Gravel crunched underfoot, and I whipped my head around, narrowing my eyes at the shadow in the distance. Sal was looking in the same direction, his breath rushing out of him as they moved into the light.
“You should walk away now, Brody.”
My stomach dipped, and I clutched on to it, my shaking hands rippling against my jacket.
“Don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t do,” Brody practically growled back. There had been a time when he used that voice on me, and I’d loved every second of it, but now all I wanted to do was puke.
“Listen, you’re my friend, so I won’t do what I normally would, but you ain’t gonna upset my girl more than you already have. Get gone.” Sal took a step forward, half his body coming in front of mine.
“Your girl?” Brody stepped closer, the light from the diner illuminating his face. There was a danger there, one that I’d always seen but ignored. Had anything he said to me been the truth? Or had he spun so many lies that even he didn’t know?
“Well, she ain’t yours is she,” Sal grunted out. “On account of you having a wife.”
“Motherfu—”
“Stop!” My word echoed around us like gunshots on a battlefield, but neither of them looked at me. They were in a stare-off, one I didn’t care to be a part of. I needed to get home, get into bed, and pretend this day hadn’t happened.
I shook my head and whispered, “I’ll see you in a couple of days,” to Sal. I didn’t wait for him to reply as I spun around and headed out of the lot. My heart was galloping like a racehorse in my chest, my pulse an erratic beat. My breaths sawed in and out of me, and by the time I had control over my body again, an engine roared behind me.
“Lola.” My shoulders slumped, my steps faltered, but I kept on moving. Tires screeched to a halt and footsteps pounded on the ground. “Please, Lola.”
“Go away!” I twirled around, facing Brody, and hating that my traitorous heart didn’t know how to feel. I wanted to hate him, I wanted to hurt him, but I couldn’t deny how he made me feel.
“Please, just let me explain,” Brody said, holding his hands up.
“Explain?” I asked, flattening my lips into a straight line. “Explain how you’re a DEA agent undercover?”
“What, how did—”
“Your son filled me in while he was waiting for you.” I couldn't believe those words had just come out of my mouth.
“I—”
“I have nothing to say to you, Brody.” I shook my head, my gaze flicking over to the car that was pulled to the side of the road. It was so different from the one he used back home. It was shiny and looked like some kind of sports car.
“You don’t have to talk, just listen,” his deep voice told me as he stepped forward.
“No.” I held up my hand, trying to stop his momentum. He looked different here. He wasn’t dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt, but dress pants and a shirt with a badge and gun on his belt. A badge. “Were you using me this whole time?” I hated how small my voice sounded.
“What?” He shook his head. “No, Lola, you need to let me explain.”
“What is there to explain?” I moved back, putting more distance between us. “You’re a liar, Brody. And there’s nothing I hate more than liars.” I stared into his eyes. “Go home to your wife, Brody.”
I didn’t give him the chance to answer me. Instead, I spun around and sprinted down the street, my legs pumping all the way to the station entrance.
I took one look back when I was about to turn, and he was still standing in the same position, staring at the space I’d been standing in. I wouldn’t let myself wonder what that meant because he wasn’t real.
Not to me, anyway.
LOLA
My head was fuzzy, my body aching, and my stomach rolling.
I’d only managed to get a couple of hours’ sleep last night, and it wasn’t because of the raging party happening on the floor below mine, but thanks to my warring emotions.
I imagined time and time again that I listened to Brody after my shift and let him explain. Each time I envisioned it, he had a different excuse. I’m not really married. I’m divorced. I’m separated. But every one ended with his arms wrapped around me and my head against his chest.
I hated my imagination sometimes. It was torturing me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was just that, though—my imagination. None of that had happened because there was nothing he could explain. He’d been undercover. He had a wife and son. What was there left to explain? How he used me to most likely bring Hut down? How he had probably thought getting closer to me would be the answer. He’d been delusional because it had backfired big-time.
Birds chirped outside my window, singing their songs, and the morning sun streamed throughout my room. I hadn’t even closed my blinds last night when I got home. All I had wanted was to curl up in a ball on my bed and sleep.
Fat chance of that happening.
My stomach churned as his face flashed in my mind again, but it was Moira and Cade standing next to him that had me heaving. I leaped out of my bed and ran to the bathroom, bringing back up the water I’d drunk when I got home. My stomach was empty, and it burned its way through me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Why? Why had he done this? Was I some game to him?
The burned side of me wanted to march downstairs and tell Hut exactly what had happened. Tell him everything I knew, and everything I’d found out. But something stopped me. Something told me not to risk it. I still had a plan—nine days, and I’d be out of here. Would it be so bad if Hut wasn’t around anymore?
Groaning, I stood to brush my teeth. Determined to start a new, fresh day, I then jumped into the shower. I could put it all behind me, pretend I’d never met Brody and stick to my plan. I wouldn’t allow someone to derail everything, not when I was this close to being out of here.
By the time I stepped out of the shower, I had a renewed energy and determination. And then I went back into my room and remembered what we’d done in here just over a week ago. How he’d touched me. How he’d spoken to me. He’d shown me what I’d meant to him—at least, I thought he had.
