Broad Daylight

by A. M. Wilson

  “What’s she doing in Montana?” I nearly bark the question, desperate for clues.

  “I don’t know, actually. She said she was taking a vacation in the mountains,” Sadie answers.

  With one last pat on the dog’s head, I force myself to straighten. My body screams at me to run down those steps and into my truck.

  “I should be going. If you or your family need anything, I’m happy to help.” Thinking of the three sisters and their mother without the male in their family breaks my fucking heart. Sadie was my last stop today on my quest to give my apology to each member of his family.

  “Thank you, Reece. We’re all doing okay at the moment, but let me get your number just in case and I can text you about my breeder.”

  I have to force myself to dig my phone out and exchange numbers. Without trying to look like I’m fleeing something unpleasant, I meander carefully back to my truck parked at the curb. The moment I’m seated inside the cab, I pull up the contact for my private investigator. Just as I punch his name, I put the truck in drive and move around the block.

  “Sanders.”

  “It’s Reece. She’s somewhere in Montana.”

  “Montana? What the fuck is she doing out there?”

  “Isn’t that what I’m fucking paying you to find out?” I snag my glasses from my dash and jam them over my eyes. Once out of view from Sadie’s house, I pull the truck over again.

  “Give me a few hours. Montana, Christ,” he mocks. “You had me looking in Florida.”

  I tip my eyes to the ceiling of the cab and sigh. “I didn’t know she had connections anywhere other than here and Florida. She’s somewhere west. She mentioned staying in the mountains.”

  Sanders grunts. “Not much easier, but it’s something to go on.”

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  I end the call and drive home. My mind digs through decades of memories as the stormy weather increases outside. I can’t seem to recall a single mention of Montana from Dani. She never mentioned a relative living out west, and as far as I know, her extended family was pretty small, consisting of only a couple of aunts and uncles, and cousins. Either she’s out there on her own doing God knows what in solitude, or she has a friend from the period of her life I wasn’t part of. The latter seems most likely.

  The thought motivates me to fire up my laptop and settle in front of my blank TV. Between bites of a deli sandwich for a hasty dinner, I return to searching for her friends on social media. This time, I’m not looking at pictures of Dani’s face. I’m combing through locations on all eight-hundred-forty-seven of her friends. This app needs a damn search by state function.

  Three hours later, I’ve narrowed the list down to two, and neither is an option that sends butterflies to my fucking gut.

  Decker, whose profile picture is of a fit, shirtless guy resting against the railing overlooking a mountain landscape. The other is Bennett, whose picture is presumably his torso and arms, tattoos covering every inch and a barbell through each nipple. The man is absolutely ripped in a way I can practically hear the sound of wet panties dropping.

  What in the absolute fuck are you doing, Dani?

  A furious rage I haven’t felt in a long time wraps me in a chokehold.

  The sound of my cell ringing nearly has me flipping my laptop off my lap. All the coiled tension balances me on a perilous edge. Seeing Sanders’s name, I hit the green button.

  “Please tell me you have something.”

  “I have the name of a town for you. Black Rock Valley. You’re looking for a guy named Decker.”

  Son of a bitch. I was hoping he’d give me a name like fucking Carol.

  “Got him. Thanks.”

  Without waiting for his response, I end the call. I’m already on the move packing a bag. I have about twenty-five hours of driving ahead of me, and I’m not wasting time trying to catch a last-minute flight.

  Ready or not, Dani, here I fucking come.

  32

  Dani

  Tipping my head back, I toss a few kernels of popcorn in my mouth, then crunch down on the buttery goodness. Decker, Bennett, and I are all on the big L-shaped couch, watching a comedy. I typically don’t care for comedies much. My taste in movies runs more along the lines of dramas or psychological thrillers. I guess that stems from me being in law enforcement.

