She wanted to be with me.
And fuck me, but I wanted to be with her more than I’d wanted anything in my entire life: Cora, food, water, shelter. In that order.
But I didn’t need a marriage certificate or a ring on her finger to make that come to fruition.
I just needed her.
Curling her into my side, I kissed the top of her head. “Relax. I’m not asking yet, okay? It occurred to me that we’ve spent so much time discussing the past that I never found out what you want out of life. We’ve talked about you finishing college and getting your degree, but what next? Would you want to get married in general? Not just to me.”
She gave me the side-eye. “I’m not down with polygamy, Penn Pennington.”
I laughed.
Craning her head back, she peered up into my eyes. “Yeah. I’d get married again.” She nudged me with her elbow. “Assuming the right guy asked.”
I grinned down at her and started walking again. “You want kids?”
She buzzed her lips. “Wow. I honestly don’t know. I never thought I’d have the option again.” Her nose crinkled and she swayed her head from side to side in consideration. “I love kids, but with the way things went the first time, I’d have to feel…safe before taking that leap again.”
Safe. Kids or not. I could give that to her.
I would give that to her. I could give her the most boring, uneventful, simple life in the world. Not usually a selling point for a marriage, but for us, the slow life was exactly what we finally needed.
“You?” she asked, her voice squeaking at the end like she was preparing for the answer.
“I’d love to start a family. Lisa was never interested. It didn’t fit into her lifestyle. I accepted that. But if it were up to me, I’d want a couple.”
“Really?” she whispered.
I nudged her the way she’d done me. “Assuming the right woman said yes.”
Her feet kept moving, but she melted into my side, making me think maybe she’d made her decision on kids too.
“Boys or girls?” she asked.
“Boys. I think getting Savannah and River to adulthood is going to be enough to do my head in.”
“Aww.” She flashed me a smile. “Thank you for always including them. From day one. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
“You don’t need to thank me for that, Cora. Spending time with them has not been a hardship.”
“For other men, it would be.”
I shot her a wink. “Then let’s hope none of those other men propose before I do.”
Her cheeks pinked and she turned her attention down to her sandy feet, muttering, “Fingers crossed.”
As we got closer to Drew and Catalina, I squinted, trying to force my brain to make sense of what I was seeing. He was lying on his side, facing her, sporting a huge grin while drizzling wet sand into the palm of her hand. She was laughing, her dark hair blowing in the wind as she sat with her legs stretched out beside him, in a bikini much like Cora’s.
And though they were both wearing shades, it was beyond obvious that there was some serious eye-fucking being exchanged, at least on Drew’s side.
I had no idea what had happened in my Audi on that twenty-hour car ride from Chicago. But if the nightmare in front of me was any indication, the engine exhaust had to have been rerouted into the car and affected both of their brains.
“Hey,” Catalina chirped, jerking her hand away when she tore her eyes off Drew long enough to realize that other people existed.
Fuck. I didn’t want to imagine the epic clusterfuck that would ensue if those two started something.
Drew was a good guy, and while wooing women was definitely his thing, staying with them was not.
“Hey,” I replied gruffly, shooting him a silent what-the-fuck-are-you-doing glare.
It sailed right over his head. “Hey, so, how do you feel about me and Cat taking the girls out to a movie tonight?”
“I don’t. And it’s not happening,” I muttered, releasing Cora to grab two beers from the cooler. I twisted the top off one, passed it her way, and then did the same on mine.
“And why not?” he asked defensively.
I sat on the top of the cooler, patting my thigh in an invitation Cora quickly accepted. As she settled on my lap, I replied, “Because this isn’t a vacation. I have no idea what Thomas and Manuel are up to right now, but it’s better for all of us if we stay tight, keep our heads up, and try to figure out what’s next.”
“Right,” he mumbled in a way that sounded more like fuck you than it did an agreement.
“Oh, I know!” Catalina exclaimed. “What if we rent a movie and watch it in that theater room over the garage?” She waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe give you two some time alone in the house.”
Now, that I could get on board with. If it bought me some much-needed alone time with Cora, Drew and Catalina could eye-fuck all damn night.
“What movie?” Cora asked.
I grazed my teeth over her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. You’re not watching it.”
Drew grinned and then pushed his sunglasses down his nose, narrowing his gaze on Cora’s feet. “Holy shit, is that a sand shark?”
And that was how I became deaf.
She flew straight up into the air, but not before screaming in my ear. I nearly dropped my beer, and hers spilled all over us both. But Drew and Catalina laughed so hard that it almost made it worth it.
“Baby, chill.” I chuckled, dragging her back down onto my lap. “Sand sharks still live in the ocean.”
“Oh my God! I hate you people—all of you.”
“Hey, what did I do?” Catalina whined.
“You’re laughing,” she spat.
And she was.
And so was Drew.
And then I joined the group.
And it wasn’t but a few seconds later that Cora joined us too.
As it would seem we were one big, happy family.
It wasn’t until a few hours later, as a river of blood forged a path across my living room floor, that I realized it had all been one big fucking lie.
