by Eden Winters
“I’m glad.” Ty squirmed in his seat, half-turned Lucky’s way.
Lucky stopped at a red light and regarded his nephew. “I couldn’t let the no-account ass—” He bit off the word.
“You can say asshole, you know. Like Mom says, sometimes no other word works.”
“Smart woman.” Ty wasn’t mad at him? Dare Lucky hope?
“Uncle Lucky?”
“Yes?” The light turned green and Lucky refocused his attention on the road.
“Why did you leave me here? I could’ve stayed with you.”
“Sometimes my job gets dangerous. You were better off nowhere near me.” He wouldn’t scare his nephew by mentioning someone tried to kill him. Better for Ty to think him lame than know the truth.
“Mom told me stories about you, I thought they were just stories.”
Lucky glanced from the corner of his eye and caught Ty staring. “What kind of stories?”
“About your job. How you put drug dealers in jail.”
No questions were asked requiring an answer. Lucky remained silent.
“That’s why you didn’t come to Spokane, isn’t it? Because you didn’t want the people mad at you coming after us.”
“In part.” To be honest, sometimes Lucky himself didn’t understand all the reasons he’d stayed away. Mostly because he didn’t deserve his sister’s devotion or his nephews’ attention.
“What’s the other part?”
Lucky sucked in a breath, buying himself time to find the right words. Or rather, words that weren’t totally wrong and pissed Ty off. “Facing the three people who meant the most to me, knowing I’d let them down.” There. He’d said it.
“Bo says you’re a good man.”
“Not near as good as he is.”
“I don’t know. If I needed someone to fix dinner or give me advice, I might pick him.” Ty snickered, then sobered. “But if I need someone to teach me how to kick ass and take names, I’d choose you. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like leaving my friends behind to move here, but I’ve had a lot of time to think after you dropped me off.”
Really? “I wasn’t gone that long.”
“I’m a fast thinker.” Ty flashed a grin. “Anyway, he told me about some of the things you’ve done, how you’ve put yourself on the line for other people.”
“It’s part of the job.”
Ty snorted. “I’m pretty sure giving Grandpa half your liver isn’t in your job description.”
Oh that. Giving a literal part of himself to save a man who’d disowned him. “I did what I had to.”
“I know. I see that now.”
Lucky got the feeling Ty wasn’t only talking about Grandpa’s new lease on life. “I’m sorry I’ve said or done things that hurt you. I never meant to. I wanted what was best for you.”
“Yeah. It still might take some time to get used to you being back from the dead, and having to make new friends and all, but I’m willing to try getting to know you if you’re willing.”
Oh, dear Lord. Lucky needed something, anything, to stave off the tears he felt welling up in his eyes. “Works for me. But I got to tell you, running around town hunting poofballs ain’t my thing.”
“I got Uncle Bo for that.”
Uncle Bo. Nice. An idea came to Lucky then that could backfire on him. “I’m heading to Spokane this weekend to help your mother move. I’m flying up, driving a moving van back down. Think you might want to take a couple days off school and go with me? Maybe see your friends while we’re up there? Um… providing your grades are good enough you can afford to miss a few classes.”
“Really?” Ty nearly squealed in his excitement. “That’d be awesome.”
“Your mom’s driving the loaded-down car, so you’ll be stuck with me,” Lucky warned.
“I think I’ll survive.”
Lucky pulled his car up to the gate, the stubborn-assed deterrent to residents, but not two-bit lowlife stalkers. The clicker wasn’t working, damn it. He keyed in his code three times before the gate rose and he drove through.
“Uncle Lucky?” Ty asked in a small voice.
“Yes.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
Could be dangerous for a Lucklighter. Look where thinking—or not thinking—had gotten Lucky. “About what?”
“Instead of going to college for engineering, what if I took criminal justice instead?”
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Bo had said.
“What’s your goal? Police work, investigator, forensics?” Please, dear God let him not—Charlotte had mentioned Ty wanting to follow in his footsteps, back before Ty discovered he’d have to give up his friends and school, move here, and started resenting his uncle.