  I have my feet propped on Decker’s lap as he massages them. Bennett sits on his other side, stuffing his own face with popcorn. Decker hits a particularly sensitive spot on the arch of my foot, and I jerk it back

  “Tickle spot!” I yell. “You promised to avoid those!”

  Decker chuckles and snatches my foot back. “Come on, babe. You know you like it when I hit your special spots.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  Rolling my eyes, I poke my toes into his gut enough to make him grunt. “You’ve never been anywhere near my special spots, you dork.”

  He flashes his white teeth at me. “I could be, though. Let’s see.” He picks up my foot and digs his thumbs along my heel. “Is one here?”

  “Nope, nowhere close.” I moan because he knows exactly how to use his hands on my feet. Back in college, he always gave the best foot massages. “But that feels heavenly on my feet.” I wiggle the toes on my other foot. “This one is feeling kind of neglected, though.”

  With a laugh, he sets my foot down and picks up the other one, giving it the same treatment as the first.

  Bennett gets up from the couch. “I’m gonna grab us another beer. You want a refill on your juice, Dani?”

  Looking over, I notice my glass is nearly empty, so I pick it up and hold it out to him. “That would be perfect. Thank you.”

  On the way to the kitchen, he stops by me and bends down to kiss my forehead. When I left Westbridge to get away, the first place I thought to come was here. I knew being with Decker and Bennett was what I needed, and I was right. Being here with them has helped me tremendously.

  Steve Carell just dropped a hammer on his finger while building an ark when the doorbell rings. I pause the movie but don’t attempt to get up. Both Decker and Bennett are the macho types who, even though I’m perfectly capable of answering a door, refuse to allow me to. I’m an officer of the law, for goodness' sake, but even so, they say it’s the man’s job to protect women. Anyone could be hiding behind a closed door.

  I lift my feet, and Decker gets up. Decker is the local wildlife vet in these parts, so it’s not uncommon for us to get visitors at all hours of the day and night. Last night, a man brought in a baby fox he hit while driving home. Thankfully, the little guy only had a fractured leg and is currently resting in one of the cages in Decker’s clinic he has here on the property.

  Grabbing my phone from the coffee table, I start scrolling through a couple of messages Madison sent earlier when I suddenly hear a voice I haven’t heard in far too long.

  “You son of a bitch!”

  I bolt upright on the couch and look over the back of it just as Decker stumbles back from a punch to his face. I jackknife off the couch, and I’m around it before he has a chance to regain his footing.

  “Damn, Dani,” Decker says, rubbing his chin. I stop by his side. “Your man’s got a hell of a right hook.” His eyes slide to Reece, who looks like he’s seconds away from doing serious damage to Decker. “It fucking took you long enough to get here.”

  Decker’s words have me momentarily pausing, wondering what he means by it, but I end up letting the comment go for now to glare at Reece.

  “What in the hell are you doing here?” I ask, crossing my arms tightly over my chest.

  Bennett comes out of the kitchen, and when he sees the drop of blood leaking from the side of Decker’s mouth, his eyes narrow on Reece. The two beers and my glass of juice get haphazardly set on a nearby table before he’s stalking across the room, the intent clear in his eyes as to what he plans to do to Reece.

  “Nuh-uh.” Decker holds up his arm, blocking Bennett from reaching Reece. “This is between these two.”r />
  “He fucking made you bleed, Deck,” Bennett grits between his teeth.

  Using the back of his hand, he tries to wipe the blood away but only manages to smear it across his chin. “A little blood never hurt anybody. Let them handle it.”

  “Who in the fuck are these two guys to you, Dani?” Reece growls. From the pulse in his temple, he looks like he’s barely hanging onto his temper.

  I shoot daggers at him through my eyes. “You answer my question first. Why are you here, and how did you find me? I swear, if my sister—”

  “Madison kept her promise to you and didn’t tell me shit. Neither did your parents. I found out through Sadie Barns.”

