Duty Bound

by Samantha Chase

  Not very likely, since we were both now living in our smallish hometown.

  He raised his eyebrows. “Getting coffee.”

  “Nice.” I gave my head a little shake and just walked away. No use to continue a conversation that would just annoy me even more than I’d already been annoyed today.

  Levi followed me out. “You’re drinking fancy drinks now?”

  I stared at him in confusion until he nodded toward the chai tea latte.

  “No. That one isn’t mine.” I don’t know why I was offended by the question, but it seemed to imply he thought I was a silly girl who drank pretentious drinks.

  To prove my point, I took a gulp of the coffee. It was too hot, so it burned my throat as it went down.

  He gave that little smile again—the one from the funeral, the one I remembered from when we were younger and he would hang out with Gavin and do nothing but tease me. “So you still drink your coffee black?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” I felt annoyed again, and—what was worse—like the girl who was constantly bossed around by her older brother and his best friend. I moved the tea into the crook of my arm so I could dig my keys out of my bag.

  “I don’t know.” He reached to take the tea without asking. “I figured in middle school you were just trying to show off by drinking black coffee.”

  That was exactly why I’d started drinking it that way, but there was no reason why he had to know it. “Is there something you wanted?” I couldn’t figure out why he was talking to me at all. We’d never be friends and, after what I said at the funeral, I didn’t know why he would make an effort to even be polite.

  “I was just —” He broke the words abruptly as he stared at my car, which we were approaching. “What the hell happened?”

  “What do you mean?” I turned in the direction he was staring and saw what he saw. “What the hell?”

  My bad day had just gotten even worse. Only two tires on my car were visible from where we stood on the sidewalk, but they were both completely flat.

  When we got nearer, I saw that one of the others was flat as well, and I walked around the car to ascertain it was true of all four of them. “What the hell!”

  “Someone slashed them,” Levi said. He was crouching on the sidewalk near one of them, and he showed me the place where it had obviously been cut. “Who would have done that?”

  He sounded outraged, and it actually made me feel a little better. I had no idea why. Just that it was nice that someone else thought this was a big deal too.

  “I don’t know.” I tried to think of someone who would hate me that much, someone so petty. “Just a random piece of vandalism, I guess.”

  It was very strange that it happened right here in the middle of town, but strange things sometimes happened that way.

  “It doesn’t look random to me.” He stood up and seemed to loom over me. I hated that he was so much taller and stronger and more than me. “Someone did it on purpose. Who have you pissed off?”

  “I piss off people all the time, but not enough to do something like this.” I shrugged dismissively. I felt strangely disoriented and upset by this, but I wasn’t about to let Levi see. “I’m sure it’s just random.”

  “I don’t think it’s—”

  “Well, no one asked you. I’m telling you no one hates me that much.”

  “You’ve been stirring up a lot of shit with all these stories and columns you’re—”

  “That’s ridiculous. It has nothing to do with that.” I grabbed the tea from his hand and started to turn away, deciding that walking away was the best way to deal with him. Then I realized I didn’t have a functional car anymore, and it was a couple of miles back to the office.

  I’d have to walk—in my very high heels—or call a friend or use public transportation.

  “I can give you a ride,” Levi said, obviously reading my mind.

  “Don’t you need to get back to work?” I knew he was working for his father’s construction company now. It was a strange thing to envision him doing—since he’d been so set on a military career since he was a boy—but it looked like that was his future.

  Which meant he’d be hanging around town indefinitely.

  I couldn’t imagine he was happy about that.

  “This is my lunch break.”

  “But it’s after four in the afternoon.”

  He gave a half-shrug. “Just the way the day worked out.”

  So now I could either reject his offer and waste a ton of time trying to find another ride, or I could just say yes. I almost groaned out loud as I thought about buying four new tires and then arranging for the work on my car.

  I hated messing around with cars.

  “So do you want a ride or not?” Levi demanded.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess. Thanks.”

  “My truck is just down the block.”

  So we turned around and walked back down the sidewalk, and he opened the passenger door of his pickup to let me in.

  I saw a couple of people glance at us as I climbed into the seat, and I desperately hoped no one I knew would see us. I could just imagine the gossip.

  Harper and Levi. An item. Brought together by a tragic death.

  The reminder of Gavin was like a hammer crashing down on me, and I shook through a silent wave of grief as Levi walked around to get into the driver’s side.

  He sat for a minute, his eyes focused on my face. In the silence, I couldn’t help but notice how strong his hands were as they rested on the steering wheel. The fingers were long and graceful, the skin was tanned, and there was power evident even when they weren’t moving.

  I suddenly wondered how it would feel if he touched me with those hands, and then I pushed away the thought as completely inappropriate.

  “You okay?” he asked at last.

  He must have seen something on my face a minute ago, when I was thinking about Gavin. Now he was feeling sorry for me too. “I’m fine,” I snapped. When I realized how sharp I sounded, I added, “Sorry.”

  He shrugged off the apology and pulled out into the street. “So you really don’t think someone slashed your tires on purpose?”

