Flawed (Triple Canopy Book 2)

by Riley Edwards

  “What about him? He said he had time after class to bring you back.”

  “You called him,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, baby, just told you I did.”

  “Why’d you call him?” I snapped and Trey slowly sat up straight.

  Then suddenly everything about him gentled.

  What in the world?

  “We’ve made some headway, but not enough. Your dad talked to a few of his old contacts as well as Belview’s commanding officer. He’s still in town, but we haven’t been able to track him down. There wasn’t much for Dylan to find—his service record is mostly bogus, so we know he was telling the truth about being Special Forces. Only problem with that is even being SF there should’ve been more in those files. That’s concerning. But more, Dylan found an assault charge filed against Belview that’d been buried. So we’re moving forward cautiously.”

  I knew nothing about service records or files. I knew what they were of course, but even working at the VA I still didn’t know what should or shouldn’t be in them. But Trey would and my dad absolutely would. So I wasn’t concerning myself with that; what I was honing in on was the assault charge.

  “Assault?”

  “Wasn’t pretty. He nearly beat a man to death outside a bar in Tucson.”

  I was stunned into silence. Not because Jake beat a man outside a bar, which freaked me the freak out. But I was shocked at Trey’s forthcomingness. Sure, he’d told me as gently as he could and he did it softly to cushion my response, but he’d still told me.

  “Was he arrested?”

  “No. Whole thing swept under the rug. No police report.”

  How in the world was that possible?

  “Then how’d Dylan find it?”

  “He found a notation in Belview’s file. Just enough to ping Dylan’s interest. He dug around and found the police report—unsolved. Belview’s name not listed. But the dates match; Belview and his team were in Tucson on a training exercise. Description matches Belview. Witnesses’ statements all the same. The victim stumbled, knocked into Belview, tried to apologize. Even offered to buy Belview a beer. Belview got in the victim’s face, an argument ensued, and Belview dragged the victim outside.

  “Question is, if someone in Belview’s chain of command knew there’d been an assault, why wasn’t disciplinary action taken, and why wasn’t he turned over to local authorities? Hospital records show the victim wasn’t just fucked up, he was fucked up. Left on the street barely breathing, laid up in a coma for weeks. Someone covered that shit up. Don’t give a fuck why. But knowing what we know—what we know he’s capable of, the training he has, and the fact he’s got zero self-control—we’re going forward cautiously and not taking any chances.”

  More honesty I couldn’t believe he gave me.

  There was a long stretch of silence, so long Trey called my name. I didn’t answer; I was too busy sifting through my feelings. I didn’t know what to make of this, any of it. I was creeped out that my ex-boyfriend, a guy I’d convinced myself I’d loved, the guy I’d given my virginity to, had it in him to beat a man almost to death outside of a bar in Tucson.

  Tucson, Arizona. I didn’t understand why that mattered to me, but it did. Jake hadn’t been overseas when this occurred, he hadn’t been fighting for his country, protecting his unit, protecting innocent civilian lives in whatever foreign country he’d been sent to. Jake had been on U.S. soil, in a bar, in Tucson, Arizona, and he’d lost control; using his fists, he’d almost killed someone.

  “Baby?” Trey called again and I lifted my gaze from the counter to his concerned stare.

  Something struck me—he hadn’t moved. He’d stayed in his seat. And I searched back over the last week to one other time I’d gotten irritated with him and he’d stayed feet away from me then, too. As a matter of fact, he’d backed up, putting more distance between us. And he’d gentled his voice then, too. And he’d softened his features.

  “What’s going on?”

  “What’s going on is, a few days ago you told me you were antsy not being able to go out and do things. You didn’t mention it specifically, but I know you like your kickboxing class. It’s today, I made a call last night so you wouldn’t miss it. Bass was happy to help so it worked out.”

  That was sweet, made sweeter by him calling Bass, who I didn’t think was his favorite person. After what happened at the gym, I figured Trey had a few things to say to Bass that would probably freak me out and tick me off so I wasn’t going to think about it. But that was not what I was asking about.