  I close my eyes. Shit. It never dawned on me that Reece would go visit my old partner’s family. It should have though, because that’s the type of person Reece is. Even though his death was in no way his fault, he’d still feel guilty since Bolt killed him because he was helping me with Reece’s case. I didn’t even mean to let it slip to Sadie where I was going. I thought mentioning the mountains in Montana was safe enough. Apparently, I was wrong.

  “And I’m here because you left without a fucking word to me.” I open my eyes when he continues. “After everything we’ve been through, you fucking left, Dani.” He looks at Decker and Bennett, his eyes sliding over their bare chests in disgust. “You ran, and you did it not into the arms of one man, but two.”

  Underneath the anger and hostility on Reece’s face lurks another emotion that has my chest feeling tight.

  Pain.

  It’s so sharp and pronounced that it nearly steals my breath.

  “Reece—” I start on a croak.

  He laughs, the sound coming out bitter. “I get it.” He jams his fingers through his hair, I’m sure pulling out several strands. “I hurt you, and what better way to pay me back than to do the same to me? What I did was horrible and incomprehensible, and I’ll live with that for the rest of my life. But fuck me, Dani, you could have—”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Decker growls beside me, and we both look over at him. “For being an intelligent man, Reece, you’re sure acting fucking stupid.”

  And with that, he grabs the side of Bennett’s head, yanks him forward, and plants a kiss on him so scorching, there’s no doubt they’d be tearing each other’s clothes off had they been alone.

  Although my cheeks still pinken from the display of affection, it doesn’t faze me. Reece, on the other hand, is different. The expression on his face is almost comical. The shock on his face is quickly replaced with dawning realization.

  “Well, shit,” he mutters, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

  Decker and Bennett break apart, and Decker turns his head to smirk at Reece. “Yeah, it sucks balls when you have a situation all wrong, doesn’t it?”

  Reece grunts.

  I turn on my friend, narrowing my eyes. “Why did you say it took him long enough to get here?”

  He casually tosses an arm over Bennett’s shoulders. “Don’t be a Reece, Dani, and judge what you heard wrong. We’ve talked about him multiple times, and from what I’ve gathered, he didn’t seem like the type to let you run away and not come after you.”

  I feel like stomping my foot like a ten-year-old child. Instead, I press my lips together and grind out, “I didn’t run away.”

  The look he gives me shows he obviously doesn’t believe me any more than the other times he’s accused me of running away and I’ve denied it.

  Whatever. I’ve got bigger things to deal with at the moment.

  I spin around to Reece, then spin back to Decker and Bennett. “Could you give us a few minutes alone?”

  “Yep.” He grabs a couple of flannels hanging on a hook beside the door and tosses one to Bennett. “I need to go check on the kit anyway.”

  The tension in the air grows thicker as Reece and I watch the two guys walk through the door, closing it quietly behind them. Grabbing the edges of the zip-up hoodie I have on, I tug it tighter around me, as if it can protect me from what I know is coming.

  Pulling in a fortifying breath, I turn and face the man who’s taken up way too much of my mental headspace lately. I don’t know who I was kidding when I thought leaving Westbridge and Reece behind would make my feelings for him go away. Looking at him now, having him so close, I realize it’s done the opposite. My love for him has grown, and I know it’ll only grow stronger each day.

  “Why did you leave, Dani?”

  Reece’s quiet question pulls me from my enlightening thoughts.

  Licking my dry lips, I try to put into words my fear. “Because I’m scared,” I whisper.

  His brows lower, and he takes a step closer. “Of what?”

  I take a step back to match his. He notices, and his frown deepens.

  “Of what it’ll do to me if you hurt me again.”

  Pain lances his features, and he takes two steps forward. His intense look has me frozen in place.

  “I know what I did to you back then hurt you. You can never know how much it pains me to know that. I was stupid, young, and afraid to love someone like I loved you back then. Like I still love you today. But Dani, I swear on everything I hold dear, I will never do anything to hurt you again.”

