“Shelly, you know that isn’t’ true,” he said, focusing on her latter statement. “DeShaun had been the one to tear your family apart. I was the one that arrested him because he sold me a twelve-year-old girl high on so many drugs she didn’t even know her name. You were wrapped up in something that you had no idea was going on, and I’m sorry for that, but I will never apologize for arresting that piece of trash.”
She seemed to take a few seconds to calm down and Preston wasn’t sure if he should be worried or not.
“Is this the mission you went on? To put your life on the line to play connect the dots?”
“Shelly, it’s not like that,” he tried to explain but knew he was failing miserably because she wasn’t wrong. He did put his life on the line to find the bad guy. The scars and wounds on his body proved that time and time again.
“I can’t do this with you, Preston. When does it stop? When do you decide that the bullets are too much or when the bullets aren’t enough? And the lies. Since day one of meeting you, it’s been a lie. And you know what’s worse. I’ve been lying to myself all along. I told myself that my instinct was wrong, that I could trust you, that I could feel things for you. What an idiot I am,” Shelly said as she slapped the paper back on the desk and stormed toward the door.
“Shelly, wait!” he called out, and thankfully she halted at the door but didn’t turn around to glance at him. “I’m sorry for everything, but you have to know that I love you. That I’m in love with you.”
The air crackled around them and Preston prayed that she’d hear the honesty in his voice, the need in his plea, but they went unanswered as she took a step forward and out of his life for good.
Somehow he had fucked it all up good when he knew he should have taken Dylan’s advice and told her right away, but being back in Carson with her in his arms was too addictive of a reward. Preston had been afraid of her reaction, and now he had lost her.
“Fuck!” he shouted from where he stood in the middle of his office, his hands delving into his blond strands of hair.
“Sir?” a voice sounded from around the corner and now he had the embarrassment of his employee witnessing his demise. “Can I get you something?”
“Just go. Leave early. I want to be alone,” he told her as he slammed his door closed, shutting himself off from the world.
***
Shelly was a mess as she stomped out of the police building. She had been planning on surprising Preston at the office since he was working late nights that week and she wouldn’t see him much. He was so lost in work that he didn’t even hear her call out his name as she stepped inside. Something had drawn her eye to the papers on the desk, her gaze immediately falling on the picture of her ex.
She wasn’t even angry at first, just a bit confused. But even from upside down, she could see Preston’s name and his pseudonym listed as the lead agent. Every emotion within her snapped at that moment. She couldn’t hold back and unleashed years of pent-up rage and fury at the man she had been falling in love with.
That was the worst part of the entire ordeal, he had confessed he loved her and she wanted so desperately to tell him the same, but things had changed. In the course of five minutes, everything she knew of her past had changed.
Preston knew her, he had been the man with the piercing blue eyes that had barged into her apartment. He had been the one that had shocked DeShaun enough for her boyfriend to release his hold of her neck. He had been the one that rushed to her side as she fell to the ground blacking out from lack of oxygen. She had never seen him again after that moment, but she had heard all about Sheriff Savage whenever she visited Carson. He had always been busy or working, and now she wondered if he was keeping his distance on purpose.
Shelly walked past Wake and Bake, swiping the tears that flowed freely down her cheeks. Someone inside the bakery must have noticed her fallout because the suddenly felt arms wrap around her waist.
“Shelly, what’s wrong?” Sydney asked. The petite blonde looking concerned as Shelly worked to catch her breath between sobs.
“It’s Preston, he-,” Shelly began but Sydney quickly interrupted.
“Is he okay? He’s not hurt, is he?”
“No, he. . .uh. . hurt me,” she tried to explain.
“What? Preston wouldn’t hurt a fly. Despite what happened to me and that wasn’t even his fault.”
“What?”
This was the first time Shelly had heard anything about a conflict between Sydney and Preston. She knew that they’d had a relationship in the past, but everything ended mutually to her knowledge.
“I think we need to go inside for this.”
Sydney guided them into the kitchen, where she proceeded to tell her that while she was at college, she had met Preston who was working undercover, which she was unaware of. When he was away for a long weekend, two of the mafia men had followed Preston and used her to send a message. That was when Sydney showed Shelly the long scar on her arm where the men had wanted her to bleed out. Preston had saved her in the end, and she had healed, but it took years for her emotions to get back on track.
“So what did he do to you, except keep his missions a secret? Which they are required to do, Dylan only tells me snippets to keep me from worrying.”
“It’s worse than a secret. He broke my heart.”
Chapter Eleven
Preston wasn’t sure if there was a worse death than watching the person you loved walk away from you. His SAC had called while he was closing up the office and asked if he had any clues after reading through the file, but he explained that the only connection he could find was between the young man Damon Durcett and the warehouse.
“I want you and Dylan to come and track this kid. I think he knows something or can lead us to something.”
“Sir, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. We haven’t had any luck so far. And the town needs me this weekend.”
“I’ll have you home for the weekend. I want to see you and Dylan by 8 a.m. sharp.”