“I want to be like Uncle Bo, and Walter. And you.”
Lucky turned the car off in the driveway. Ty retrieved his things from the back seat and got out of the car.
Lucky didn’t move.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
“You go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute.” Lucky managed to hold the floodgates back until Ty went into the house.
Though his heart filled with the hope of Ty’s forgiveness, he’d do everything in his power to keep the kid away from drug enforcement.
Too many uncertainties.
Then again, life was uncertain.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Lucky hid in his cube. No other word worked but coward. No way, no how was he leaving his desk or going home anytime soon.
Not with them there. He shivered. At home Charlotte and Rett talked nonstop about kids, men, and when said kids weren’t around, things that made Lucky suddenly remember something urgent to attend to in another room.
He’d done the hard part, driving a U-Haul from Spokane to Atlanta. Kinda fun, reliving his old eighteen-wheeler fantasies.
In the meantime, he’d gotten to know his nephew throughout a surprisingly nice road trip. Ty snapped selfies of himself and Uncle Lucky, posting them to social media, then checking his phone every five minutes and giving an update of how many likes he’d gotten from friends.
Lucky had taken more than a few pictures himself.
Now boxes and boxes and boxes spread out in his living room, both spare bedrooms, and if he looked really hard he might find the Harley amidst all the furniture stored in the garage.
This morning he’d gone into the guest bathroom and found a bra hanging from the towel rod. What was the world coming to?
He loved having his sister and nephews near, but he’d gotten settled into a bachelor routine. Then he’d gotten used to having Bo around.
No. He’d discovered that life wasn’t worth living without Bo.
No more getting friendly with his man in the kitchen. If his sister knew what happened one day on the counter, she’d still be spraying bleach water.
Only until she found a place of her own. By then, he’d be so used to her presence he wouldn’t want her to leave. She’d also offered to help him and Bo become parents by carrying Bo’s child. Well, having her underfoot beat worrying about her. What if she fell in with some bad element?
Hmm… Maybe he shouldn’t have shot down Jimmy the Annoyingly Perky Agent from Virginia when the guy wanted to date Charlotte.
Now the guy had transferred to the Atlanta office, damn it all to hell. Jimmy seeing Charlotte might not be the best situation, since Lucky would be his boss for the foreseeable future.
Outranking the man gave Lucky strategic advantage. Not that he needed to defend his sister’s honor or anything. If a date didn’t treat Charlotte with respect, she’d have him laid out on the floor before Lucky ever got there.
She’d toughened up a lot since leaving her loser of an ex-husband.
Today after work his sister and the woman who’d elbowed her way into Lucky’s life were going shopping, and to a bar later while Bo and Lucky occupied Ty and Rett’s son. How’d that happen?
More than likely Charlotte and Rett would be talking about him.
Scheming.
Plotting dinner parties and cookouts, and all kinds of things involving lots of people invading Lucky’s personal space.
Like the reasons he wouldn’t leave his cube: the rookies who followed him like a pack of puppies any chance they got, whispering, “It’s him! It’s really him!” like groupies. Hadn’t they heard he was a card-carrying sonofabitch better avoided at all costs?
He’d better work harder on his asshole reputation.
Bo smirked at him from across their shared cubicle. “You know you can only hide in here for so long before the new recruits find you.” He snickered. “Want me to go get you more coffee?
The mere mention of coffee made Lucky wince. No hope for it now, he’d have to venture out of his cube before a full bladder got the better of him.
He poked his head out of the cube. Good. Not a soul in sight.
The moment he stepped into the hallway he cringed at the, “Oh, there you are, Mr. Harrison. Have you got a moment? I’d like to ask you something.”
Lucky didn’t even bother to see his pursuer, either Jimmy, wanting Lucky to fix him up with Charlotte, or some snot-nosed youngster who wanted to show off police academy knowledge by asking Lucky too many fucking questions.
