“I’m here to tell you I’m paying you back for everything, paying us back.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
She blinked with a moment’s hesitation, and then said, “That’s great. Just leave the money or the check or whatever and go.”
He looked around like he was confused. “I drove all the way down here to talk to you.”
“You really shouldn’t have.”
“This is our business, Seanna, not anyone else’s.”
“We don’t have any business anymore, not after I make that last payment.”
He met Blake’s glare for a moment, and then looked back at Seanna. “Are you with him now?”
“Yes,” Blake answered without hesitation.
He jerked his head back and bore his gaze into Blake’s, but this time with interest. “Who are you? Do I know you?”
Blake froze for a split second, his blood running frigid. “Why don’t you leave? She doesn’t want you here.”
Jason stared at Blake a minute longer, and he swallowed down some bile. Jason might not figure it out now, but he would soon enough. He pulled open his wallet, slapped a check down on a table, and then looked up at Seanna. “I’m going to text you the name and address where I’m staying. I’ll be there tonight. I want you to think about us, about how we were before. That’s how I’m ready to be again. And I’ll never let a day go by where I don’t work like hell to make all this up to you.”
He gave Blake one last murderous stare before shoving his way past him and to the door. It took everything Blake had in him to be the bigger man and let it go, but as much disdain as he had for that piece of shit, he had more love for Seanna. And he knew a throw-down between him and her ex was not the way to go here, not unless absolutely necessary.
Seanna picked up the check with a shaky hand and then set it back down.
Cassidy looked at it and then huffed a laugh. “Where do you think he got that kind of money?” Seanna frowned at her aunt, and Cassidy rubbed her back. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”
“Why don’t we sit a minute,” Blake said.
“I have a bottle of wine in the fridge. I’ll be back in a second,” Cassidy said.
Seanna sat down and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. “I don’t even want that money. God only knows how he got it or if the check would even clear.”
The bell on the door dinged and Bo and Chase came in. “What’s going on?” Bo asked.
“What are you doing here?” Blake asked. Marigold and Sebastian came through the doorway next with Ashe and Desiree on their heels.
Bo scanned the room. “We were at the bar at Whiskey Bravo when Marigold texted us to get over here.”
Ashe pointed between himself and Desiree. “We weren’t missing out on any drama.”
“I just wasn’t sure how dangerous he was,” Marigold said. “I knew they were close by. We were meeting there for dinner.”
“Who was it?” Chase asked.
Seanna shook her head. “It was my ex. It’s fine. He’s fine. He’s gone.”
Marigold pointed to the parking lot. “He’s actually not gone.”
Blake stood up, adrenaline shooting through his veins. Jason slammed the door to the car.
“What the fuck?” Chase asked.
The door to Seaside Sweets flew open, and Jason stood scanning their group. His gaze landed on Chase, who looked scarier than the rest of them but was more likely to buy the house a round of beers than kick anyone’s ass. He needed to be worried about the guy standing next to him. Bo would take down the Atlanta Falcons if he thought they were messing with one of his people.
Jason shifted his gaze to Blake, pointing. “I know who you are.”
As Blake stared down this sorry piece of shit, all he could think about was how stupid he had been. He’d had weeks to tell Seanna, years to tell the rest of them. But he’d moronically thought he could pull this lie off, keep all these people he loved in the dark about him. And now in one single performance, this asshole would be the one to take him down.
Bo stepped closer to him. “You don’t fucking know him. Get out.”
“Yes I fucking do. He’s—”
Bo got right up in his face. “You say one more goddamned word, and I’ll beat your ass so hard your mama won’t be able to identify you.”
“Bo,” Blake said. “It’s over.”
Bo looked Jason up and down. “You bet your ass it’s over. Get the fuck out.”
Blake put his hand on Bo’s shoulder. “I’m serious. It’s done. I can’t do this anymore.” Bo stared at Blake hard, asking him if he was sure without opening his mouth. Blake nodded, and then turned back to Jason. “Go ahead.”