  I hug my sweater even tighter around me and look down at my bare toes. “You don’t know that for sure.” I look up and let Reece see all the pain he caused me back then. The pain I still feel when I think back to that time. “You don’t know what the future holds. You can’t know that feeling won’t come back. I work in law enforcement. I’m in danger every day. Who’s to say you won’t wake up one day and realize what we have isn’t worth the thought of losing me? I can’t…” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I can’t go through that again. I wouldn’t be strong enough this time.”

  One second, Reece is several feet in front of me, and in the next, only a couple of inches separates us. I close my eyes and let out a slow breath when he cups both of my cheeks. My head is tilted back, and as scared as I am to look into his eyes, I open mine anyway. My breath gets stuck in my throat at the utter devastation on his face.

  “You want to know how I know I’d never hurt you again?” he asks gruffly.

  I nod.

  “Because the thought of you out in the world and not with me hurts a thousand times more than you being gone permanently. There can’t be a world where we both exist and not be together, Dani. I realized that too late. The pain of knowing I could have lost you at any moment in that basement made me realize I’ve wasted too much time. I’m not willing to waste another second.”

  A tear slips down my cheek, and he swipes it away with his thumb. He lowers his head, and he presses the softest of kisses against my lips. From there, he rests his forehead against mine, his hands still surrounding my cheeks.

  “I’m so goddamn sorry for hurting you, but if you’ll let me, I’ll spend the rest of my days making it up to you. Don’t let my stupidity and our fear of the unknown ruin what we could have together. Come home with me, Dani. My world has been a black void since I forced you out of my life. I need you to bring the light back.”

  As scared as I still am, there’s only one answer I can give him. I’ve loved Reece James since I was fourteen years old. He broke my heart when I was eighteen. For the past twenty years, I’ve told myself my love for him died the night he betrayed me, but it was a lie. I never stopped loving him. I’m not capable of not loving him. It’s ingrained in me so deep, there’s no hope of it ever going away.

  Letting go of my hoodie, I grip the front of his shirt in my fists and pull my head back an inch so I can see him better. “Okay,” I say softly.

  The relief in his eyes comes instantly. “Really?”

  I smile the first real smile in what seems like forever. “Really.”

  Later that night, after Decker and Bennett came back from taking care of the baby fox and Reece apologized to Decker for punching him, in which case Decker jokingly said, “I wouldn’t even call that a real punch.”
After, we all sat around for a while and talked, then Reece and I finally walk into my room. The whole time we were with the guys, I could feel the tension radiating off Reece in waves and knew he was anxious for us to be alone.

  The minute the door closes behind us, Reece spins me around and backs me up against the door, his firm arms holding me hostage against his chest. He doesn’t kiss me like I expected him to, though. Instead, he simply looks down at me, the emotion behind his eyes confusing me on what he’s thinking.

  “The last thing I want to do is scare you. Those times in the basement when Bolt forced us…” He pauses and closes his eyes, the muscle in his jaw ticking. “I don’t want them to be how you remember the first time we had sex after twenty years. I want to make love to you and show you how it should have been.”

  I don’t need to think about my reply. “I want that too.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” I let my fingers crawl up his chest and over his shoulders. The heat in his eyes flare, and it sends a flood of warmth between my legs. Now that I’ve given in to being with Reece, I don’t want to waste another second, just as he told me earlier. But there’s something I need to tell him first. “There's something you need to know.”

  “What?” he asks..

  I play with the hairs on the back of his neck and avert my eyes. I think I know what his reaction will be to my news, but I don’t know for sure.

  I chew on my bottom lip for a moment before I blurt it out. “I’m pregnant.”

  His expression stays the same, and not a muscle in his body so much as twitches. I start to get nervous and wonder if I should have told him a different way, or maybe after things settled more between us.

  But then he smiles. It starts out small before it slowly gets bigger and bigger, and it’s engulfing his whole face. I release a rush of air and relax in his arms.