He all but ran to the men’s room.
***
Despite Lucky’s best intentions, a party raged inside his house, a combination welcome for Charlotte and kids, birthday party for Bo, and a going to college party for Todd.
Bo had to go invite most of the department too, which meant Lucky spent half his time running interference between Charlotte and Jimmy from Virginia, or running from the pack of brats he’d been assigned to train.
He’d yet to talk to Johnson about Phillip.
Oh, how he’d love to escape to the back deck, but Bo would only drag him back inside, lecturing him on being a bad host.
Twenty more minutes and Lucky would scream and run from his own home. So many colognes! Plus, the ribs, burgers, mushrooms and hotdogs they’d grilled.
Oh, crap. Ty had a huge grin on his face, talking to a teenaged girl with big blue eyes, blonde hair, and an equally wide grin.
“Hey, what do you know? Ty’s making a new friend.” Bo wrapped an arm around Lucky’s shoulders.
“Ty is not allowed to date Keith’s daughter. Why the hell did Keith even come anyway?” Lucky groused.
“Um… because I invited him?” Bo wandered off to mingle some more. Better him than Lucky.
The nephew in question caught Lucky’s eye and pantomimed a right hook.
Lucky mocked Ty’s pose and lifted his elbow, driving home the “keep your arm up” lesson he’d been trying to instill in their forays to the gym.
Ty nodded, smiled, and turned his attention back to the girl. Given his hand gestures, bobbing and weaving, he’d started bragging about learning to box to impress his audience.
Judging by the wide smile on Keith’s daughter’s face, Ty succeeded.
Dear lord. What if he wound up having to deal with Keith over holidays? Lucky shuddered. Then again, hating the in-laws was a time-honored tradition. Lucky had a head start.
And Ty was young yet. He’d smile and try to impress many girls before he chose one to settle down with—at about age forty.
Walter made his way over to the spot on the wall Lucky had claimed for his own. “Lucky, could I speak to you in private?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” He put on a good show of heading out to the deck with the boss, in case Bo decided to come looking for him, and breathed easier once they’d stepped outside.
Fresh air! Less noise! Yes!
But…
What could the boss want? Lucky hadn’t fucked up lately, well, not much, but if he had, at least he could be reasonably sure Keith hadn’t installed any cameras to gloat over a reaming out Lucky might have coming.
Moose nearly knocked him over getting out the door. Wherever Walter went, the danged critter wanted to be.
A few late summer crickets chirped in the grass, though fireflies had come and gone for the year. Music, chatter, and laughter from inside the house muffled when Lucky closed the door.
At least talking privately gave him a valid excuse to get away from the crowd. The people in the living room weren’t bad, most of them, anyway, but so many at one time, who collectively knew too many of his secrets? Not a good thing. If anyone started talking…
Lucky dropped down into one of the two Adirondack chairs Bo had bought. Soon he’d need to add more for Charlotte and her brood. While Atlanta wasn’t known for cold weather, for better or worse, sooner or later summer would give way to fall.
Walter eyed the chair next to Lucky’s but remained standing. Lucky stood and joined him, resting his elbows on the badly-in-need-of-a-good-power-washing railing. “This reminds me of the time right after you attempted to leave the SNB. Remember? I came down to Pensacola to deliver your paycheck and order you back to work.”
Seemed like ages ago. Lucky’d spent that weekend with Bo in his arms—and his bed. The first time he’d admitted his feelings.
Bo hadn’t laughed and run.
No way would Lucky let Walter know how much the visit had meant to him. The personal invite back to SNB. Also, the .38 he’d found giftwrapped on his desk, once he’d served out his sentence. When no one else believed in him, Walter Smith had. “Yeah, pushy bastard. If not for you I’d be enjoying retirement or out driving a truck somewhere.” Even trying to be gruff, Lucky failed. The level of affection he had for this man couldn’t be hidden. Someone who’d once put guys like Lucky in prison but had taken a chance on a two-bit felon and herded, no, shoved Lucky headfirst in the right direction.
