Enduring Love

by Kelsey Browning

  The only sound around the table now was the clink of silverware and the rustle of clothes.

  “I was in a small group tasked with shutting down a crystal meth operation near the county line. Jack McKay was also in that group.”

  “He was with the sheriff’s department, right?”

  He shouldn’t be surprised that Britt remembered. Even as a boy, he’d absorbed details about people and situations. “Chief deputy.”

  “And he was killed in the line of duty.”

  “Yeah, during the raid on this meth lab. What neither of us realized before the raid was that Jack’s own brother was the ringleader here in Haywood County. Surprised the hell out of both us that day. And surprise got Jack killed.”

  Eddy took another drink of his coffee and found it strangely bitter on his tongue. “The person who shot Jack was Henry McKay. His brother.”

  “And I’m guessing you made sure Henry went down for it,” Grif said, reading between the lines.

  “I did. He got life without parole, but that wasn’t the end of the story. His wife, a native of Japan, had recently passed away and left him with a small daughter.”

  “Oh my God,” Randi said. “Kris. Are you saying she’s this Henry McKay’s daughter?”

  Eddy paused because he was about to expose a long-held secret. “Yes. Jack’s widow, Jennifer, took Kris in and adopted her afterward.” What he didn’t feel the need to say was how much he had to do with that arrangement or how he’d helped the McKay family in the years since.

  Randi grabbed for Britt’s hand. “She doesn’t know.”

  “We didn’t feel it was in her best interest,” Eddy said.

  “We?”

  “Jennifer McKay and I. We made that decision together. What good would it do for Kris to grow up knowing her father was in prison for life for killing his own brother? The man whose family she now belonged to?”

  Randi’s face was full of misery. “What a mess.”

  That it was. But at the time, it had been the least messy mess Eddy could come up with.

  “So you’ve lied to Kris McKay and you’ve damn well lied to us,” Reid said flatly. “But I still don’t understand what this has to do with you and Mom at that shady motel today.”

  He had lied. Again and again and again. To the people who meant the most to him. And he’d do it again if he had to. “After everything went down with the bust, the Yakuza moved out of Haywood County, but they didn’t go far. Just headed west over the state line into Tennessee. My cover was blown with that group, so I decided it was time to retire from the DEA and go low profile, because I couldn’t be sure the threat was gone.”

  “So you actually had a reason for being a hermit and moving to that damn cabin,” Britt said. “But you’ve been coming around more the past few years, and now this with Mom.”

  “The Yakuza had a big split a few years ago, and when that happened, they pulled resources out of this part of the country. It was just too inefficient. Your mom and I felt it was finally safe to . . . ” He looked to Joan for help.

  She hurried to his side and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Although your dad was still wary, I was slowly talking him back into the world and back into our family. It takes some time to believe it’s safe again.”

  “But you pulled out of that motel today like the hounds of hell were on your heels,” Reid said. “Why?”

  For the same reason he was about to slip out the back door of this house and find out exactly where Henry McKay was. “Because although the Yakuza may no longer be interested in me, Henry McKay is. My testimony put him away. And I would swear to you I saw him in that motel parking lot today.”

  Britt and Reid glanced at each other.

  “Is this McKay about your age?” Britt asked. “Big guy. Bigger than Reid. With tat sleeves?”

  Joan stiffened beside him. Despite the anxiety blooming in Eddy’s chest, he smoothed tiny circles over her shoulder with his thumb.

  “Yes on age and tats. McKay and I were about the same size, though. If it was him at the motel, he’s bigger now.”

  “He could’ve bulked up in prison,” Reid said.

  Fear coiled low in his gut. “Did you see him?”

  Britt nodded. “At the motel. We thought he was a clerk working the desk.”

  “More likely,” Reid cut in, “he’d just finished working over the clerk when we arrived.”

  Joan covered her mouth. “He killed the clerk?

  “I didn’t see any blood.” Reid looked to Britt. “Did you?”

