“Gosh, just shut up for a second!” She squirms with irritation, and a shiver races through me. “I found a briefcase under Joe’s bed. Money. Poker chips. Is this what this is all about? A fucking gamble gone wrong?”
Her words slap me. Shock flickers like a blade catching light, but my face stays stone.
“You don’t know what you saw,” I say, sharper than I mean. “And you’d be smart to stop sniffing around places your nose doesn’t belong. Curiosity is a good way to end up in the ground.”
Her eyes flash and she stands up, brushing her hands clean against her hips. “Maybe I’d rather know the truth than live in the dark,” she hauntingly whispers, leaning her face closer to mine, her eyes dropping to my mouth, and I want to make her lips bleed between my teeth.
“Perhaps that makes me braver than you, Liam. Did that ever occur to you?” Her eyes cut deeper than daggers, and before I can put some sense into her and spank her for talking to me that way, footsteps crunch across the gravel, and my initial response is to hide her behind me, to protect her.Fuck, me.
She thinks I’m the bad wolf, but my life is roaming of evil. I take a step away when my uncle’s shadow stretches long over the pool deck, wearing a linen shirt, sleeves rolled, eyes sharp as he scans the scene and lingering too long on Sara. Joe was always closer to him. But now… now something coils inside me.
“Liam,” he greets, his tone smooth. His eyes flick back to Sara, and a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes tugs at his lips. “And who do we have here? I’m afraid we haven’t met?”
“Sara, this is my uncle, Fred.” I say, my voice a wall. I’m not fond of anyone checking on me since Joe died and him getting me a puppy of all things. Sara stiffens beside me, suddenly small under his attention.
“It’s nice to meet you, sir.” I feel her anguish seeping in. I want to laugh if she thinks he’s the center of her nightmares, she has no compass. “Sara, why don’t you go inside,” I say under my breath, barely looking back at her.
“Nice to meet you too, Sara.” Fred smiles and Sara nods before she goes inside.
A part of me is hoping she’ll walk out of this house never to be in my orbit again, but my insides also twist at the thought.
“How you’ve been?” he asks, laced with sadness.
“I’m alright, you?” I ask.
“I’m okay, I just want to make sure you’re holding up. Did you find out anything more about the accident?” he asks, looking around before returning to me.
“Can you be more specific, Fred?” I say, crossing my arms and pinching my eyebrows. I’ve grown restless with the past twenty-four hours. He looks at me as if he’s trying to decipher hieroglyphs.
“I don’t know. I worry about you. Perhaps I’m still in shock,” he pauses with a low smile. “You boys have always felt so invincible… and —”
I notice Sara eavesdropping by the door, her eyes like saucers when I stare back at her, and I remember she found something in Joe’s room that I need to chat about with her before she leaves. Fred spins around, pulling me out from my thoughts, and his gaze locks onto Sara.
“Fred, I appreciate it, but this is actually not a good time. I’ll walk you out,” I grunt and grab him by the shoulder.
“Right, you’re a busy man these days, I get it. How’s the puppy? And give your mother and me a call. She’d like that.” His hand clasps on my shoulder.
He’s always cared for my mother, staying in her life long after my father gave her every reason to walk away. Sometimes I wonder if he loved her, his brother’s wife. If he did, I can’t blame him. She deserved better than the man she got.
When I walk back into the house, Sara exhales before me, her hands on the kitchen island, staring into nothingness. I observe her in her daze, but I know better… she is processing; her quietness and stillness aren’t peace. There is a storm inside her she keeps from exploding, and her shoulders loosen when she sees me.
No baby girl, no. Fear me.
“He got you the puppy?” she murmurs, and for reasons unknown to me, she almost looks relieved.
“Yeah.” I walk past her to the kitchen. My voice is steel, but my chest burns. I should leave it here and tell her I’m leaving for a while.
Don’t look for me, don’t wait for me.
Then that flicker in her eyes is there again, not sadness, not bite.Need.
“What did you find in Joe's room?” My hands clench into fists at my sides.
“I told you, it’s full of money and poker chips.” She walks over to me. “Liam… why do you look puzzled? Did you not know about this?” She sounds terrified by the deeper meaning.
“No, Sara, I didn’t.” My hand clenches in my hair. I need her out of here. I need to think straight. What was Joe up to?
Fuck.