Just another lie.
I had too many thoughts roaming around in my head, and nothing I did seemed to sort through them. I was up and down, feeling like I was riding a roller coaster. I couldn’t get ahold of them or make sense. One moment I was determined, the next defeated.
The lock on my door clicked into place, shutting myself away from the rest of the world. One day. I’d give myself one day to sort through this mess in my brain and then I’d get back on track, about to start my new life. It was no longer before and after Hut, but before and after Brody—was that even his real name? It couldn’t have been, not if he was undercover.
I shook my head and lay on my bed, pulling my comforter around me like a shield. One day. Just one day, and then everything would be back to normal.
I hoped.
Chapter Twenty-One
BRODY
They always said you never knew what was around the corner.
I didn’t know who they were, but I did know they were right. It had taken seconds for my world to implode. Seconds for everything to go to shit. And hours to unsuccessfully come up with a way to fix it.
I didn’t know what to do or where to go from here, all I did know was I needed to see Lola and try to explain a second time. Explain what I didn’t know—that everything had changed? That from the moment I’d touched her, nothing would be the same again? She wouldn’t believe me, hell, I hadn’t believed me.
I’d told myself she was a job at first, and then our lips had touched, and she became more than that. I hadn’t been lying when I said we’d talk when I got back. I just hadn’t been sure what I was going to say.
If I were honest with myself, I probably wouldn’t have told her about my wife and son—Cade and Moira. Maybe it was a good thing she knew now. I could move on, and so could she. We could go our separate ways and
be done with it.
Since the moment I turned twenty and Cade was born, I’d done everything for my family. I’d become the best version of me, and I’d worked my ass off to provide for them, but in the process, I’d lost myself. I’d forgotten who I was.
I’d forgotten Brody Easton.
I moved my head to the side and stared at Moira’s light-blond hair. It surrounded her like a halo, but I couldn’t help wish it was someone else’s hair spread out on the pillow beside mine. How could I lie in bed with my wife while wishing she was someone else? We’d always been fairly solid, and we’d worked through the routine of me going away a lot.
Right up until the day I’d kissed Lola.
Shit.
I wasn’t that man. I wasn’t the one who looked at other women. I was loyal to a fault. But that had changed somewhere along the way, and it was all because of her.
Jord and the guys had been right, I’d needed to go home and remember who I was, remember who my family was. It wasn’t the first time I’d gotten so deep into a job that I forgot what waited for me in my own house, but it was the first time I’d touched another woman since saying “I do.”
I was a piece of shit. A dick. A fuckin' prick. But I still couldn’t stop thinking of the way Lola and I would wake up in each other’s arms. Her leg tossed over mine, her soft snores ringing through my ears, and my palm on her ass, holding her to me as if I was afraid she’d escape at a moment’s notice.
The alarm beeped so loudly I jumped. It was time to start a new day and wade through the mess I’d made. I wouldn’t admit the thought of seeing Lola today sent a thrill through me, but I would admit it was time we closed the case. Things wouldn’t get any better if I were there for another four months, that much was clear. I had to create a path that would bring me home as soon as possible and back to the man I’d promised to be.
“Morning,” Moira’s soft voice said as she stretched out next to me. Her head tilted to face me, her blue eyes meeting mine. “It’s so weird to have you back in bed.”
“I know,” I grunted. “You get used to sleeping on your own.”
She nodded and moved closer to me, her hand resting on my chest, and I had to hold myself still not to move it. She was my wife, not a random chick, but the way her palm burned through my T-shirt had my skin itching all over, begging me to move away from her.
“You heading back today?”
She knew how it worked, she knew I’d be gone more than I was here, and she’d never been opposed to it. Sometimes I wondered if she preferred it when I was away.
“Yeah.” I smiled down at her. “I shouldn’t be gone as long this time though. We’re close to solving it.”
Her lashes fluttered as she blinked, another new addition since I’d been back. There was a time when Moira only wore jeans and a T-shirt, her face covered in minimal makeup and her nails short. But over the years, she’d changed as much as I had. Her lashes were fake, her nails too, and her hair flawlessly shiny. It wasn’t that I resented that. I didn’t blame her for what I did, but I couldn’t deny the obvious changes over the years.
“Good.” She placed a kiss on my cheek and pulled back, pushing the covers aside and getting out of bed. “Cade misses you when you’re gone.” Not we miss you, but Cade misses you.
I stared at her as she moved around the room, a room I’d spent less time in over the years than the undercover apartments. This wasn’t home to me. It wasn’t the place where I felt at my most comfortable, but it was where Moira and Cade were, which meant it had to be home.
I lay there for entirely too long as she took a shower and then sat at her vanity, covering her face with makeup and doing her hair. She pressed the lid on her perfume bottle and tossed the scent into the air. I couldn’t help but frown at the action. Why didn’t she just spray it directly on her body?
I had to get up and start my day, but I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. What if today was the day that things got even worse? Could they even get worse than they already had? I wasn’t sure, but I wouldn’t find out by staying here.
“Come on,” Moira said, stopping by the door and flashing a smile at me. “You can take Cade to school. You know he loves when you take him in your Mustang.”
