by Jamie Magee
“What the hell are they doing?” he asked her with a tick of his head to the edge of her property.
At first, Justice only glanced that way. Atticus or Boon usually came by at least once a week to help with the upkeep around the house, but it wasn’t them.
No, it was Declan and a man she didn’t know, but she didn’t care. She took off at a sprint. Seconds later, Declan turned to see her running toward him and held his arms out and she flew into them, kissing his lips as he spun her and laughed.
She hated it and loved it when he did this, not hearing from him and them boom, he was there bigger than life.
At this point, after a heart to heart with her friend Dawson, Justice was sure it was a test. He was preparing himself for a break between them or for it not to feel the same once they were together again. She proved him wrong every time by landing in his arms like this.
The man next him chuckled and once Declan had his fill of her lips, he sat Justice down and ticked his toward his friend. “This is Providence. Did Dawson tell you about him?”
Justice arched a brow. Dawson had, but it was hard to gauge her take on him. Dawson was confident in Providence’s skills but made it a point to tell Justice and every Rawlings who asked that she was keeping her distance. All Justice knew was he was an ex-Marine, and currently a bounty hunter. Dawson also gave the impression he was still contracted in some way by branches of the government.
Her stare moved to Providence to nod hello. Justice wasn’t so certain how he could hunt anything. She was positive someone could see him coming from a mile away. He stood well over six foot, was thick with muscle, more so in the shoulders. It was the hair that drew her to stare, though. She’d never seen a color like it—a blazing copper. The sun bathed in it and drew out highlights of gold. His cheekbones were sharp just like all of his features.
His appearance was as commanding as the dominance in the vibe she felt around him. Like Dawson, he was older than her, even Declan. If she had to guess she’d say he was around Tobias’s age if not a bit more so.
“He’s taking over Nolan’s case.”
“Oh yeah?” Justice asked, trying to catch her breath and settle her pounding heart. You’d never know five minutes before she was in a rut, pulling pennies together. She’d been sucked out of one life and into another within a beat.
“Yeah, he’s one hell of a bounty hunter, and trying to recruit me for when I get out,” Declan said with a playful punch to the guy’s arm.
Justice looked up at him with wide eyes. Getting ‘out’ was never a discussion either of them had. As far as she knew, this was his forever. A forever he hadn’t asked her to come along on and she hadn’t dropped hints that she wanted to.
She knew he counted on her to keep the search up for Nolan at home, and beyond that—Justice had already told him long ago this was her home.
“Sounds...exciting,” was all she managed to say in response.
“He’s already got Tobias interested. When he heard about this case he said he’d do us a solid if we thought it through about joining up down the road.”
Justice shook her head looking for clarity. “Bounty hunter? I’m not seeing the connection.”
Dawson had just told her Providence had connections, and he might be able to cut through some red tape that kept answers the Rawlings’ wanted away. She didn’t realize he would hunt Nolan.
Providence reached to shake her hand. “A new angle. I’m good at finding people who do not want to be found.”
Justice’s smile fell a bit. From the gate, and every time someone tried to tell Declan the worst had happened, and they needed peace, a goodbye, they needed to be allowed to grieve, he’d blow up and say if anyone could vanish, completely unplug and survive it was Nolan.
Declan refused to grieve which was alienating him from his family. “I still feel him, Justice...” is what he’d say every time she was the only one left standing next to him, once all the blame had been laid again, and the Rawlings’ men ripped their wounds open once more.
“Looks like this ass has grown a pair,” Declan said under his breath, pulling Justice against him.
Justice glanced over her shoulder seeing Murdock making his way to them, and she shared Declan’s mindset. Normally, Murdock would be long gone by now, keeping his distance between himself and this side of her life he chose to pretend didn’t exist.
Providence gave him a once over as he approached then a nod, but kept to what he was saying. “Right, I looked over the investigation so far. It was a cold trail to start with, and it seems cooperation was hard to come by. I’m going to start here, though.”
“Here?” Justice asked, glancing at Murdock who kept a few feet back with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Yeah, I read that Nolan asked you to mail his letters?”
“Right, I gave the investigators my phone.”
Providence glanced to Murdock. “Yeah, I’m still trying to get my hands on it.”
“When was he going to bring them to you?”
“I was supposed to get them the last morning he was seen, but it didn’t happen. He texted me and I told him where to leave them.”
Providence looked right at Declan. “He took you to the base, and you didn’t come by here?”
Declan shook his head.
“And he met a friend for lunch three or so hours after he dropped you off?”
Declan nodded.
“So we’re thinking he either drove back this way, dropped off the package that was somehow lost in the mayhem that happened here that night, or just decided not to mail them?”
“One of the two,” Justice said. “He knew it would be better to come by when no one was here.”
“Did you tell him to do so?”
“I didn’t need to,” she said in a quieter tone, remembering who she was when Nolan was her friend, the fear Nolan always eased when he was around.