  Britt angled a shut-it look his brother’s way. “I’ll call Maggie and ask her to send one of her deputies.”

  “You were right,” Joan whispered. “He was there to hurt us.” Tears lined her eyes. “And our boys saved us.”

  A heavy silence fell over the group.

  Eddy took in each precious face of his family and knew what he had to do. Dealing with McKay fell on him. He’d caused this insanity, he’d clean it up.

  When he slipped away a few minutes later, he realized that he’d never gotten a piece of Joanie’s cake. Would he ever get the chance again?

  4

  Thwack!

  At the foot of Tupelo Hill’s driveway, Eddy slammed on the brakes.

  What looked like tomato juice mixed with bits of God knew what covered his windshield. The attack came out of nowhere, stunning him for all of two seconds before he slapped on the windshield wipers.

  Not waiting for his view to clear, he made to hit the accelerator just as a tat covered arm shoved through the open driver’s side window and jammed the barrel of a pistol against his temple.

  “Unlock the back door and kill the engine, Steele.”

  Eddy didn’t bother shooting a sidelong glance toward his assailant. He knew who held his life in one squeeze of the trigger.

  Henry McKay.

  The bigger question on this secluded pitch-black lane was how the hell did his enemy get out of prison? And why had the inmate locator shown him as still locked up?

  “I won’t tell you again,” McKay said. “I’ll pull the fucking trigger, then I’ll visit that fine white house back there. Say hello to Britt, Grif, Reid, Jonah, Micki, Evie, and all their bitches and bastards. Maybe I’ll even eat a piece of Joanie’s famous carrot cake before I slaughter your entire bloodline.” Dark amusement tinged his voice. “Wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you, Eddy-boy? Not when I’m going to give you an opportunity to get me away from them.”

  Eddy hit the unlock button and turned off his vehicle.

  “Hand me the keys.”

  His mind ricocheted through various scenarios, ways to neutralize the threat and protect his family.

  But with a gun digging into his scalp, Eddy’s options were limited. He dropped the keys into McKay’s outstretched hand.

  McKay slid into the backseat and set the barrel against the base of Eddy’s neck. “Start it up.” He dropped the keys in the cup holder between the two front seats. “Then make a right.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “One step at a time, Steele.”

  Eddy did as instructed and allowed his SUV to coast to the road. He peered into the rearview mirror, at the blunt, angry features of the man who’d haunted his dreams for over two decades.

  Prison had not been kind to that face. Deep grooves scored his cheeks and forehead. His once vivid emerald eyes had faded to a dull jade. And somewhere along the way, his eyebrows had disappeared. The absence made him appear sinister.

  Deadly.

  In the distance, beyond McKay’s stony outline, Joanie’s dream house sat nestled in starlight and swaying trees. Lights twinkled inside, illuminating silhouettes moving from one room to the next.

  His family.

  A family he’d forsaken to protect. A family he’d been on the verge of reentering, deeming it finally safe to do so.

  Until tonight. When his past pulled free of its tether, crashing into his present, and destroying his future.
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  Eyes burning with a rage that threatened to consume him, he stared into the mirror. Everything he loved and hated reflected back in one heart-ripping image.

  “How did you get out?”

  “Now that’s a great story. One you’ll appreciate, especially since you did your best to make sure I sat behind bars for the rest of my life.” He sucked air between his teeth. ”But to be shared another time.”

  Flexing his jaw, Eddy turned onto the road. “Now what?”

  “Now you drive to Blues, Brews, and Books.”

  “Why?” The word emerged harsh and raw.

  “I want to meet her.”

  Kris.

  The ache in Eddy’s throat clenched tighter, choking off his words, his breath. “It’s late.”

  “Past your bedtime, Eddy-boy?”

  “She might not even be there.”

  “Don’t you worry, I made sure it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.”

  “Nothing good can come of meeting her tonight. She’ll be tired and there’s too many people around.”