Cora
I’d lied. Staying at Lisa’s house was a little weird.
After we got back from the beach, everyone scattered to the various bathrooms across the house—all five of them.
My hair was still wet as I padded through the maze of wood floors in search of my man. “Penn?” I called.
“Right here, baby.”
I followed his voice to the end of a different hallway and found him staring at a closed door to what had to have been the master bedroom. He’d avoided it like the plague on the grand tour earlier. And while the bedroom Penn had dropped our bags in was large with a private bath, there was no way that it was the master in a place that luxurious.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I wasn’t too proud to admit that a pang of jealousy hit me when I imagined what he was thinking about.
All the nights he’d made love to her in that room.
All the nights she’d fallen asleep at his side.
All the mornings he’d kissed her goodbye before going out for his run.
He’d loved her. And that was okay. But that didn’t mean I enjoyed thinking about them together, which was proving to be a teensy bit difficult because there was way more than just a wedding picture on the mantel. Before we’d gone down to the beach, Penn had removed the majority of them. And he’d done it smiling and not in agonizing pain, the way I’d expected after his mini panic attack in the truck.
But she was still there in that house with us.
And I hated the idea that maybe he was lost in his memories with her.
His blue eyes came to mine, the weight of his gaze stealing my breath. “Debating if I can ever go in there again.”
I swallowed hard. “It’s just walls and memories. She’s not behind that door.”
“No. But I am. That night, when I watched her die, I was in that room. And for twenty-
nine minutes, Thomas Lyons and those men killed me too. In some ways, it feels like a blurry, distant memory. In others, it’s so sharp and fresh I can see it on the back of my lids.”
God, I was an ass. While I was busy getting jealous of a woman who was no longer alive, Penn was lost in the bad times, not the good.
“Oh, Penn,” I breathed, hurrying over to wrap him in a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
He put his lips to the top of my head and inhaled deeply. “I think she would have liked this.”
I put my chin to his chest and looked up at him. “Liked what?”
“Me and you.”
I smiled. “You were her husband. I can speak with absolute certainty when I say she would have hated your new girlfriend.”
He grinned, taking aim at my mouth for a quick peck. “I’m not one of those people who believe that everything happens for a reason. I’ll never be able to say that there was a reason why she should have died.” He kissed me again, letting it linger as he drew in a reverent breath. “But maybe you’re why I had to watch.”
Chills exploded across my skin, and my nose started stinging. “No, baby. No. That was—”
“The only reason I got you,” he finished. “Experiencing that anger, and pain, and helplessness, it lit the fire, Cora. And it burned hotter every day until I met you. Losing her would have brought me to my knees no matter what. But watching it happen made sure I could never get back up. It set everything in motion. It birthed the rage that demanded vengeance. And then that same vengeance guided me straight to your door.”
My heart hurt. I did not want to be the silver lining to his nightmare. He’d always see that in me, and I wanted to be something different for Penn. Something good.
“I don’t know about that, Penn. Drew didn’t watch and he seems to have that same rage brewing inside him.”
His brow furrowed as confusion hit his face. “Drew?” He paused. “Did I ever tell you where he was the night Lisa died?”
I shook my head, an odd sense of unease taking up root in my stomach.
He briefly closed his eyes. “A half a mile away from her.”
I jolted like his arms had become electrified. “What? I thought—”
“Drew and I got the worst of both worlds. I had to watch from over a thousand miles away, while he was sitting at the bar just down the street, waiting for her to show up, clueless that she was dying only blocks away.”
The breath tore from my throat like he’d punched me. “How?”
“He hated when she went out on those assignments like that. Drew’s way of handling that fear was by pretending it wasn’t happening, so he dodged her calls for over a month. They were always super close and it was bothering her that he wouldn’t answer. So, one night, he and I went out for a drink and I gave him so much shit that he finally relented. He called her, and she told him all about the Guerreros, and Thomas, and you. Which, for Drew, knowing everything only made it worse. So, a couple days later, he got on a plane, flew up there, bound and determined to drag her home. And if anyone could do it, it was her brother.”
He smiled, tight and sad. “I was so fucking thrilled I bought the plane ticket myself. She was pissed when she found out he was there, refused to tell him where she was staying—probably because it was your building on that particular night—but she told him to meet her at the bar the following night. She never showed up though.”
My vision swam as memories of him running to me at the group home after he’d heard Thomas mention his sister. I’d thought he was pissed, but only then did I understand the fear that had ghosted across his face. My stomach twisted in knots. “Oh my God. Poor Drew. He was so close.”
Penn nodded painfully. “Yeah. He was the only reason the cops found her at all. He’d mentioned the name of the bar to me in passing, and when I finally remembered it, I told the nine-one-one operator and they sent cars to both of the nearby hotels. So when I tell you that Drew has that same rage inside him. I mean, he has the same. Fucking. Rage.”
“Oh, God. You should have told me that before I started poking his eye. He couldn’t save his sister and I’ve been giving him a scar of my fingerprint.”