Providence looked back at the pile. “We’re going to have a crew out here in a few days, big equipment, and go through this pile, clear it away.”
“Why?” Murdock spouted.
Declan’s arms around Justice tensed. Providence had been blunt with Declan, and told him if the worst happened—and it more than likely had—then it could have happened closer to home than he assumed. He said the lack of remains made it personal, a secret.
Declan had only been home for an hour at best, but Providence and Tobias had been digging up files in Bradyville for days. This fire kept bothering Providence. And it did so because when the family was asked to write down adversaries of Nolan, Brent Rose was one of them, and he was so because everyone knew Brent was protective of Murdock.
And the man died the same day Nolan was last seen. The fire department said they found no remains beyond Brent’s but admitted they were not looking for any others. The smoldering metal didn’t lose its heat for weeks, and by then the tragic event had been effectively investigated.
Declan would never tell Justice’s secret, that she didn’t come across the fire, that Murdock started it. But still, Providence was a smart man who had seen a lot of things in his life. He understood that the loss of Brent Rose was more of a gift.
The way he laid it out was like this. “Say your brother and him have a fight, he knocks him out, or worse, then goes to leave—faces off with your girl, but he ‘fell’ and then there was a fire. Everyone knew Brent was there, but your brother? Why would they look for him?”
Providence grinned calmly and made sure his knowing jade gaze moved over Murdock in a suspicious way. Declan had told Providence that Murdock had always made his instincts go wild, even as boys, and Providence, a man who relied on the same unexplainable senses, could easily agree.
There were too many demons in Murdock’s eyes for him not to be suspicious.
“To look for the package of course. It’s one of the only places we haven’t looked.” By package he meant Nolan, but Murdock’s civilian ears heard letters and he also saw his alibi going up in smoke.
If they placed Nolan and him across the same time and he was the only one still standing—not good. In his mind, he was running through all the ways this could go, what they could do without a body, without a truck. Not much, but this still fucking sucked.
People were talking about Nolan now because of the Rally but in a bit he’d be a memory all over again. If they found anything...this would be new again.
“Letters? In a fire. You think you’re going to find something?”
“I always do,” Providence said with a slow grin that revealed pearly white teeth, and one dimple high on his right cheek. A smile that was drenched in a threat. “You’re Murdock, right? I was looking for you.”
“For what?” Murdock spat.
“I understand you had an altercation with Nolan before he vanished.”
Murdock shook his head, and licked his bottom lip then hitched his thumb toward Declan. “That’s the asshole I dealt with.”
Declan charged Murdock. In a flash Providence was between them, walking Declan back, saying something to him in that short and sharp way Chasen talked to all his boys when he needed them to cool it.
“What do you mean you fought with him?” Justice asked.
Murdock flipped off Declan, taunting the beast. He needed him to hit him. He needed a reason to stain this family before they sucked the sympathy out of this town.
Murdock dropped his gaze to Justice. “Yeah, I was pissed he was fucking my girlfriend. Still am.” And with that he turned and walked away.
“Something is here, we’ll find it...” Providence said when he let Declan go.
Declan came right to Justice, pulled her to him, but there was no caress in his touch, just a claim. One that made Justice question what went down between him and Murdock. And why she didn’t know about it.
***
The August Providence came into their lives was a golden few days. It was full of hope, even if it was a dark hope. Beyond the almost fight Declan and Murdock had, there was no other tension, at least not until just before Declan left.
He was being deployed in a few weeks’ time. For six months, he’d be across the globe. She was afraid for him and he was worried about all he started at home.
When Declan kissed her goodbye at dawn and ran his hand down the warm flesh of her body that was draped in only a sheet, he didn’t say he loved her, he didn’t even really meet her eyes, and his smile was short, and forced.
Days later, he texted: I love you.
Her response was instant with the same. Another day went by without a word from him then he said it once more, in the same text that said he was leaving, he wouldn’t be able to talk for awhile.
Getting through the next two semesters of school was not easy on her, it was hard to focus, to care. Dawson kept her straight for the most part. They only had one class together, but since she was two years ahead of Justice, she knew most of the professors and advisors well enough to get any heat off of Justice.
What made it all worse was she had no good news to give Declan about Nolan when she did get a chance to speak to him. Her property had been cleared, and there was nothing. Not a trace of a letter, and thank God there were no remains either.
Deep into the next year, when his six-month mission ended up stretching to ten, almost eleven, she was there when he came home. She’d flown to see him come in, her first plane ride ever. Boon went with her. The pair of them were there to represent the entire family until they all had a chance to see Declan in a few months.
She was supposed to stay a week with him, but at the end of the week and the weeks that followed, he asked her to stay longer—sometimes at the terminal gate—and she said yes. For nearly two months she was in heaven with him, it felt like their forever.