She wasn’t wrong, he loved that car almost as much as I did, and it was the thought of his grin that had me jumping out of bed.
I dressed in dress pants and a shirt and clipped my badge to my belt. I had to go into the office today to see my supervisor, Aaron, before I headed back to Hut and his crew. And Lola, a voice whispered in the back of my mind.
Determined to focus on what was happening right now, I shook my head and made my way downstairs. The soles of my shoes tapped against the light wood, letting everyone in the house know I was coming. I’d worked my ass off to provide them with a house I was proud of. It wasn’t a mansion, but it was more than enough for the three of us.
I walked through the main room and into the open-plan kitchen and was greeted by Cade’s grinning face. He was the perfect mixture of Moira and me, but the older he got, the more he looked like me. His eyes were a shade darker than mine, but his hair was the exact same color.
“Mom said you’re taking me to school today?” It was a question, but he already knew the answer.
“Yeah, son.” I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Won’t be long before you’re driving yourself though, huh?”
I moved over to the coffeepot, poured myself a cup, and winced at the taste. I wanted my coffee to taste like actual coffee, not a cinnamon roll. I’d have to wait until I got to the office to have a real one.
I dumped the coffee down the sink, pressed a kiss to Moira’s cheek, and grabbed my keys off the side. “Come on then, let’s get this show on the road.”
Cade sprinted after me, his excitement loud and clear. He even laughed as I started the engine, the roar vibrating through the seats. I missed my car as much as I missed Cade while I was away.
“You ready for the year to be over?” I asked when I pulled out of the driveway.
“Hell yeah!” He blinked, shook his head, and then he amended, “I mean yeah.”
“Son, it’s me you’re talking to, not your mom.”
He chuckled and leaned back in his seat. “Mom said she showed you my grades.”
“She did.” My stomach churned. When Moira told me Cade had a tutor to help him focus on school, and up his grades, Lola hadn’t entered my mind.
“Do you think I could keep Lola as a tutor next year? I know she said she’d have to talk to Mom and work out her own schedule, but she really helped.” He paused. “Plus, she’s sexy as hell.”
My hands tightened on the steering wheel, my nostrils flaring. My son was closer in age to her than I was, but that hadn’t mattered to me. Nothing had mattered when it came to Lola, and now I could see how selfish I had been. I had only thought of myself and not the family I’d spent the last fifteen years building.
“Lola said that I helped her decide what she wants to be when she finishes college,” Cade went on. He tilted his head to the side and then turned to face me, but I kept my gaze fixed on the road. “Do you know Lola?” I didn’t answer, scared what would come out of my mouth. “Because she seemed to know you last night. I’d never seen her look like that before.”
“I know her,” I managed to grind out, hating how rough my voice sounded. I knew her better than anyone ever had.
“Cool.” That was all he said, but I could see his mind working overtime, trying to figure out my few words, but I wouldn't tell him the truth.
I’d made a mistake with Lola, and I had to fix it before anyone else found out.
A mistake.
The words turned my stomach, but I kept my face straight, and my feelings locked away. It didn’t matter what I felt. All that mattered were Cade and Moira. They were my family, and that was the end of it.
I pulled up outside Cade’s high school and idled next to the curb. “How long will you be gone this time?�
�� he asked.
“Not as long if all goes to plan.”
Cade nodded and picked his bag up off the floor. “I’ll see you soon then, Dad.”
“Love you, son.”
“Love you.”
He pushed open the door, looking back at me as he closed it, and then he was gone, bounding up to his group of friends. I stayed for an extra minute, just watching him and wishing I wasn’t who I was in that moment. I’d betrayed the people I cared about most, and yet the only person I wanted to talk to about it was Lola.
I was screwed.
So screwed.
BRODY
The moment I walked into Aaron’s office was the first time I felt like I was able to take a full breath in eight days. Just knowing I was going back in had a thrill running through me, and it wasn’t just because of Lola, but the thought of ending the case and bringing Hut down.
“Did the break do you good?” Aaron asked as he leaned back in his seat behind his desk that was covered in files and paperwork.
“Yeah.” It was a half-truth, but he didn’t need to know that. “I’m ready to finish what we started.”
He nodded and steepled his hands on top of a stack of files. “There’s been a new development since you were away.”
I raised a brow. “There has?”
“Yeah. The guys will fill you in, they’re expecting you at the house in two hours.” He tilted his head. “Bring the asshole down, Brody. I don’t need to tell you how to do your job, but you know this one means more.”
I heard what he was saying loud and clear. His daughter had overdosed on the product Hut was selling, and that was one of the reasons why we’d been on this case for so long. He wanted to make sure that when we brought Hut down, there were no loopholes he could jump through.
There was an unwritten rule about being undercover so close to home, but Aaron had wanted Hut to go down for real this time. He didn’t want Hut to get off on charges he’d committed, so he sent the best team he had—which was us. If it had been any other case, I’d have told him it was a no-go, but you couldn’t really say that to a dad who wanted revenge on the piece of shit who’d supplied his daughter with the thing that killed her.
Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1) Page 22