Penn grinned. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll eventually give you a reason to feel good about it again.”
Gliding my fingers up the nape of his neck, I pushed up onto my toes and brushed my lips over his, offering the only comfort I could. “I’m so sorry you guys had to deal with all that.”
“Me too. But standing here with you right now makes that room a whole hell of a lot less scary.”
My stomach fluttered. Okay, so maybe being the silver lining to Penn’s nightmare wasn’t so bad after all. At least he had one now.
Shifting his weight back and forth, he rocked me in his arms. “Would it be weird if I asked you to go in there with me?”
My lips hitched. “Yes. Totally weird. But if you’re asking if I will, then yes. Absolutely.”
He kissed me, this time opening his mouth, his tongue sweeping mine. It was sensual, but it wasn’t sexual. It was sweet and filled with gratitude. It was Penn’s way of saying thank you without the use of words.
And even though I didn’t need thanks for loving him, I took whatever he was willing to give, losing myself in the beauty of something so simple.
But when the sound of a woman’s scream echoed through the hall, I realized that nothing in our life would ever be simple.
Cora
My body came alive in the next second, adrenaline surging through my veins like a tsunami.
“Stay here,” Penn growled, sprinting away and leaving me alone in the hallway, Catalina’s voice still echoing in my ears.
It was the kind of scream that made people act first and think second because there was no mistaking it for anything except terror. And, because of that, I did not heed Penn’s instructions, but rather took off after him.
As I ran, I scanned my head for memories of where the girls were. Last I’d seen of them, they were heading out to the theater room above the garage. I had no idea what was happening, but I felt a morsel of relief knowing they weren’t in the main house.
When I rounded the corner into the living room, I nearly plowed into Penn. He was frozen at the mouth of the hall, his chest heaving, but it had nothing to do with the short run.
It had been years since I’d seen his face, but it still sent a chill down my spine.
Marcos’s dark hair.
Dante’s malevolent stare.
Nic’s strong jaw.
Manuel Guerrero. The patriarch of the Guerrero clan. The man who had taken my child, manipulated me, and imprisoned me in his world for over a decade. And he was currently standing in Penn’s living room, his arm around his daughter’s throat, with the tip of a gun digging into her temple.
“You son of a bitch,” Penn growled, lunging forward.
He scrambled back with clumsy movements, the gun shaking in his hand as he dragged Catalina with him. “Back the fuck up. I will put a fucking bullet in her head right this fucking second.”
“You better know how to run. Anything happens to her and you are three seconds behind her on the way to the other side.”
Manuel laughed, gruff and throaty, and it tangibly slithered over my skin. “I’m a dead man already, you fucking fool!”
I held my breath as his finger teetered entirely too close to the trigger.
Grabbing Penn’s arm, I tried to pull him back while pleading, “Please, stop. You’re making it worse.”
He shook me off, snarling without ever tearing his gaze off Manuel. “Get the fuck out of here, Cor.”
With my heart in my throat, I looked at Catalina.
Her eyes were wide, aimed right back at me. “Go,” she mouthed.
I shook my head, panic building in my chest. There had to be a way out.
There had to be a solution where this finally ended once and for all.
I was so damn done with the constant pendulum of emotions.
On
e minute, I was kissing in the clouds with Penn.
The next, the king of demons had arrived.
Something had to give.
I just had no clue what that was going to be, and I was hoping that it wasn’t Catalina’s life.
I folded my hands together in prayer. “Manny, please. Don’t do this. She’s the only family you have left.”
His face got hard, and his thick, furry eyebrows pinched together. “And whose fucking fault is that? It wasn’t enough you took Nic from me. You had to come after Marcos and Dante too?”
I stiffened, praying to any and every god that would listen that he didn’t know that Penn was responsible for that. There was no arguing with him about Nic. I’d been guilty in his eyes since day one. But if I could keep him talking, his anger focused on me, maybe Catalina could make a move. He was older and overweight. If it weren’t for the gun at her head, she could have easily gotten away from him. And then Penn, who was fuming at my side, could have subdued him—and more than likely killed him.
But we needed that window, a moment of distraction.
Keeping my voice even and calm so as not to match his intensity, I half lied, “I had nothing to do with the fire. Neither did Cat. So just let her go.”
“You’ve been a curse on everyone you have touched your entire life. My sons, his brother, and now, you’ve sunk your teeth into his brother-in-law. No wonder Drew was so fast to tell me where you were.”
The air in the room stilled.
The proverbial record stopping.
What. The. Fuck.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Penn jerk.
But I stared at Manuel, trying to make heads or tails.
Drew?
Drew had told him where we were?
Where the hell was Drew?
Manuel continued his rant. “You’re a fucking black widow. Medusa in disguise.” Suddenly, his gun swung my way. “I should have fucking gutted you the day you killed Nic.”
My pulse soared as chaos broke out. Penn jumped in front of me, tucking me into his back, yelling at Manuel.
The Complete Truth Duet Page 42