  “Why are you sitting over there?”

  “Not tracking, Addy.”

  His response made me second-guess my sanity. Perhaps I was imagining him acting strange when I showed the barest hint of annoyance. But I wasn’t, this was not Trey. I’d known him for months, and in those months we’d argued, a lot. And he’d always gone head-to-head with me, he’d never gentled his tone, he’d shown me his frustration. It was one of the things I loved about him. His honesty, he didn’t hide from me. But now he was.

  “Why are you treating me like I’m fragile?”

  “Babe, I just told you your ex beat a man half to death.” Gently. Softly. Carefully.

  “What’s with your face?”

  “Come again?” He jerked back.

  “Your face.” I leaned in. “Why is it so gentle? Why are you talking softly?”

  “Adalynn—”

  “Why are you hiding from me?” I asked the real question.

  His eyes narrowed and all the softness fled. “Let me get this straight, you’re pissed at me because I’m breaking some shit news to you as gently as I can?”

  “Yes.”

  Okay. That made me sound crazy.

  “I got nowhere to go with that.”

  “A few days ago, we were in your bathroom having words about me going back to the VA. You took a step away from me. Actually, as I think on it, you moved so you weren’t blocking the door. Tell me what that was about?”

  He changed again. Right before my very own eyes, I watched the transformation. Soft to hard. Hard to soft. Then soft to guarded.

  What was that?

  “A man has a woman cornered in a room while they’re exchanging—”

  “Bullshit!” I shouted. “Maybe some men do that, but you don’t.”

  “Not sure you can make that call, Addy, seeing as that was the first time we’d had a discussion in the bathroom, where I didn’t like the direction it was turning, so I knew it was going to get heated.”

  “That’s crap and you know it. We’ve argued plenty. You’ve never stepped away from me.”

  “Never been in a tight space with you when it happened. And just to point out, Addy, you’ve made it clear you don’t…”

  I didn’t hear the rest. Humiliation ricocheted through my insides. Bitterness and shame and guilt. Old guilt and new guilt. I’d made Trey wary. And in my musing, thinking about everything Trey had told me about his upbringing, how his mother was, I’d judged her harshly. I compared her to my mother when I should’ve seen myself in Paige Durum. To a lesser degree, I’d been her. I’d cowered. I’d ignored things I shouldn’t have. I’d blamed myself. And I’d taken it.

  “Adalynn.”

  A whisper. Back to gentle.

  That was why I’d kept my secret.

  If they knew, they’d treat me worse than Trey was now. They already treated me like I was a baby. Naïve and stupid. If any of them knew, it would be horrible. I couldn’t live with the way they’d look at me.

  “Please don’t do this to me.”

  “You’re going to have to explain how I’m treating you. I’m totally lost, baby.”

  “You know.”

  “I don’t.”

  I took in his confused stare, his beautiful soft eyes, and hated seeing both. Hated that I exposed too much. He’d seen it. And now everything was ruined.

  “If you don’t, then you’re just as bad as the rest of them.”

  With that,
I left the kitchen, abandoning my breakfast.

  Trey didn’t follow.

  He didn’t get in my face and argue.

  He didn’t demand me to explain myself.

  He just let me go.

  “You’re in a mood,” Bass said after class.

  “I’ve been cooped up,” I huffed, and my fist connected with the heavy bag. “Pent-up energy.”

  “Honey, I’ve met your man.” He laughed.

  “So?” I snapped and threw another jab.

  “Right. Not just a mood. A bad mood. We’ll talk after class. And dip your shoulder. You’re too stiff.”

  “Whatever,” I grumbled.

  I was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. After our argument in the kitchen, Trey left me alone to get ready in his room. And only went up to do the same when I came down.

  He didn’t broach the subject, nor had I.

  And he was silent on the drive to the gym. Only speaking after he’d walked me in and that was to demand I didn’t leave the premises without Bass or calling him for a ride. I agreed because I wasn’t stupid, contrary to my family’s—and now his—beliefs. I still thought everyone was making a big deal out of nothing, but I didn’t want to run into Jake knowing what I knew now. I never wanted to see him again and he had made it clear he wasn’t done.