Walter emitted a chuckle. “I have a confession to make. I’d never been more terrified in my life.”
Lucky whipped his head around. “Terrified? What do you mean?”
“I honestly expected you to tell me to take the job I offered you and shove it somewhere physically impossible.”
“Really? Why?” Terrified. Most people were terrified that Lucky wouldn’t go away, not that he would.
“Because, eight years prior I’d met an arrogant, conceited man with little remorse for his crimes. Cocky, stubborn.” Walter reached a hand down and rubbed Moose’s furry ear. Moose groaned. Spoilt dog.
“Still am.” Most of the time.
“No, you’re not. Oh, you might have others fooled, but anyone with common sense can see right past your façade.”
“Now wait a minute…” Lucky’d worked hard for his reputation. And did façade mean good or bad?
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. But as I was saying, I got to know you, saw beneath the bravado to a truly decent human being. In my line of work, I need all the decent human beings I can get.”
True dat. But Lucky? Decent? Even all those years ago? “You give me too much credit.”
“No, Lucky. I don’t give you nearly enough credit. Despite what you might believe, you’ve been the glue that’s held the department together. Some fear you, some may not like you, but all respect you, and know that, no matter how prickly you are, you’ll do everything in your power to keep them off the SNB memorial page.”
Did Boss Man know how many times Lucky agonized over the page, wondering, not if, but when his name would appear there, for real this time?
He’d use his dying breath to keep another name from appearing on the page.
Walter spat out a whiplash-inducing change of subject. “When I was a young man, I used to dream of being a father.” He gave a fond smile. “As an only child, I wanted a big family, four, maybe even five children. Then I fell in love with my wife. Have I ever told you why we chose not to have children?”
“No. I mean, I might have wondered, but it wasn’t any of my business.” Though Walter would have made one hell of a father.
“Lucy was born with a heart condition that put her at added risk. She still wanted to try for a child. To use one of your Southern
expressions, ‘bless her heart.’ I wouldn’t take the chance. Even though I knew I’d never be a father, and would spend my years taking care of her, might even lose her young, from the moment I met her there was no other choice.” His eyes twinkled. “She’s defied the odds and we’ve shared a good life.”
Oh, crap! “You’re not telling me she’s sick or anything, are you?” Bo would have them on the road and taking her chicken soup or something within the hour.
No. Wait! She couldn’t be dying. Even now she sat on the couch a few feet away, lap full of black and white cat.
Walter waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, no. Nothing like that. She’s fine. I just wanted to explain why we never increased our family.”
“Do you miss not having kids?” Would Lucky one day regret if he didn’t take his sister up on her generous offer to make him and Bo parents? But who could bring a child into his crazy life?
“Never! What I’m getting at is, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, you’ve become like a son to us, though I’m thrilled that you’ve made up with your own family.”
Lucky’s heart stuttered with a tangle of emotions he’d need time to sort out. “If you see me as your son, how disappointed in me are you?” Lucky hardly made a shining example.
“Not at all. I’m proud of you. You may not have come from the same background as some of the other agents, but you’ve never let anything hold you back. All on your own, without even the support of your family, you’ve become a fine man and excelled.”
“So, what are you buttering me up for?” Lucky never learned how to take compliments. Or he had. As a wrapper for something unpleasant.
Walter shook from his laughter. “Ah, ever the suspicious one. Can’t I say something nice without ulterior motives?”
“If you can, you’re probably the only person on the planet.”
“When I brought Bo on board, I never dreamed that he’d follow in your footsteps and prove himself a worthy addition to the team.” Walter held up a finger, effectively cutting off Lucky’s comments. “Hoped, mind you, but nothing more. He’s done well.”
“Yes, he has.” In more ways than one. Now that they were talking so openly, Lucky’d had a question burning in his mind for a while. Time to get an answer. “Tell me the truth. When did you figure out we were a couple?”