Coming Home

by Jill Sanders

  “The boss?” he asked.

  “Yup. He’s got a full report of what Darla has told the local PD. He’s sending it over to us now.” She glanced down at her phone as it chimed. “I’ll read it while you drive.”

  “Darla’s claiming that she hadn’t taken anything at all,” Mia summarized after reading the report to herself.

  “That’s bull.”

  “She says that someone must have slipped something in her drink.”

  “Possible, but with Darla’s history, doubtful.” He headed towards the hospital.

  She continued reading and gasped.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” She shook her head and tucked her phone away. He could tell she was hiding something.

  “What?” he asked again. “I’m just going to read the report later myself.”

  Groaning, she glanced over at him. “She’s claiming it could have been you that roofied her at the bar last night.”

  “What?” He jerked the wheel of the car and almost had them in the ditch.

  “She says that you had the opportunity and since you and her… fought.” She glanced at him.

  “Damn, I wonder what the boss says to that one?” he asked.

  “Of course, no one in town knows we’re DEA, but still, the rumors are probably going around by now.”

  “Right.” He knew that by the end of the night, it would have reached every person in town. “Course, at this point, Darla isn’t exactly seen as reliable.”

  “Still, she did almost die, and you were the one with her when it happened,” Mia pointed out.

  “Shit,” he groaned. “Guess we won’t be delivering those.” He nodded to the flowers in her lap.

  “No, the boss wants us to go in and talk to her, together.”

  “Oh?” He glanced from the road quickly.

  “Yeah, something about showing a strong united front.” She shrugged.

  “Right.” He turned off the street and pulled into the parking lot of the small hospital. “So, we do this together.”

  “Yes,” she agreed as he parked. “Nice flowers,” she added, getting out of the car.

  Instantly, he thought about purchasing flowers for her. Women liked that kind of stuff. He should have gotten her a bouquet as well.

  There was one thing he liked to think about himself—he only made the same mistake once in life. Next time he was at the store, he’d buy her a large bundle of flowers. Something exotic and colorful.

  Of course, he’d have more time to think about buying her gifts once they returned home. He could just imagine them living together in his apartment or maybe hers… Maybe they’d get a new place together. Did she want to move in with him?

  “You’re deep in thought,” she said as they walked through the main entrance.

  “Just thinking about the future,” he admitted.

  “Oh?” she asked, but she was interrupted when he asked which room Darla was in. “What about the future?” she asked as they rode the elevator up to the second floor.

  “We haven’t talked about it, but when we get back, I’d like this…” He motioned between them. “To continue.”

  She frowned. “It can’t.” She shook her head. “The call with Carter confirmed it. Do you think they’ll let us still work together?”

  He hadn’t really thought about it. No, the DEA didn’t like their agents to fraternize with their partners. The first thing that would happen when it was known they were… intimate, would be to separate them.

  “Shit,” he said under his breath.

  “Right,” she agreed. “So, this can’t go any further than Haven.” Her tone sounded distant.

  “Then, for now…” He took her hand. “We’re going to soak up every minute we can to continue acting like we’re more than just partners.”

  She smiled slightly. “Agreed.”

  When they walked into Darla’s room, she was lying on the hospital bed, facing the windows. The fact that no one else was there kind of shocked him. He knew she wasn’t the most popular woman in town, but still, she had friends. Right?

  “Hey, Darla,” he said, getting her attention.

  She wiped her eyes dry as she shifted towards them.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, frowning at him.

  “We came to see how you’re doing.” He moved in and handed her the flowers.

  Her eyes went between the two of them, then to the flowers.

  The last thing he’d expected was for her to burst into tears. Instantly, he took a step back. Thankfully, Mia moved forward and sat on the edge of Darla’s bed.

  “Hey,” she said, softly, gathering the woman in her arms and gently consoling her.

  “I… didn’t know.” Darla cried into Mia’s shoulder. “He promised me it was safe.”

  “Who?” Mia asked while running her hands over Darla’s messed-up hair.

  Darla shook her head and continued to blubber all over Mia’s shoulder. The flowers he’d purchased for her were squished between the pair of them, totally forgotten.

  He stood back and waited until the tears stopped, hoping it would be soon.

  When Darla’s cries finally died down, Mia glanced over at him.

  “What?” he mouthed.

  “Talk to her,” she mouthed back.

  He made a face at her, but she raised her eyebrows at him, and he complied.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, earning him an eye roll from Mia.

  Darla sniffled and leaned back, allowing Mia to shift away from her.

  “Better, thanks to you.” She wiped at her eyes, still holding the flowers to her chest like they were her most prized possession.

  It was strange, but seeing Darla without the makeup and stripper clothes on, he realized just how beautiful of a woman she was. Even more so without the show that she normally put on.

  “Who gave you the drugs?” he asked, earning another scowl from Mia.

  Darla closed her eyes and sighed. “If I had known they were… tainted, I would’ve never taken them. Honest, I’ve never tried anything like that before. Just weed, and only with Nick.”