Jason glanced at Bo and back at Blake like he wasn’t sure.
“Go ahead with what?” Seanna asked.
“Tell them how you know me,” Blake said.
Jason met Seanna’s bewildered gaze, and then stabbed his finger at Blake. “He fucking killed his fiancée.”
Blake didn’t deny it, just held Jason’s deadly stare until he dared to meet Seanna’s gaze.
“What?” she asked.
“He didn’t fucking kill anyone,” Bo said.
“Let him tell it,” Blake said.
Jason glanced around again, wary, but he had no problem plowing forward. “He killed her. She said so in her note. It was fucked up. She cut her own wrists, but he was the reason. And when she showed up at the ER, he finished the job. She should have lived. Everyone knew it, but he wouldn’t let anyone else near her. Is this who you want to be with? A murdering son of a bitch?”
Bo stepped up to him again. “Call him that one more time and see what happens.”
The look on Seanna’s face was enough to bury him. “What is he talking about?”
“It’s true,” Blake said, his voice coming out quieter than he meant for it to, so he cleared his throat and stood up straight. “I was a doctor before I came here.”
“What?” Marigold said, and Sebastian nudged her, biting his thumbnail.
“You’re a doctor?” Seanna asked.
Jason glanced between the two of them. “You didn’t know that?”
His stomach churned like a vat of vomit. “I was working when she came into the ER, bleeding out. I’d just broken it off with her, and we thought we had her settled. I was going to leave town. Her parents thought it would be best that way. I had no ties to Atlanta, anyway. But she didn’t want that, and she let me know in the most emphatic way she could.” He stared at a crumb of cake on the floor, the whole night playing out right there on top of it. “She cut herself just enough to make a statement, to tell me I wasn’t going anywhere, not without her.” He balled up his fist. “If I could go back and make it right, I would have stayed. I would have married her. I would shut up about it and suck it up. I could have figured it out, how to live with her.” He looked up at the ceiling. “I swear to God, I would have stayed with her.”
He stared at a spot on the ceiling, visions of their tumultuous relationship playing out right there like a movie—the times she would hit him so hard he’d have to tell stories about being in a bar fight, the time they ran into a woman he’d been on a date with before she’d ever come along, and Tara calling her a whore, the time she went a week without showering and locked herself in the bathroom for the night, leaning against the door, her feet locked against the bathtub so he couldn’t open it without hurting her, him sitting on the other side begging her to come out, blinking himself awake all night so he could make sure she was still alive. He’d begged her parents to place her somewhere she could be monitored all the time. They’d thought Blake had been sent to them from heaven to save their daughter. They’d finally taken her into their custody, and he’d thought the nightmare was over after years of madness, but it’d just started.
The silence surrounding him woke him up, and he met the gazes of all the people around him. Cassidy, who’d been his first friend when he came to town. Chase, w
ho he’d met when he first started his business and had thrown more referrals his way than he had time to handle. Sebastian, who took care of all of them like a doting father. Marigold, Ashe, and Desiree, who colored their get-togethers with their humor, their individual styles, and their love for this friend group. Bo, who’d been the brother he’d never had, and who had the kindest heart of anyone on the planet. And Seanna, who’d shown him what a real relationship with love and heart looked like.
“I’m sorry,” he said to all of them. “I’m so sorry.”
He turned and headed for his truck.
Chapter Twenty
Seanna stood dumbfounded as Blake backed out of his parking place in front of Seaside Sweets. What had just happened? She couldn’t even start to process through it. Doctor? Fiancée? Murder? Blake? All her mind could do was flash words out in front of her like a neon sign.
Bo gave Jason a look that would have put the fear of God into Charles Manson. “Let’s get something clear. You get in your car right now, and you leave this town. If I ever spot you anywhere near him or her again, I’ll fucking kill you.” Seanna believed every word out of Bo’s mouth, and by the look on Jason’s face, he did, too.