  “You’re not trying to keep my daughter from me, are you, Eddy-boy?” Clothing rustled, and McKay’s face filled the rearview mirror. He held his phone display out in front of them. An image of a preteen girl with reddish blond hair smiled back at him. “What would Grif think if his daughter—What’s her name?”

  Eddy forced back the bile that rose high in his throat.

  “Aubrey,” McKay crooned. “That’s right. What would your son do if sweet Aubrey went missing? Would he blame you for choosing someone else over her?”

  “Dammit, McKay. Enough of your threats.” Fury and fear entwined inside his chest. “Tonight’s not the time. Let’s do this right. Give me a day to prepare her.” He met the bastard’s hard stare in the mirror. “One more day is nothing. Surely, you can give her that much.”

  McKay eased back into his seat. “What do you suggest?”

  Eddy’s mind raced. He could see no way out of this. Honor and duty and survival warred inside him like a great, calamitous storm.

  He needed someplace open, public.

  Think, Steele. Think.

  “Barron’s Park. Noon, tomorrow.”

  McKay chuckled. “Can take the man out of the DEA, but can’t take the DEA out of the man.” He nudged the gun barrel into the back of Eddy’s head. “Show me.”

  5

  Sheriff Maggie Kingston didn’t mind evening patrols. As the only single female working in her department, Maggie often covered a shift when one of the deputies had a sick child or a parent/teacher meeting to attend. Someday she’d be calling on her deputies to help her out in those situations.

  Until Prince Charming came along, she’d continue patrolling the streets of Steele Ridge on her off nights.

  Even if it postponed her weekly visit with her vibrator.

  She pulled into Barron’s Park at 10:13, plunging into the darkness of the short driveway until she reached the dimly lit parking lot. She perused four rows of mostly empty spaces. Three vehicles had been parked, each in a different row and leaving plenty of room for privacy.

  Fully expecting to run the high-school kids from whatever illicit behavior they were engaged in, she cruised the first row and—yep. Sure enough, there sat Donny Preckwinkle’s black Camaro. She flashed her brights and snorted when one head popped up.

  “No making babies on my shift, kids.”

  Lord, that boy. Seventeen and so sexually active Mags hoped he wasn’t spreading STDs to the female student body of Steele Ridge High School. She braked again, letting the engine idle until Donny wisely fired the engine and moved on out.

  “Next victim,” Maggie muttered.

  If she got lucky, all these vehicles would contain horny teenagers instead of heroin-shooting ones. The horndogs she’d chase off. The druggies? That might require backup and a whole other stack of reports to be filed.

  She got on the radio and summoned a deputy. Couldn’t hurt to be cautious. While waiting, she cut diagonally across to a black SUV facing the opposite direction. At first glance, it could have been anyone’s factory-manufactured, run-of-the-mill SUV. The rims, though, were after-market.

  Was that . . . ? A lamppost ten feet from the vehicle illuminated the hood of the car, but from her vantage point she only saw one side of the driver’s face.

  No. Really? Why would her Uncle Eddy, the hermit, be sitting in Barron’s Park? By himself.

  At night.

  Maggie’s cop-sense prickled her skin. The man barely came out of that cabin he’d been hunkering down in for almost twenty years. Why would he be here?

  Good God. Her entire life she’d been spending holidays with the Steeles. On occasion, Uncle Eddy would turn up, but the truth of it was, Maggie barely knew the man. How could she? She’d been in eighth grade when he’d gone off the grid and hardly knew what he was into nowadays.

  Please don’t let him be getting a sexual favor from some random person. Teenagers were one thing. Facing her uncle? No way. That stunk worse than week-old garbage.

  Steeling herself for what she might find, she parked and slid out of the cruiser. The driver’s side window on the SUV was down, the man’s hands resting on the steering wheel.

  “Uncle Eddy?”

  Might as well alert him just in case he thought it was one of the deputies and not his niece.

  His head swung around and—damn—the shock registering on his face sliced Maggie in two. Some days, this job sucked. If he was in there doing something illicit, she’d have to face her cousins. And worse, her Aunt Joanie, whom she adored.

