“So?” Magni tried to act like what happened was no big deal. That it didn’t matter that after years of wondering what Christine’s mouth tasted like, he knew now. Let Hagen think what happened was as out of the blue as he imagined instead of what it really was.
A man worn down by years of pretending finally acting out.
“She’s sweet Magni. Christine isn’t the kind of woman you grab and drag off to your cave and have your way with.”
That actually didn’t sound like the worst idea to him. “Some women like that.”
Magni never had a shortage of women ready and willing to take on whatever he wanted to throw their way. He was big and intimidating but always good for a nice, thorough fucking. And so far his complaints department was nonexistent. “Lots of women.”
“I’m not saying she wouldn’t like it.” Hagen pulled out a chair and sat down, shifting around in the seat. “I’m just saying with that one you’ll have to earn it.”
That was where things got tricky. His area of expertise when it came to women was isolated. He knew he could give Christine what she needed from a man. More than she needed.
But what about what she wanted? What a woman like her deserved?
That was where he was a little underwhelming.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Magni watched as Hagen continued to try out every position known to man, including flipping the seat around and sitting in it backwards, careful not to jostle the tiny bundle he wore around every other day.
“I wouldn’t count your chickens.” He stood up and scooted the chair back in place. “That’s a nice chair. Well done.”
“Thanks.” Magni cocked his head at his nephew. “What do you mean I shouldn’t count my chickens?”
Hagen gave him a smile. “I forgot to tell you. Christine says she’s not going to work with you on the lights.” He slapped Magni on his bad arm, a literal insult to injury. “She’s planning on pretending like nothing ever happened and going back to avoiding you like the plague.”
The low growl of his beast rousing rumbled through Magni’s chest. “Like hell she is.”
Hagen’s smile widened. “You’ve got your hands full with that one. I think she might hate your guts.”
The amount of enjoyment Hagen was clearly taking from this situation burned Magni’s ass. But not nearly as much as Christine thinking she could pretend nothing happened. His fucking tongue was in her mouth for Christ’s sake. He knew how she smelled. How she tasted. And she liked it.
He was sure of it.
“She can hate my guts all she wants.” Magni snagged his keys off the window ledge. “But she’ll fucking remember it.”
Magni ignored Hagen laughing from the diner as he stomped into the street toward the box truck. He glared at the large vehicle. Great for transporting furniture, not as great for negotiating the tiny streets that led to Christine’s house. He grabbed the rope tied to the handle and yanked down the back door, locked it up then shoved the keys in his pocket.
He’d walk.
As he started across the street the bar caught his eye. Maybe taking a minute to figure out a game plan that didn’t consist of grabbing Christine and reminding her of what she thought she could forget wasn’t a bad idea. Even though having her against him was all Magni wanted, it might land him worse off than he was already.
The bar was quiet as he stepped in. Most people took advantage of the self-guided tours during the day and ventured out into the not too far away part of the mountains, coming back in the late afternoon for dinner and drinks. Kari was behind the bar, not even pretending to not notice the two men sitting at one end having a quiet conversation.
As the door closed behind him one of the men looked up.
Magni almost didn’t recognize the suit without his suit. He sat beside a man similar in age but who was twice as wide as the suit and probably a good two hands taller based on nothing more than a guess. His shoulders were down as he leaned on the bar his eyes not leaving the suit beside him.
Kari watched Magni out of the corner of her eye as he sat down. “Thirsty?”
“Always.” He leaned back in his seat, still watching the twosome at the other end of the bar. The bigger guy hadn’t done so much as breathe since he came in. Didn’t turn his head to look. Didn’t move a fucking muscle.
And it was rubbing Magni the wrong way.
Who sat in a bar, facing the door, and didn’t at least glance up when the door opened? Not someone who was as on edge as this guy was judging by the set of his jaw and the tension making the vein in his forehead pop out.
Kari set a beer in front of him.
“Those guys giving you any problems?”
“What? Them?” Kari turned to look back at the suit and his wound up friend. She snorted. “They are way nicer than most of the people who come in here.” She looked back at him. “Including you.”
She gave a little shrug. “Plus Mister Charming is easy on the eyes.”
“What about the other guy?” Magni couldn’t shake the strange feeling he had about the suit’s friend. “He looks ready to snap.”
Kari wrinkled her brow at him. “I think you’re ready to snap.” She pointed to the drink she brought him. “You need to drink up and calm down.”
Magni reluctantly took a long swallow on his beer, keeping one eye on the men across the bar. It was easy to let his beast creep in. The bastard was already agitated by his conversation with Hagen. Ready to go lay claim to what he wanted to make his. Maybe this was just what he needed to distract him from Christine and her confusion over what she wouldn’t be remembering.
The first thing she wouldn’t be remembering was walking around with the suit on her arm while he smiled at her with his clean shaven face and his slicked back hair. Asshole probably wore cologne too. Thought he could just come into town and sweep Christine off her feet. Like she’d never seen a real man before. Magni could fill him in on a little secret.
Real men were all Greenlea had.