Jason looked at Seanna one last time, and then walked out the front door. Something told her she’d never lay eyes on him again.
Bo put both his hands on his hips, the muscles in his biceps protruding out of his T-shirt sleeve like they’d been agitated. “Sebastian, why don’t you take everybody to the restaurant. I’m gonna stay here with Seanna for a minute. Don’t wait on me.”
Sebastian nodded, and then came over to Seanna and wrapped his skinny arms around her. “I love you, sweetie.” He kissed her on the cheek and then herded his friends out the door.
Chase looked down at Bo, his brow furrowed with concern. Seanna didn’t think she’d ever seen him look serious. “Call or text me if you need me. I’ll get wherever I need to be fast.”
“I know you will,” Bo said. “Go on. Keep a lid on the gossip as much as you can, at least until I can clear everything up for everyone.”
“Will do.” Chase turned to Seanna. “I’m a text away for anything you need. You hear me?”
She nodded. “Thanks, Chase.”
Bo rubbed his hand over his head, his face losing some of its bright red color. “Goddamn, that lit me up. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Seanna said, looking down at her hands, which were shaking like crazy.
“Come here,” Bo said, and pulled her into his chest. Cassidy stepped closer and rubbed on her back. A tear streamed down Seanna’s face, but she held back from bawling like she wanted to.
She pulled away and met Cassidy’s gaze. “Did you know about any of this?”
Cassidy shook her head. “I didn’t.”
They both looked at Bo, and he held up a hand. “I did but only for a few weeks now. He didn’t kill her. You both understand that, right?”
Seanna swallowed, and Cassidy blinked with a moment’s hesitation. “Yes, of course,” she said.
“She was sick,” Bo said. “Bipolar disorder. I read about it out of curiosity after he told me the story. It’s no fucking joke.”
“No, it’s not,” Cassidy said. She nudged Seanna. “You remember our cousin Bethany? Her daughter has it.”
Seanna nodded, but she didn’t.
“I’m telling you,” Bo said, “he’s beat himself up about her for three years now. He doesn’t feel like he deserves any kind of normal life. I think meeting you has had a profound effect on him though.”
She wasn’t sure how much her chest could take the strain of this. She was going to die of a heart attack at thirty years old. “He’s been lying to me,” she said, her voice coming out softer than she intended.
“It’s been killing him, too. He’s been scared shitless of telling you. He didn’t want you to see him like this.”
She moved a shaky hand up to cover her stomach. “I can’t do this again. I can’t get involved in all this lying and deception.”
Bo furrowed his brow, staring at her wordlessly.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped.
He held up both hands. “I don’t mean to. I’m not judging you or telling you what to do. I just think you need to know that he’s been in goddamn turmoil for three years now…hell, for a lot longer than that, I’m assuming. He’s not lived the same life as you and I have.” He pointed at Cassidy. “Family who loves you and would do anything for you. He doesn’t know what that is. He’s only known survival. Hell, the first year I brought him home with me for Christmas dinner, you should have seen the look on his face the whole time. It was like he was watching a movie the way he studied all of us. He’d never seen a family like mine who cut up and loved on one another. Talking to him about it afterward I damn near broke down in tears, learning about how he grew up.”
“In a children’s home, right?” Seanna said.
“When he was in high school. Has he told you how he lived before that?”
Seanna shook her head, her chest tightening, a tear running down her face. Cassidy handed her some napkins from a dispenser on a table.
“He was shuffled around from group homes and foster homes. He won’t say a lot about it, but you can draw your own conclusions.”
When Blake had talked to her about growing up as an orphan, he’d made it seem so positive—living on a farm, talking about how he and the other kids were like rock stars. But now that she thought about it, he’d only talked about his teen years. She’d been so naïve to think he was giving her the full picture, and she’d been so careful with pulling information out of him that she hadn’t thought to ask about his childhood.
