocked an ear, she might hear the gentlehumof him, like he was a recently plucked piano wire. She settled on simply tucking her fingers back into her pockets.
“I thought you told me you became a SEAL because you worked on that fishin’ boat in high school and you fell in love with the ocean,” she said, then grimaced, wanting to grab all her words and shove them back into her mouth. Here he was, opening himself up, and she was…what? Nitpicking details?
Well done, Maddy, you dimwit. Jeez.
“I joined theNavy’cause I loved the ocean,” he corrected. “I became aSEALbecause of the meanness in me, theviolencein me. It needed an outlet. And I figured if I had to be Donny Pallidino’s kid”—he bit off the name like uttering it aloud was offensive—“the least I could do was try to make something good come out of it.”
She couldn’t stand it anymore. “What…” She stopped, feeling like she was teetering on the precipice of something huge and dark and dangerous. And then she did what she’d been doing her whole life. She leaped. “What did hedoto you, Bran?”
* * *
9:15 p.m.…
Sometimes you hafta let the blow fall by degrees…
Bran had heard that somewhere once. At the time, he thought it was good advice. But now, looking at Maddy, at her big, sympathetic eyes, he knew it was better to let the hammer come down all at once. One fatal blow that would obliterate any illusions she had about him.
Earlier, behind the gunpowder magazine house, she’d caught a glimpse. He saw it in her eyes. The fear. The burgeoning recognition of what was in him. Now it was time to pull back the curtain completely and show her the reality behind the Not-So-Great-and-Powerful Oz.
“Except for once, he didn’t do a damned thing to me,” he said. “My mother always made sure of that. But he beat the shit outta her on a fairly regular basis.”
“Oh, Bran.” Maddy’s hand landed on his arm. At first contact, azingof electricity shot up his spine.Lightning strike from the clear blue sky. She’s got that right.“I…” She swallowed and shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”