The suit barely glanced Magni’s way. Dismissing him. Like he was nothing to worry about. No competition. No reason to give him a second thought.
Magni had news for him. And he was going to deliver it now. In person.
Standing up, he let his stool scoot across the floor, the dragging sound echoing through the silent bar along with a quiet ‘Jesus’ from Kari. Magni ambled down the bar, his eyes on the two men, holding what was left of his beer in one hand, the other ready for whatever came his way.
He stopped behind the two men and stood there. The suit turned to face him, that damn smile he always had plastered across his pretty face. “Hey there.” He held out his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. Craig.”
Magni looked down at Craig’s hand, then back up at his face. “I didn’t come over here for introductions.”
Craig cocked his head to one side not looking the least bit intimidated. “Then what did you come for?”
“I think you and I need to have a conversation.” Magni set his beer on the table at his back. If he was lucky he’d get a twofer and hopefully need both hands for these two.
“I agree actually.” Craig dropped his offered hand. “About part of it anyway.”
“Which part?” Magni looked from Craig to the big man whose back was still to him. If he was trying to seem uninterested in what was going on behind him the guy was failing. Tension laced the muscles of his neck and shoulders. His body was rigid, as if he was ready to pounce at any minute.
“We do need to have a conversation.” Craig leaned back against the bar, sliding his elbow onto the worn surface as he looked up at Magni. “But whether you came for them or not, we also need to have some introductions.” He nodded to his friend. “This is Joel.”
The bigger man slowly turned around and stood up to face him. It wasn’t often Magni met a man as big as he was. It usually took at least two to three guys to give him an evenly matched fight. Not today.
Joel was as tall and as wid
e and if the look in his eyes was any indication, just as mean. The only thing Magni had on him was experience, but whether or not that trumped youth would remain to be seen.
Magni was still sizing Joel up when Craig stood beside his friend, a look of deep satisfaction in his eyes as he ended the fight Magni expected before it started, taking Magni down with three words.
“He’s your son.”
Magni couldn’t stop laughing. He shook his head and wiped at the tear collecting in the corner of one eye. “You boys sure know how to get out of an ass kicking.” He sat down in a chair from the table behind him. “I was pretty sure you were ready to start some shit.”
He’d had men take pretty extreme measures to get out of a tight spot they’d regretting getting themselves in. Crying. Begging. One peed his pants.
This was a first. And it was fucking hilarious.
Joel looked at Craig then back at Magni, his brow low over his hazel eyes. “What the fuck’s wrong with him?”
“He thinks we’re kidding.” Craig sat back in his seat and took a sip from his tumbler of liquor. “Thinks we’re trying to back out of a fight.”
Joel didn’t flinch. “He doesn’t know us very well.”
Magni wiped the last tears of laughter from his eyes and stood up. He slapped Joel on the shoulder as he passed. “Thanks boys. I needed that but I got shit to do.”
Like go find out just how pissed really Christine was.
And then see if maybe he could make it a little worse. Magni didn’t care what it was, as long as she felt something for him he was better off than he was before.
Magni waved at Kari as he walked to the door. “I’ll see you later.”
His niece didn’t wave back. Her eyes bounced from him then back to Joel and Craig who were still staring at him. Magni shot them a wave too. Why the hell not. They’d managed to give him a hell of a good laugh and put him in the best mood he’d been in for days.
His son.
A man like him couldn’t go around sticking his dick in places without ensuring it was well wrapped. Not when you made kids like his family did. Big. Aggressive. Volatile.
Beasts.
The thought was enough to put a hitch in his step. Magni shook off the description and how it might be applied to one of the dudes behind him.
It wasn’t possible. In his whole life he’d only been with one woman who could have bore him a son. And she was gone.
“Lori Swigert.”
The name stopped Magni dead in his tracks. He slowly turned to face the man who somehow knew the name of his dead wife. “How the fuck do you know about her?”
Joel’s expression was unreadable, carefully restrained. “Her name’s on my original birth certificate.” He barely tipped his head Magni’s way. “So’s yours.”
Magni shook his head. “You’re wrong.” He clenched his fists at his sides, the need to hit something growing rapidly. “Lori’s dead.”
“Maybe.” Craig stood up and rounded the bar to stand shoulder to shoulder with Joel. “But even if she is, it doesn’t change the fact that twenty-five years ago she had a baby in California.” He pointed to Magni. “A baby she said was yours.”
Craig and Joel knew just enough to make themselves certain of an impossibility. There was no way Joel was his son. “I’m sorry to disappoint you but if you were my son you’d know it.” He glanced at Kari. “There’s a certain family resemblance that you can’t escape.”
He turned to leave.
“Magni.” Kari’s voice was panicked behind him. It was the only thing that could’ve stopped him from leaving that bar.
“Damn it Kari.” He turned, ready to throw Joel and Craig out on their misinformed asses. It was time for them to go home. Kari pointed at Joel, her eyes wide.
“Jesus Christ.”