“Whatever he went through back then must have sent him on a path of wanting to help people,” Bo said. “You should have heard the way he described his relationship with that woman. I couldn’t tell where being a doctor ended and any kind of romantic relationship started. I don’t think there was a difference.”
Seanna knew Blake had a life before her, before moving to this town, but he’d been so quiet about any romantic past that it’d been easy for her not to think about it. Having all this dumped on her chest felt like being trapped under a boulder.
She ran a shaky hand over her forehead thinking about him and Jason standing there facing off in front of her, two men who had lied to her in epic ways. “I can’t deal with this right now.”
Bo held up his hand. “I know. I realize this is a lot to throw at you. I’ve got to go talk to him anyway.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, taking a step toward the door.
“Why?” she asked dumbly.
“Because if I don’t none of us are liable to ever see him again.”
Her heartbeat sped up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I can see him packing a bag, grabbing that dog, and hauling ass out of here. What just happened here was his worst fear realized. I can guaran-damn-tee you he’s not sticking around for the fallout.” He pushed open the door. “I’ve got to go.” Hesitating, he turned back to her. “I’m sorry, darlin’, about all of this.” The door closed behind him, and he was gone.
She turned to Cassidy, speechless, and Cassidy held open her arms. “Come here, sweetie.” Cassidy held her there while she attempted to process all that had just happened.
She pulled away. “Jason knew him,” was all she could think to say.
“I know, sweetie. Let’s just take all of this one step at a time. You want to go back to my house?” Seanna nodded, and Cassidy forced a smile. “I’ve just got to grab my purse.”
As Seanna waited for Cassidy to come back, a fist closed around her heart. It was happening all over again…that tug at her conscience, at her will…wanting to forgive Blake for lying to her, wanting to hold him and work through all this with him and help him heal. But she’d just spent the last year doing that for Jason, and her help did nothing but come back to haunt her.
How had she let this happen? She’d opened her heart wi
de for a man she barely knew, and she was right back in that same goddamn spot she’d been in when she first arrived here, trying to separate herself from the lying and the deceit, and instead, she’d caught herself up in a brand new web.
“You ready to go home?” Cassidy asked.
Seanna blinked, staring at her aunt. “Yeah. I am.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Blake stood in his bathroom, thinking. His body wasn’t moving as fast as his brain wanted it to. Get out. That was all his mind was saying. But his heart was stuck back at Seaside Sweets watching Seanna’s face crumble at the revelations about him, like dealing with her piece of shit ex wasn’t enough for one day.
Sadie stood there panting up at him full of frenetic energy. “Shaving kit,” he said out loud. He had to keep reminding himself what he was doing. Leaving. Taking just what he needed, and going. The place had come furnished as a vacation rental. Blake had convinced his landlord to let him stay permanently in exchange for work on his other properties. It’d worked out to be a mutually beneficial relationship. Just one more good thing he was leaving behind.
As he headed to the bedroom, the front door opened and Sadie ran to the living room with a woof. Blake cursed himself for not locking it. As much as he wanted it to be Seanna, his body relaxed with relief to see it was Bo, if it had to anybody.
Blake pretended to ignore him as he opened the top drawer of his chest and gathered his underwear and socks in one fell swoop.
“You missed one,” Bo said, pointing at a lone sock.
Blake grunted, shoving crap into his suitcase.
“Can we just have a conversation?” Bo said. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
“You can talk all you want.” Sadie jumped up on the bed and lay down.
Bo shoved Blake’s suitcase away with his foot and then looked at Blake, eyebrows raised in challenge. Blake closed his eyes, his mind reeling. He needed to leave. That was all he could think about. Going to his truck.
Blake tossed up his hands. “What’s there to say that hasn’t already been said today?”
Bo leaned in like he was going to whisper a secret. “Are you telling me that you’re going to let that slimy little prick have the last word here?”
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