  I agreed. Trey left. And that was it.

  No kiss. No goodbye. No have a good day.

  Nada. Zilch. Zero.

  Whatever.

  So now I was working my frustrations out on a heavy bag, the same way I did anytime someone in my family irked me.

  It was better than the alternative, which would be an altercation that I would undoubtedly lose because I always lost.

  24

  “Here’s your schedule.” I glanced up from the photographs I was studying and quickly closed the file.

  The look on Quinn’s face said it all—she’d seen them.

  Damn.

  “Thanks.” I held out my hand but she dropped the papers on my desk and shook her head.

  I lowered my hand and shifted the paper so I could read the printout. Seeing no surprises, I looked back up at Quinn.

  “Looks good. Anything special I need to know about?”

  “Nope.”

  Normally, this was where she’d smile, wave, and flounce out of my office. But she wasn’t moving, which meant she had something on her mind. Before I was dating her sister, I would’ve sat back and waited for it. Quinn was a riot, you never knew what crazy shit was going to come out of her mouth.

  Like all the Walker women, Quinn was stunning—shiny black hair and green eyes, Delaney being the exception and inheriting her mother’s blue eyes. All four women could be in a crowd of thousands and you’d still be able to put them together as sisters. But their looks were where the similarities ended. All of them had quick smiles, each was funny in her own way. Smart, thoughtful. But their personalities were very different.

  Adalynn and Quinn were probably the most different. Quinn was high-maintenance and high-drama. Not my scene. I avoided both of those the same way I avoided blondes, which in and of itself was why I avoided blondes. Brice on the other hand, didn’t mind Quinn’s drama. He got off on it, which was good since their wedding day was fast approaching.

  Knowing all I knew about Quinn, the way she was looking at me, I braced. And it was a damn good thing I did.

  “Something happened to my sister.”

  Fuck.

  No lead-in.

  No finesse.

  My jaw clenched and I said nothing.

  “She’s never said, but I saw the change. It was so slow that at first, I thought I was imagining it. I saw a bruise.” Those last four words were spoken so quietly I barely heard. But I damn well fucking heard.

  “What’d she say about it?”

  “I’ve thought about it. That was the first time my sister ever lied to me, but it wasn’t the last.”

  Shit.

  “She told me she tripped and Keith caught her right before she took a header and jerked her up. It was a good lie, a plausible lie, since the bruise was very clearly a handprint on her bicep. You know what’s most surprising?”

  “What?” I asked, even though I didn’t want to know the answer.

  “How smooth she lied. And the second time, too. That lie was worse. We were shopping and I squeezed into the dressing room to give her a shirt to try on and she had bruises on her back. I freaked the fuck out, and to my face, blushing, she lied and told me she’d had sex on the floor at Keith’s and he had wood floors and she was on her back.”

  Jesus, fuck.

  “After that, Addy’s pulling away from us wasn’t slow, it was immediate. She even pulled away from Hadley. When anyone asked, she blamed school, said her course load was heavy and she was studying. There was so much going on—Delaney was not herself, Mom and Dad trying to drag it out of her, then Carter came back. Before that, when it started, Tuesday had a stalker and she and Jackson were battling it out.

  “But then suddenly, Addy was back. Not the old, shy-but-still-bubbly-and-fun Addy. This new shy-but-watchful, secretive Addy. But she was around all the time like she used to be and things seemed to settle. I know Dad tried to talk to her. Mom did. I did. And she’d lie and tell us that she was fine. Nothing was wrong, nothing was ever wrong, and we were all making a big deal out of nothing.”

  Big deal out of nothing.

  Fucking hell, I’d heard that before.

  Quinn wasn’t done. “The gym. I know you saw it.”

  “Yeah, Quinn, I saw it. Not the first time something like that happened.”

  “What happened?” Quinn’s green eyes flashed, and fuck me, they were almost as pretty as her sister’s. High-maintenance wasn’t my thing but I could see how it would be Brice’s.