  I really had no idea.

  “Would you drop that, please? It happened. Let’s just move on.”

  So, instead of an interrogation, he called up Rick from a local garage to ask him if he had tires in stock, managed to haggle down the price, and then arranged for the tires to be put on.

  I sat in stunned silence after my first automatic objection when I realized what he was doing. I was torn between relief that I wouldn’t have to mess with all the car stuff and indignation over his high-handedness.

  I concluded that he probably meant well enough, but he was just as bossy as Gavin had always been, treating me like a child, like I couldn’t handle things on my own.

  At least Gavin had the excuse of being my brother. Levi had no justification for his bossiness at all.

  He ended the call right as he was pulling up in front of the newspaper offices. Then he turned to look at me quietly. “Rick said he should have your car ready by the end of the week. He’s booked up tomorrow, but he’s going to fit it in as soon as possible.”

  “I never asked you to arrange all of that. It’s really not your business.”

  “Why wouldn’t I? Rick and I have been friends for years.”

  I felt like shaking him, but he was too big for me to even move. “The fact that you’re friends has nothing to do with it. It’s my car, and I make decisions about it.”

  He was still frowning as I got out of the car, but he got out too. He walked around to the sidewalk, where I was standing.

  “Harper,” he said, reaching out and wrapping his fingers gently around my upper arm.

  It sounded like he was going to say something, but he didn’t continue past my name. I gazed at him in surprise, feeling like the placement of his hand was a sign of understanding, of connection.

  It was ridiculous, though. A little to
uch like that couldn’t evoke even the slightest of connections. Not between me and Levi.

  “I heard your phone conversation back in the coffee shop,” he finally said, his expression changing. “Maybe it’s not a good idea for you to be in the public eye so much. Maybe the tires were random, but maybe not.”

  “You’re crazy.” I straightened myself up to my full height. “And next time don’t eavesdrop on private conversations.”

  “I guess you still always have to get the last word.” He almost smiled, and his smug expression made me want to scream.

  I managed to rein in the urge and instead just said, “Only when I’m right.”

  Convinced I’d said all I needed to say, I turned on my heel and walked away from him, carrying Jack’s tea and my coffee.

  This whole day was a disaster. I’d have to give up on it and start over tomorrow.

  But two things I knew for sure.

  I wasn’t going to give up on the story.

  And I wasn’t going to talk to Levi again.

  Two

  Levi

  “You have got to be kidding me.”

  I don’t know why it surprised me, but seeing Harper on the local news talking about Gavin and how there might be some sort of cover up going on surprised me anyway. Didn’t the woman ever listen? I knew that my superiors weren’t going to talk to her, no matter how much of nuisance she made of herself to them. Her public plea wasn’t going to change a damn thing.

  Snapping off the television, my first instinct was to go and throttle her. I was sure I wasn’t the first person to feel that way. People didn’t get their tires slashed randomly.

  This was definitely personal.

  Pacing had become my favorite pastime since coming home. Normally it was out of boredom, but now it was out of frustration. What the hell was she thinking? There was standing up for what you believed in, and then there was just plain stubbornness.

  Like that was anything new where Harper was concerned.

  It was a good thing no one was around to hear my growl of frustration or to hear the words flying out of my mouth over this whole damn mess. There would be too many questions to answer if anyone saw me. As it was, my entire family was walking around on eggshells, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. No matter how much I threw myself into the construction jobs, I could feel everyone looking at me as if they were expecting me to crack at any moment.

  Maybe I was.

  Like now.

  Damn Harper and her causes. Why couldn’t she just leave this one alone? There was no story here. At least that was what I kept wanting to believe. I knew the way the military works— I’d get more answers than Harper would if I confronted any of my commanding officers, but that didn’t mean I wanted to. I’d be lying if I said that a few theories hadn’t crossed my mind, but most of them involved me and my own role in the whole thing.

  Don’t go there.

  In the two months I’d been home, I still hadn’t found my place. Sure, there was the family business, and I knew my dad was happy to have me working with him, but it just wasn’t my dream. It was his. As much as I was trying to make everyone happy, there wasn’t an ounce of friggin’ joy in me. There wasn’t an ounce of any real emotion in me anymore.

  Liar.

  Okay, there was the frustration with Harper. That was a given. And maybe, just maybe, there was a surprising jolt of attraction, especially when I actually reached out and touched her. “That’s ridiculous,” I told myself. Harper was practically a sister to me. I’d known her most of her life. She was a pain, a thorn in my side, not…attractive.

  Liar.

  So she was attractive. So what? There were tons of attractive women in town. Maybe it was just time that I actually went out with one. Maybe that would help me feel a little more…something. Anything had to be better than this. This constant state of numbness was getting old.

  Decision made, I could finally let myself relax. No more watching the news. It was time to find some sort of game to watch. Surely with a thousand damn channels there had to be something sports related on.

  As soon as the screen came on, there she was. Son of a…

  “Are you worried about making enemies, Harper?” the reporter asked right before the camera panned back to her.