“Yes, sir.”
Preston promptly called Dylan and gave him the instructions from the SAC, to which his friend claimed that this was his last mission. And Preston had to agree. He was tired of the back and forth. Now that he met Shelly, he knew he wanted to start a family or spend the remainder of his life begging for her forgiveness.
Turning off the light to his office, he locked the door and ran smack into Jackie standing from her desk.
“I was wondering when you were going to leave.”
“Jackie? I thought you had left.”
“Well, someone needed to keep an eye on you. My son went back to his frat house today anyway, so I have no one waiting for me at home.”
“Oh, I hadn’t known he was home.”
“He prefers to hang in Asheville. Well, have a good night, Sheriff,” Jackie said with a wave as she hobbled on her crutches toward the exit. He assumed she could still drive since her other foot had been the one sprained.
Before leaving, Preston turned on the dispatch line, then locked the building. It was too late for him to reach out to the veterinarian's office to board Ace, and he knew he couldn’t bring him along. His only option was to beg Shelly to let Abel watch the pup. Even if she didn’t want to hear from him, he was sure she wouldn’t let the dog suffer.
“Thank you, Shelly,” he said as he handed her the last of Ace’s toys. She had agreed on behalf of Abel then rushed to get Preston out the door. It was painful to see her. Shelly’s eyes were rimmed red and the lids puffy as if she had been crying for hours; he felt just as worse for wear. Abel must have sensed a dynamic change because the poor boy simple carried the dog back to his room without a hello or goodbye.
“I’m doing it for the dog. Just text me when you’re on your way back and I will make sure he’s ready.”
“Can I just say that I’m sorry? And I will spend however long trying to make this right with you?”
“I’m not sure a sorry will be enough. Be careful, Pre
ston.”
As she closed the door, he knew that not only was he leaving his puppy in her care, but he was also leaving his heart.
The dank warehouse reminded him of the old mildewed basements in New Orleans. His friend kept mumbling about how he wanted to spend a week at the beach to make up for the crap the FBI was putting them through.
Something didn’t feel right, though. Even with their team of six and the night vision goggles, he felt like he was being watched. They checked all of the alcoves and openings, but they couldn’t find anything. Not even the tiniest slip of paper or residue to trace for DNA.
“Let’s head out. There isn’t anything here,” one of the other men called out and they all agreed.
Down on the first floor, the rest of the crew silently fell back to the vehicle tucked away behind another building. Preston and Dylan agreed to one final sweep of the perimeter. Something to Preston felt off and took one last glance over his shoulder before exiting. That was when he saw them approach. A red light pointed directly at their chests.
He couldn’t make out their faces, but the moment the smallest person spoke, he knew the identity in an instant.
Chills ran down his body as a second laser pointed on Dylan’s chest and then his own. They were outnumbered, and he wondered the whereabouts of the rest of his team.
“They’re all gone,” the female voice said with certainty. “We picked them off like cattle, killing each on.”
“Why, Jackie?”
“Why not? Fortune, fame, a private island in the Pacific. Pick your choice.”
“But what is this about? How is this happening? It doesn’t make sense. You have a family.”
“I’ve been trying to get you and your nosey staff out of the picture for months, but you can’t see to take the hint. The longer hours didn’t bother ypu until that girl moved to town, messing everything up.
“And Family? You mean my son Damon? He was easy enough to disguise with a name change. See, when he fell into drugs in high school, I borrowed some money to get him into rehab. That was when I got the job in the office under the old Sheriff. He didn’t pay enough attention to me or what I was doing, so I found the right people to make contact with. Drugs were the easiest sell, and soon I had enough money for my divorce. Then weapons and human trafficking seemed like the easiest next choice. That little boy you keep around was going to be my next venture, but you kept getting in the way. See, Harposia says you know too much and she wants you gone. It’s my job to do her bidding. Except, of course, she doesn’t know my plan to fly off into the sunset. My plane is taxiing as we speak.”
“But, Jackie, I thought. . .”
“Well, you thought wrong!” she shouted. “Everyone thought wrong!”
The next moment seemed to go in slow motion. Preston watched in the moonlight as Jackie tightened her finger on the trigger. He wasn’t sure who she was aiming toward, but he knocked Dylan to the ground without a second thought and Preston covered him with his body. Even at the weird angle he laid, he focused on his night-vision goggles' green screen figures and fired until they laid at a pool on the floor.
Preston wasn’t sure how many bullets he had taken to the chest, legs, and arms, but he knew he was losing blood fast.
“You okay, man?” he asked his best friend, who rolled out from underneath his heavy body. He wasn’t sure if Dylan responded because the sound of his slowing heartbeat echoed in his ears until he heard the telltale sound of silence.
***
“Shelly! Please open up!” Incessant knocking on her door woke Shelly up from a fitful sleep. Hearing the agony in how her name was called had her running from her bedroom and opening the door.
“Sydney? Amy? What’s going on?”