Joel stared him down, eyes dark and narrow as his body grew, muscles bunching as they expanded, stretching the confines of his t-shirt and jeans. A low growl rolled from his chest as his freshly shaved jaw shadowed in seconds. His body shifting in a change passed down for centuries.
One that could only have come from him.
“Stop.” Magni shook his head. It wasn’t possible. Lori was gone. Christine saw it in a vision.
You will lose her.
Those were Christine’s exact words the day she tried to warn him that the woman he chased for years like a lovesick dog would die. And then it happened. Leaving him under a cloud of suspicion that would still hang over him if Christine hadn’t defended him like she did.
Unless it didn’t happen.
The thought was worse than the truth he’d been stuck with all this time. Lori died in the woods because of him. Because he did something stupid and she suffered the consequences of his bad judgment. That was what kept him up at night. What spurred him on every day as he walked the woods looking for her. She was gone because of him.
And all that was torn away in an instant. Replaced with a reality Magni wasn’t sure how to handle. If Lori didn’t die in the woods, then she left him. Worse than left him
She didn’t simply walk out on their marriage. Lori left in a way that put suspicion on him. Made people around here look at him differently. It was what forced him into the life of seclusion he preferred. It was what dictated the way he spent every day since then.
And it was all a lie.
Craig walked to his side and slid a stool against the back of his legs with a little more force than necessary. “Sit down.” He eyed Joel. “Man you can’t do that. It’s dangerous.” Craig’s eyes slid to Kari, studying her.
She smirked at him. “That’s old news city boy.” She pulled a beer from the cooler and walked it around to stick it in Magni’s hand. “You think he’s the only one around here who can do tricks?” She pushed the beer toward his mouth. “Drink up Uncle Magni.”
Magni shook his head. “I think I need to go.” He stood up from the stool. “I...”
There wasn’t anything else to say. Anything to express what he felt. And what he didn’t.
“I just need to get out of here.” Magni pushed his way past Craig and out the front door. The sun felt blinding as he squinted against it. His head was spinning with the possibility of a new truth and what it meant for his life. What it meant for his past. What it meant for his future.
It was bullshit. You don’t just show up unannounced and tell a man the woman he once loved with every desperate fiber of his being betrayed him in a way no one deserved. Especially when he treated her like the queen he thought she was.
Lori was his everything. A prize Magni chased for years, caught up in her free-spirited ways and her cool, unfussy personality. She was alluring. She was intoxicating. She was a siren.
And he was a sailor ready to kill himself to have her.
And he did have her. Until the day she disappeared in the woods.
Now he knew she didn’t disappear. She left.
Magni got in the truck and started the engine. His whole world was upside down. What he thought he knew was a lie. A deception. So many years he wasted looking for her. Bearing the guilt of her death on his shoulders. Keeping everyone at a distance to punish himself for not being the husband she needed. For not being able to protect her when she needed it most.
And now he knew she never did.
He threw the truck into drive and floored the gas, pushing the box truck harder than it was designed to go. He didn’t care. Maybe it would roll over. Take him out. End the uncertainty stealing the life he knew. Taking the sad truth and twisting it into an even more awful reality.
Lori didn’t die.
He wasn’t responsible for her death.
That was all Magni knew for certain and it didn’t bring him any peace. He had the answer he’d searched for for years but it didn’t bring the closure he expected. It only brought more questions he would never know the answer to.
Like why in the hell would one person do this to another?
Magni spun the wheel to one side, the tires sp
inning out as they grabbed for traction on the tiny gravel road that branched off from the main street. He had to know what happened. Why she left. Where she went.
Why she took his son with her.
There was only one way to find all that out.
The box truck clipped a low hanging limb as it skidded to a stop, one side of tires on the road, the other side dug into the grass. Magni jumped out and ran up the sidewalk, banging on the door, not stopping until it opened.
He fell to his knees, head bowed in pain and regret for more reasons than he could count.
“I need you.”
8
Christine stood, frozen in place by the sight of a man she always imagined was bullet proof on his knees at her feet. Head down. Shoulders slumped.
Broken.
Because of her.
She could have spared him this. She could have ended this before it began. And she didn’t.
Magni looked up at her and repeated the words he’d said so many times in her imagination when she was younger. Young enough not to realize there was no way for them to have a happy ending. No way to cross the divide what she was would dig between them.
“I need you Christine.”
She took a step back. “I can’t.” The words cracked as they came out, as broken sounding as her heart felt as she looked at the man at her feet. Her throat closed up as the reality of what she’d done stared her in the face. This was her fault. She brought this to him.
“Please.” His stormy eyes were full of pain and confusion. Pain and confusion she might be able to ease.
For years she’d held onto the entirety of what she saw. Locking it up inside. Pretending it was what he wanted. What he asked her to do. But that wasn’t the truth and Christine couldn’t hide from it any longer. Magni would have wanted to know. And now it was too late. Much too late.
And if he knew what she kept from him, Magni would never forgive her.
He held his hand out, offering her a piece of himself. More than a piece. All of it. His past, his present, his future.
“Please Christine.” His voice was rough, edgy. “I need to know what happened.”
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