  “Uncle Eddy,” she said, “what are you doing?”

  He kept one hand on the steering wheel and hooked an arm over the doorframe. At least he wasn’t rushing to pull up his fly.

  A small bit of relief chased those prickles from her skin.

  He pasted a smile on his face. “Maggie. Hello, darlin’.”

  Hello, darlin’, nothing. She wanted to know what the hell he was doing in a park quickly growing to be the hub of nightly illicit activity.

  She took one step closer and Uncle Eddy shifted, turning his body to face her. The hand on the doorframe dropped a few inches. What the hell was he doing? Did he have someone in the car with him?

  She rested one hand on her service weapon and sidestepped, angling to her left so she’d get a visual of the passenger’s side. Nothing.

  In the darkness, there was no way to see the backseat, but she had to believe her Uncle Eddy wouldn’t allow her to be hurt. She let out a small breath, but kept her hand on her weapon. “Are you all right?”

  His gaze darted to his rearview and back. “I’m fine. It’s a nice night. Thought I’d go for a drive. I got tired so I pulled in here to close my eyes.”

  Sleeping. If she thought her uncle was weird before, this capped it. His wife’s home wasn’t all that far and he chose to come to a park by himself. Poor Aunt Joanie.

  But wait. From what she remembered, her uncle enjoyed a beer every now and again. “Are you drunk?”

  A field sobriety test was better than catching him with his pants down any day.

  “Hell no. I don’t drink and drive.”

  “Well,” she said, not bothering to hide her irritation, “you know the park closes at dusk. We’re way beyond that. I can’t have you in here. Go on home now. If you’re too tired to drive, I’ll take you.”

  He checked his rearview again. What. The. Hell?

  “Uncle Eddy? You’re sure you’re all right?”

  “Oh, hell.” He shook his head. “I’m fine. A man can’t even take a nap in his own town.”

  “Not in a closed public park he can’t. Go on home. Good night, Uncle Eddy.”

  She watched him cruise from the lot in no particular hurry. If he’d been up to something, he’d have stormed out. Wouldn’t he?

  Realizing she still had her hand resting on her service weapon, she let go, flexing her fingers to knock out the tension. The whole encounter was plain weird.


  Even for Uncle Eddy.

  6

  It was o’dark thirty, and Joan was sitting on the steps of Eddy’s cabin with two go-cups of coffee when the front door quietly opened behind her.

  “Joanie,” he sighed, sending a shiver of awareness over her skin. “You know coming to the cabin isn’t safe. What are you doing here?”

  She picked up a cup and offered it to him. “Starbucks doesn’t deliver, but I do.”

  A sly expression touched his eyes, and he smiled as he took the coffee. He leaned in to give her a soft kiss, almost melting Joan’s resolve to stick her nose in his business today. Almost. When he drew back, he whispered, “What else do you deliver?”

  “This morning? Just coffee and a sidekick. Figured you’d need it after your late-night visit to Barron’s Park. You forget our niece loves us. She was worried about you and called me this morning.”

  His smile whooshed away faster than she could blink, and he scanned the tree line the way she’d seen him do hundreds of times before. “You should come inside. Better yet, you should go home.”

  “Nope.”

  “Reid’s got state-of-the-art security there and I only have . . . What did you say?”

  “Uh-uh. No, sir. Not happening.”

  “Dammit, Joanie—”

  “We may have lived in separate houses for the better part of two decades, but I know you, Eddy Steele. If you believe Henry McKay is skulking around Steele Ridge, then you’re planning to do something about it.”

  “I don’t think it. I know.”

  Now it was her turn to go blank. “What?”

  Eddy grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Inside. I feel like the trees have eyes today.”

  This time, her shiver wasn’t from awareness of the man she’d loved since she was a young woman, it was a byproduct of fear. Inside, she sat on the couch that would make a comfy spot to spend Saturday afternoons snuggling with Eddy. Assuming he would ever voluntarily allow her in his cabin.