  “I’m walking a tightrope here. I won’t break Addy’s trust.”

  Quinn’s hands went to her hips. She leaned in and spat out, “Fuck that, Trey. She needs to be sorted.”

  “She will be.”

  “Trey—”

  “I get it, you love your sister. What I’m asking from you is that you get me. We’re feeling each other out, learning each other. Luckily for me, we’re doing that while she’s living with me so it’s going faster than it normally would. But bottom line is, I need to go gentle with this. She needs to trust me before she gives it.”

  “She won’t give it. And you going gentle with Addy is the wrong thing to do.”

  Just like last night, my muscles clenched and I felt like I was walking through a minefield.

  “Mom tried gentle, Dad tried it, I did, Jason did, and gentle doesn’t work with Addy. Besides, she’s been treated gently her whole life, being the youngest. God love my brother, but someone needs to find the Protect my Sisters gene and cut his in half. He loves us all, but Addy’s his favorite. I was young but I still remember if Mom was feeding or changing Hadley, Jason had Addy. I don’t know how to explain it beyond when the twins were born, Jason being the eldest kicked in a lot, and he formed a bond with Adalynn that cannot be denied, and because of that, he is crazy-protective over her. And the unfortunate side effect is, he babys her. She loved it when she was little. Didn’t like it when she was a teenager, but hates it as an adult.”

  Well, that explained some of why Jason was being over the top.

  Please don’t do this to me.

  That morning’s argument rushed back and I understood. I hadn’t meant to, but I had done exactly what she’d accused. I was being gentle, not wanting to set her off or make her feel trapped. I was big, and while I wouldn’t call Addy tiny, she was damn smaller than me.

  “Fuck.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Gentle’s not gonna work.”

  “No,” she softly agreed.

  “Fuck.”

  I’d been so caught up thinking about what Jasper had said about wanting his girl to have easy, I was hellbent to give it to her, and inadvertently, I’d done the very thing she told me sh
e hated and treated her like she needed to be coddled and shielded. When she absolutely didn’t.

  I’d forgotten how strong she was.

  “Fuck.”

  “Thank you.” Quinn smiled.

  It wasn’t her pretty eyes, it wasn’t her shiny black hair, or her drama that had hooked Brice deep. It was that smile.

  Goddamn, Walker women.

  Lethal.

  Every last one of them.

  Twenty minutes later, I went in search of Jason. Bass had texted that he was taking Addy to lunch then he’d bring her back.

  Had yesterday’s conversation with Bass gone any other way, the thought of him having lunch with my woman would’ve sent me zero to sixty. I was not a man prone to jealousy, then again I’d never had a woman who I cared enough about to contemplate the emotion. Since my feelings for Addy ran deeper than care, and straight to where she’d be the mother of my children, I figured I could cut myself some slack on my need to be possessive.

  But Bass got who Addy was to me, admitted he knew he was never going to break through, and didn’t want to lose the friendship. He was also fully on board with having Addy’s back should the need arise. So I knew she was in good hands and wouldn’t be back for at least an hour.

  Hopefully what I had to say to Jason wouldn’t take an hour.

  I found him in his office. Blueprints to the new building opened, taking up the surface of his desk. His head came up when I entered but other than that, he gave me nothing.

  “I know you’re busy. But I’d appreciate it if you’d give me some time.”

  Jason folded the blueprints and dipped his chin toward the chair in front of his desk. Not the most welcoming invitation, but I’d take it.

  “How’s Mercy?” I started.

  “Feeling better.”

  “Good. Addy said she called to check on her and Mercy reported feeling fat, human, and hungry. Never been around a pregnant woman so I didn’t know, but Addy says that means she’s feeling good. Glad that’s the case.”

  Jason’s lips twitched and he said, “Yeah, few days ago, it’s like a switch flipped and she stopped throwing up. Thought that shit was supposed to end sooner. I’m just happy we’ve moved on to the hungry part. That I can handle. Waking up in the middle of the night to make her a cheeseburger is a helluva lot better than waking up to carry her to the bathroom.”