  “Of course not,” Mia added, taking the crushed flowers from Darla’s lap and putting them in a plastic cup of water that was sitting by the bed.

  “I trusted him.” Darla’s red eyes scanned Brian’s. “I… lied to the police.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I was angry at you for turning me down.”

  “Right.” He figured keeping his answers short would put him on the right side of Mia.

  Darla looked over at Mia. “I told the police Brian drugged me.”

  One thing he’d learned about Mia over the last year was that she was a great actress. Her short gasp of concern was perfect. Her hand went to her throat, quivering with real raw acting talent.

  “Why would you do something like that? To protect someone you love?” Mia asked.

  Darla shook her head. “I have no one.” The sad look on her face almost broke Brian. He’d been like that once, not too long ago. “No, it was stupid of me,” she admitted.

  “Then, who?” he asked. “Who gave you the drugs?”

  Darla’s eyes moved to his. “Gary.” She rested her head back on the pillow.

  “Gary?” Brian frowned. The only Gary he knew in town had been delivering the mail since Brian had been in diapers.

  “Gary Turner?” he asked.

  “Yes.” Darla nodded. “He’s Nick’s supplier as well.”

  “Gary deals weed too?” Brian was totally shocked. The man was easily in his sixties and one of the nicest guys in town.

  “Are you sure?” Brian asked Darla.

  Darla’s eyes turned a little sharper as she nodded. “I still have his text…” She pulled out her phone from the top drawer beside her bed and showed him the text.

  While Mia chatted with Darla, Brian took a few screenshots of the text messages and forwarded copies to himself, then deleted them from her phone. He wasn’t worried about takin
g the information. After all, she’d willingly handed over her phone to him.

  By the time he gave Darla’s phone back to her, there was no proof he’d taken the evidence. They’d have to watch Gary closely so they could find the supplier, but at least they had one of the dealers in town. Now they could make their next move.

  “Well,” Mia was saying as she stood up, “you take care of yourself. When they let you out of here, we should do lunch.”

  What? His mind sharpened as Mia took his hand. Did she really just offer to go to lunch with Darla?

  “Thank you.” Darla smiled up at the pair of them and for the first time since he’d known the woman, she looked tired and completely relaxed. “They’re going to keep me here for a few more days.” She glanced out the window. “Then I think I’m going to check myself into the Retreat.”

  “The drug rehab place outside of Helena?” he asked.

  Darla nodded. “Yes, this has… opened my eyes.” She rested her head back. “I guess in a weird way, you saved me twice last night.” Her eyes met his. “Thank you, Brian. You really have changed. I’m hoping that in the coming months, I can as well.”

  He was speechless. He’d never known Darla to act like this. She wasn’t the same woman she’d been yesterday. For the first time since he’d known her, he believed there was hope for her. Just like there had been hope for him.

  Chapter 13

  Mia could tell Brian was shaken from the visit with Darla. She’d only met the woman once before today, but it was like someone had flipped a switch. The Darla that had cried on her shoulder was a far cry from the woman who had hung on Brian the other day at the grocery store.

  “Are you sure she doesn’t have an evil twin somewhere?” Mia asked as they drove back towards the house.

  Brian chuckled. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “So, what? A near-death experience changes her so much that suddenly she becomes a perfectly nice person?”

  He glanced over at her. “People can change as quickly as they want to.”

  “Sure they can,” she said sarcastically.

  He surprised her by pulling the car over and parking by the side of the road. They were dead center of the small town, sitting next to the small city park with its large Christmas tree and nativity scene.

  “You don’t think people can change?” he asked.

  “Sure, I do.” She frowned, unsure of what the conversation was about. “I’m just not sure that someone can change that much overnight.”

  He closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Let’s take a drive.” He put the car in drive and flipped it around to head back the way they had come.

  “Sure,” she said, sitting in silence as he drove up into the hills.

  When he pulled over again, he parked well off the side of a small highway. From the amount of snow covering the cement, she doubted it was used very often.

  “Take a walk?” he asked. “It’ll be short. I promise.”

  She glanced down at her boots and warmer clothes and nodded. “Sure, I dressed for it today,” she joked but noticed that his lips didn’t even twitch.

  They walked hand in hand down the side of the road until they reached an old bridge.

  “This is where my life changed for the first time,” he admitted as he stopped in the middle of the bridge. She waited, knowing his history, waiting for him to continue. “This is where the man I’d called Father for eleven years of my life”—his eyes met hers— “tried to kill me.”

  “What?” She frowned. She’d known that his father had committed suicide, but there was nothing in his personnel file that said his father had tried to kill him or that he was even there the day his father had died.

  “I have never told anyone else this.” He shifted and glanced down over the edge of the bridge. “The night before, Gavin had gone out drinking and had a run-in with my real father, Carl McGowan. Apparently, Gavin had had some medical tests done… and found out that he was sterile.”

  “Ouch.” Mia shifted closer to Brian.

  “Gavin had suspected Carl and Rea had an affair long ago, and when he confronted a very drunk Carl, the old man willingly admitted it. The next morning, bright and early, Gavin woke me and suggested that he was going to take me fishing.”

