Macy didn’t answer, just started sobbing softly into the edge of the seat she huddled against.
“Did he do this to you?”
“D-don’t ask me… Pl-please, Branna, just help me.”
It was a cry for help, and just like Belle had done for her all those years ago, she would do it now for Macy.
Jake’s cell beeped,and noting the caller ID, he put down the gaming control and answered it.
“Buster, you missing me?”
Jake listened as his friend spoke, the smile falling from his face as the conversation progressed. “You heard it all?”
Jake ran his hand through his hair as Buster confirmed the details of the conversation he’d overheard between Branna and her father.
“Did you believe she meant it, Buster, to take her life like that? Jesus.” Jake felt sick as Buster confirmed that he thought Branna had been serious. “Why the hell did you let her leave town after she and Declan had talked?”
Ethan raised and lowered his hand to calm Jake down from his horizontal position on the sofa, gaming control in the other hand.
“Okay, so maybe you should have told me that she came back again first,” Jake added, feeling the air rush back into his lungs. “He’s what!” Jake roared into the phone seconds later. “He’s moved into her house! The bastard, what’s he playing at? I’m coming home at first light.” Disconnecting the phone, Jake jammed it into his pocket.
“I’m picking up that all is not rosy in Oz, Dorothy?” Ethan put down the remote and got off the sofa to switch off the T.V.
“Branna and her father had it out in The Hoot, and Buster said he’s still recovering from overhearing them go at each other, so he has no idea how she’s feeling. He then said she left town, and when she came back, he’d moved in.”
“Buster?”
“Declan O’Donnell, you idiot!”
“Gotcha. So I guess we’re leaving at first light?”
“You okay with that? If not, I can hire a car or something, but I have to get back to her now. She’ll be spinning out about this, Eth, having him there living with her.”
“I’m off for a few days, what better place to spend them than in my second favorite town?”
Ethan wandered to the fridge in his apartment and pulled a couple of beers from it; handing one to Jake, he sat back down.
Jake could imagine the hell Branna was going through at the moment, and he felt like a selfish bastard for leaving her so suddenly now. A text was all he’d sent her and he had owed her more, because she was the woman in his life, the woman he cared about… very much.
“Me or Buster for best man?”
Jake’s smile was brief before he swallowed a mouthful of beer.
“Hard call to make, it has to be said. Buster has history on his side, and you… well, you saved my life.”
Ethan looked at him briefly.
“I never really thanked you, Ethan, for what you did. I know what I was like and that you kept everyone away until I was ready. I know that you’ve stood by me when I probably deserved for you to walk away.”
“Jake, if we’re gonna have this moment, let’s make it brief, because I can feel the rash already forming. But if we’re sharing shit, then I have to be honest and say it’s me that owes you.”
“How so?”
“I never had a real friend until you came along, and with you came the domestic goddess of Howling, who I count as my second best friend. Before that, I was pretty much a loner… now, not so much. I got you and the town of Howling. It’s a win-win as far as I can tell.”
Jake didn’t know much about Ethan’s past. He knew he had obscene amounts of money and three siblings. His parents lived in Texas and that was about it.
“One day, you have to tell me about you, Tex.” He saw something pass over his friend’s face, and then it was gone.