She wasn’t working over forty hours—praying for overtime—and taking all her classes that she had moved online. The break in pace had given her the courage to keep going and not quit. And now that she had a breath to think, she was debating changing her major from education to social work. Her past made her want to, and it made her not want to.
Her bliss bubble, pretending all was right with the world was going to have to end now. She had to go back for exams, there was no getting around it. Dread had never felt heavier.
She understood how being away like Declan was made this deal with Nolan easier, but tested him just the same. Every day he spoke to Providence, and before and after the call Declan was a different person.
She somewhat understood why he was different with her, too, on the phone before he came home, but then again, she was bothered by it. Bothered by how once the call was over the life he had there picked up, overtook him, pulled him in deep.
For the most part it was work, but there were other times when they were hanging out with his friends, soaking in the sun. Living. There were times when Bradyville, their family, was nothing more than a haunting past, a weight they’d have to face soon, but not then.
It made her realize if he wanted to he could forget her there, but she could never forget him at home.
“How long will the exams take?” he asked as he watched her pack, knowing this time he had to let her go. If he didn’t all the cash and work she put into this semester would go up in flames—the girl didn’t know how to waste a dime.
He wasn’t worried about her job, at least the one at his family’s garage; it would always be there. They ‘accidently’ forgot not to pay her for one cycle, and the next Declan moved money into her account from his. He knew both her and Bell counted on the income.
She smiled shyly, even blushed under his commanding stare. “A week.”
“Will you come back then?”
She looked up at him, the blush he adored, the fire under her skin flamed just the way he liked it.
“You’re serious?”
She wasn’t sure what he was asking.
“Stay until I go?” he asked in a husky voice.
He already had dates. He knew past this next mission there was a long deployment. It was something he didn’t want to think about when she was close. At the same time, she was the only reason he was dealing with his last one as well as he was.
Each night, one of them would wake with a nightmare, and the other would scare the demons away. Sometimes they’d talk it out, try to get past what their minds were set on reliving; others, they’d pull each other closer, and get lost in heated fits of passion.
“Yeah,” she said in a ghost of a whisper.
He didn’t get why her shoulders deflated why she seemed sad, but assumed the worst. “I know it’s hard.”
That was his line; she had heard it a million times if she had heard it once. Lately, though, even the small hints about tomorrow, what he was going to do when his contact was up never came.
“You’re worth it,” she said, crawling across the bed into his waiting arms.
He wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to deny it right then. He planned to spend the rest of the night with his lips on her, hearing his name rush across her lips.
All he knew was she could not come back fast enough. His instinct was his high gear. He was sure it was because for the first time, they had lived in a world of their own, and not only liked it, but also rocked at living in perfect sync.
Declan’s gut was telling him to pull her close before he lost her. He was terrified something was going to hurt her. His instinct hadn’t been this bad since he last saw his brother.
Eighteen
No one, not Bell or Declan’s family, thought it was a bad idea she’d been with Declan, or was going back. They thought it was best for him and would help. Because when they saw him again, they planned on making a hard family decision and needed him on board.
They wanted closure. It had been almost three years...
Justice was deep in her thoughts as she walked across the campus to where she’d left her car almost ten hours before. She’d decided driving home was going to be a waste when she had a red-eye flight back to Declan so she was tryi
ng to figure out if she was going to spend the next few hours hanging out in the all night coffee shop, or go to the terminal.
When she saw Murdock’s truck parked next to her car in the back parking lot, she cringed. She’d never told him she was leaving to spend a week—that turned into months—with Declan, because frankly she didn’t think she was obligated to.
And when he started calling her non-stop while she was gone, she decided to block the number. The chance of Declan seeing his number was too great, and the peace they were living in was too precious to bust.
As if he had some kind of radar on her, the second she landed back home he started calling her from their friend’s phones, or random numbers. She had told him she was busy a million times.
She clutched her keys in her hand and picked up her pace, planning to tell him she was late for a flight.
He opened his truck door and slammed it behind him. She could smell whisky and smoke in a thick cloud around him.
Great. He had been a paranoid ass since the fire, and when he was drunk it was worse, way worse.
“Not in the mood,” she said, moving toward her car door.
He gripped her arm and spun her, slamming her against the car. “Not in the mood,” he growled. “Why? Because you’ve been fucking every Rawlings and all his buddies nonstop for months?”
She hit him, which only made him move back slightly. “You’re drunk!”
He grabbed her hair pulling it to the side as he got in her face. “No, I’m pissed.”
“Clearly, you ass,” she said, going to knee him but he caught her leg then slammed it to the side.
“How many interrogation rooms am I going to be pulled into now?”
“What?”
He picked her up and slammed her back against the car. “Every time you spread your legs for that ass I end up being looked at like a guilty son of bitch—when you’re the murdering whore!”
Her eyes went wide. She had no idea what he was talking about. She knew Providence had pushed on him months back, but he had done so with anyone who had ever looked at Nolan the wrong way.
It didn’t matter what she said, Murdock was too drunk to hear her.