  “He brought you here?” she asked, feeling an empty pit in her stomach at the thought of an eleven-year-old boy going through something like that.

  “Yeah, he hit me. It wasn’t the first time, but while I recovered, he tied off the noose… then started pulling me towards the rope and the edge. I fought.” His eyes closed. “In the end, he was the one who went over the side. I ran home as fast as I could and pretended to be asleep when my mother came home from work to tell me that he’d been found.”

  She moved closer to him, resting her hand over his heart.

  He jerked away as if her touch burned him.

  “That day, I changed.” His eyes darkened. “Of course, I didn’t really believe then that he wasn’t my father. He’d said…” He shook his head. “I didn’t believe what he’d said. So, I started acting like him. After all, he was my blood.” She shook her head but remained silent. “I acted out, I did things, I held a knife to my own mother’s throat when she threatened to kick me out.” The pain in his eyes was heartbreaking. “I was… evil until…” He turned his eyes to her, and she could see that they had changed back to normal. “Addy.”

  “McGowan?” She frowned remembering the pretty woman who was married to Trent.

  He nodded. “She’d always been somewhat of a friend. Even when I was a dick to her, she stood beside me, she believed in me. When her father… killed himself…” He paused. “Things hit home and, well, seeing what she was going through, it was hard, so I took off.”

  “You left Haven?”

  He nodded. “It was one of the smartest choices for me at the time. I was living in a tent with three other guys. I was involved with FREE because it allowed me to do little work and I had a ton of free time… A side benefit was, it allowed me to grow and get out of the life slump I was in.” He shrugged. “I left town with nothing more than twenty dollars and a beat-up car. I got a job working in Helena. I enrolled in college and just sort of fell into this… thanks to some advice. Then I found out Carl was my father and how he’d sacrificed himself for Trey and…” He snapped his fingers. “So, when you say that people can’t change overnight”—he moved closer to her, resting his hands on her shoulders— “I’m living proof that they can.”

  She smiled and leaned up to place a kiss on his lips. “I’m sorry I doubted.”

  He rested his forehead on hers. “Up until today, I didn’t think Darla had it in her to want to change.” He leaned back and looked at her. “Are you really going to have lunch with her when she gets out?”

  “If she wants.” She smiled. “You had Addy, maybe I can be that for Darla.”

  “You are way too good for me.” He kissed her and she felt fresh snowflakes land on her face.

  “No.” She thought about her own past and shook her head. “I’m not, but now I’m cold and want a hot meal.” She kissed him again. “And to make love to you in front of a fire.”

  “That I can do.” He took her hand as they walked back to the rental car.

  “What’s going to happen with Gary?” she asked as he drove back into town.

  “I’m sure Carter is going to want us to watch him closely.”

  “Following the mailman around.” She cringed.

  “In a town this size, you can’t really follow anyone around without it being obvious.”

  “Okay, then what?” she asked. “Video surveillance?”

  “Possibly.” He was quiet as he thought about it. “I’ve changed,” he said, “but a lot of people in town don’t know that yet.” He parked the car in front of the garage as more snow started to fall outside.

  She’d thought about it as well. After all, they had both been brought on by the DEA as undercover agents because they looked the part
.

  She’d gotten her first tattoo when she’d been sixteen. The half sleeve Day-of-the-Dead skull had seemed like the perfect way to rebel against her mother’s tyrannical control. Over the years, she’d added color and a few more designs.

  Brian had both shoulders covered with dark symbols and a sleeve featuring a water dragon. Not to mention all the small ones he had all over his body. She’d admired them the first time she’d seen him without a shirt.

  They were the perfect couple, in most people’s eyes, to enter the drug world, and the perfect couple to go undercover.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “Why not let a few people in town think that I’m the same old Brian?”

  For a moment, she thought about what that would do to all the headway he’d made with his mother and wanted to argue. But she knew that the job would go a lot more smoothly if they had no moral boundaries.

  “Think you could put out the word that you want a fix?” she asked.

  “It might be a little unrealistic to some that, after seeing what happened to Darla, I’d want to get into anything strong, but yeah.” He was quiet for a moment. “We may have to start acting like everything in our relationship isn’t… perfect.” His eyes met hers. “It might help to sell things.”

  She smiled. “I like to fight.”

  He laughed. “You’re so good at it.” He leaned over and kissed her. “But for tonight, let’s head in and change things around…” When she looked at him in question, he smiled. “Make-up sex before the fight.”

  She laughed and followed him out through the snow to the back door.

  They didn’t even make it out of the mudroom before the first articles of clothing hit the floor. How was she supposed to fight the raw attraction she felt for Brian when he knew exactly what she wanted each time?

  Later, Brian built a fire in the fireplace, and they sat in front of it eating cold cereal and talking about their plans.

  She loved this part of the job. Maybe it was the acting or maybe it was the adrenaline rush she got when the bad guys made mistakes, which they always did. Just knowing they were getting closer to stopping people from getting hurt helped as well.