“I don’t have time to explain, but you need to come with me. There’s been an emergency and we need to get to Atlanta now. Amy is going to watch Abel until we get back.”
Fear pierced her heart as she instinctively knew that Preston was in trouble.
“Okay, Give me a minute to change,” she pleaded as tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn’t see what clothes she threw on her body, but frankly, she didn’t care. And in less than an hour, she was careening down a runaway with Sydney on a private plane to Georgia.
“Family members only,” a nurse said as they approached the station in the emergency room.
“She’s his fiancée,” Dylan replied for her when Shelly couldn’t form the words. He had met them at the airport and sped them to the hospital Preston was admitted to.
“Follow me,” the nurse said with a nod.
Shelly didn’t ask any questions. She didn’t want to know how bad he was or how close to death. She just knew that when he had a single moment of consciousness, he had asked for her. And her heart pieced itself back together at the knowledge.
“Oh, Preston,” she whispered as she walked into the room and found him lying in a hospital bed. His head was wrapped in gauze and his skin was paler than usual.
Dylan leaned toward her ear and said in a choked-up voice, “I can’t tell you what happened, but he’s going to be okay. He took a lot of bullets, but he saved my life. I will never be able to repay him.”
“Shut up, you don’t owe me anything,” Preston groaned as he shifted in bed.
“Oh, good. You’re awake, grumpy. You have a visitor.”
Preston seemed to work hard to pry his eyes open, and when they landed on Shelly standing at the end of his bed, they widened in surprise.
She couldn’t say anything, struck speechless, but she rushed toward him and brought his non-bandaged hand to her lips, kissing the knuckles. Shelly could see the pain he was in, feel it in her own bones, but he opened his hand to caress her cheek. Their eyes locked and Shelly felt herself fall in love with him all over again.
“I think we’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes,” Dylan said to the room. Sydney added, “Thank you, Preston.”
“Had to go play hero, huh?” Shelly said, trying to crack a joke beneath her tears.
“Not so good at it, apparently.”
“I feel like all I do is keep apologizing to you, but I’m sorry for everything.”
“Marry me,” he stated and Shelly looked at him in shock.
“What?”
“I literally came within seconds of losing my life, and now that I’ve been given a second chance, I want to spend every second with you. No more missions. No more secrets. No more lies. Just me, you, and Abel.”
“Are you sure you want to marry me, Preston?”
“Without a doubt in my mind. I love you.”
Behind the tears welling in her eyes, she saw his love pouring from his body as he continued to cup her cheek, gently wiping the tears away.
“Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you too.”
In less than three weeks, Shelly had her world flipped upside down by a man that had given her a place to live and a sense of security in her life that she had never felt before. She never had a chance not to fall in love with the man that had sworn to protect her and her son at all costs. He was going to give her the life her mother had always wished for her and Shelly was going to treasure each moment.
Epilogue
Preston sat in his wheelchair watching the Fourth of July firework celebration as Abel “oohed” and “awed” at each colorful explosion. Shelly had manipulated the nursing staff into letting her nurse him at home, and somehow she had gotten them to agree, so long as the town doctor checked on his vitals for the next few weeks.
The town had rallied behind him as he returned in a display he had never imagined he would experience. There were no more sideways glances or hushed whispers as he passed. After saving Dylan’s life and subsequently one of the Connelly daughters, everyone had praised his heroic efforts.
“Hey, Landon,” Preston said as his friend came to sit in the empty chair beside him.
“Hey.”
“How’s the bar coming? Once I’m off these meds, I’ll be in search of a nice cold
brew.”
“Almost done. A couple more months, I think. Sorry to hear about Jackie,” he said as another explosion darted in the sky.
That had been a revelation that had sent the townsfolks’ heads spinning. They couldn’t comprehend that a woman they had known for years had been the one leaking FBI information to the cartels and mafia. It was amazing what money would do to people.
As Preston had lain unconscious in the warehouse, a secondary FBI team had swarmed in and captured the cartel associates that Preston had shot. Miraculously many of them were still alive, which meant the FBI was squeezing information from them. He learned that Jackie had been tracking his every move and when she learned he was still an informant for the FBI, she had determined her way out. Her first hit against him had been the almost car crash in Atlanta, which was why she was in crutches. And then she had Damon try to break into his house to plant a bomb, but couldn’t find a way inside. They were both going to rot in a jail cell for attempted murder instead of spending their days on a private island.
“Thanks. I’m still trying to come to terms with everything.”
“Understandable.”
“Hey, there,” Shelly said as she came up behind Preston carrying two buckets of popcorn. “Hi, Landon. Good to see you.”
“You too. Congratulations,” he said as he glanced at the large diamond on her left hand.
“Thank you.”
Landon stood from the chair, offering it to Shelly, and gently rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder before heading back toward the downtown area, which was now vacant. Preston was sure that his friend would see better days soon, but he was still haunted by everything he left behind before he came to Carson.
Preston reached out and gripped his fiancée's hand, grateful for every second he would get to spend with her.
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