  “Not at all. If there’s nothing to hide and what they’re saying is true, then they have nothing to worry about. All I’m asking for is the truth.”

  “How do you know they’re lying to you now?”

  Harper’s gaze narrowed slightly. “Because they haven’t agreed to meet with me. All I’m asking is for a few minutes of their time, to know how my brother and so many others died. If they’d just talk to me, I’m sure that would go a long way to clear things up.”

  This time, I actually did smile. Hell, I even laughed. Harper was in over her head on this one. This wasn’t some small campus rally to lower the price of school lunches or an initiative about safety in the public parks. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she was pissing someone off big time.

  Someone right here in town had been bold enough to slash her tires. Shit. There were probably a lot of candidates, and I hadn’t been back long enough to get the gossip on where people stood these days in their political views.

  Guess it was time to start mingling with the locals again.

  ***

  It was weird to stand in front of a place that was so familiar and not feel the comfort of it like I once had. Gavin’s house. I’d put it off as long as I could, but I now needed to do more than just go to work and go to bed, so this was where I ended up.

  The house looked exactly the same, but I knew it wasn’t. Gavin wasn’t here. This was the first time I’d ever come to the Murphy’s home without him. Don’t go there right now, I reminded myself, even as I tried to remember how to walk up the steps to the front door. My legs were like lead, and it was all I could do to breathe normally.

  I didn’t even have to knock. Charles Murphy must have seen me coming because the door opened before I lifted my hand. “Levi! What a surprise.” Rather than the handshake I’d been expecting, he pulled me in for a hug. We went inside, and I no sooner had a foot in the door then Gavin’s mother, Darlene, had me in her embrace. They were huggers. It wasn’t personal.

  “Look at you!” she said as she appeared to assess me for some hidden injury. “You look wonderful, Levi. Have you eaten? Charles and I were just about to have some coffee. Can I get you some?”

  There wasn’t a hint of animosity or anything remotely distant about them—they welcomed me like I was family—and yet I couldn’t let my guard down. Not yet. The place smelled like freshly brewed coffee and pine. Darlene Murphy was a clean freak, and it almost brought me back to our childhood, when Gavin and I would skate around the freshly waxed wood floors in our socks. And then had to run like hell when Darlene caught us.

  “How’s the job going with your dad?” Charles asked when Darlene put our mugs on the table.

  “It’s good, sir. The jobs are relatively small—residential jobs and all—but I think my dad likes having me work with him.”

  “And so he should,” Darlene said as she took a seat.

  The silence was almost deafening for a long minute, and I felt myself wanting to squirm. “How are you both doing?”

  Darlene’s face saddened first, and Charles’s wasn’t far behind. “We have good days and bad,” Charles said, his voice much softer than it was moments ago. “Gavin had been away for so long that sometimes I find myself thinking that’s all that’s going on and he’ll be home soon.” He paused. “Then I remember.”

  There wasn’t a damn thing I could say to that because I felt the same way. I never wanted to go into construction or work for my dad, and on some really bad days, I found myself grabbing for the phone to bitch to Gavin. And then I would remember.

  Darlene reached for one of my hands as if she’d read my mind. Words weren’t really necessary.

  The quiet moment was shattered by the slammin
g of the front door and the decisive click, click, click of someone’s ridiculously high heels coming our way. “Please tell me that the coffee is fresh,” Harper called out, just before she walked into the room.

  And stopped.

  It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see her there, but it was. That was happening a lot lately. Sitting quietly, I watched as she kissed both of her parents hello and then went to make herself a cup of coffee. Black. Either she was going to keep ignoring me, or there was something fascinating about fixing a cup of black coffee.

  “Aren’t you going to say hello to Levi, Harper?” her mother asked.

  The look Harper gave her in response was near comical. I couldn’t help but smirk at her, which only upped her ire. She mumbled a begrudging greeting before walking out of the room.

  The Murphys looked at me apologetically. “How is Harper doing?” I figured that it might be easier to get a little insight into who was bothering her if I snooped close to home. Hopefully she was out of earshot.

  “Levi?”

  Oops. Clearly not. “Yeah?”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Her tone was so sweet it could give a guy cavities, but those eyes told me that I was in deep shit.

  Taking my mug with me, I excused myself and followed her. I knew this house like my own, but it felt wrong to be here without Gavin. And to be talking to Harper here alone. We never did that. Ever. There was never a reason to before. I had the urge to squirm again.

  “Why are you upsetting my parents?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Why are you asking about me?”

  “So asking about you is upsetting to them, how?”

  It was kind of fun to watch her get riled up. She might be tiny—in heels she barely stood taller than my shoulders—but when she was pissed, she seemed to become much bigger. It must be the Napoleon complex, like one of those little dogs that always goes up against the bigger ones and thinks it’s going to win. There was no way that I was going to tell her I was comparing her to a dog, so I decided to wait and hear how it was that I upset her parents.

  “They are grieving the loss of their son, and people keep nagging about how we’re all doing, but at least they don’t come here to our home and do it. This is like a sanctuary for them, Levi, and then you show up and start asking questions!”