Passion

Blurb

 

I am a single dad with needs.

I am also a DEA agent with a huge attitude and a very big…gun.

Four bullets into my body and I am reminded that my little girl needs her dad.

I gotta keep her safe, even if that means leaving this place and getting into my little hometown.

And while we are recovering from the stress of big city, Jenny happens to me.

Jenny, the girl I babysat.

Jenny, the skinny innocent girl that has turned into a voluptuous beauty.

Jenny, whose gorgeous eyes melt my heart…and soul.

And then, I realize Jenny needs my protection too.

I’ll destroy everything in my path to claim her, mark her as mine.

Yes, this DEA agent will do all it takes to keep the two women in his life safe, and happy.

May be, this could turn into our happily ever after.

Who knows?

Prologue

“Get the fuck down!”

I felt the heat of the bullet as it swished past my head and smashed the window behind me into pieces. Glass rained over me as I rolled for cover, my gun held tightly in my hand. I looked to my left where my partner, DEA Agent Raul Garcia, was crouching behind a crate marked FRAGILE. He quickly stood up, fired two shots, and returned to his cover. His efforts were rewarded with a flurry of gunshots that slammed into the crate and the wall above him, showering him in plaster.

Raul looked over at me, frowning in anger.

I’m never going to hear the end of this, I thought.

We had gotten the tip this morning, a major drug deal that was supposed to go down with some major players involved. We had staked the place out for hours, half knowing that nothing was going to happen. For the past few months, our luck had been complete crap. The bad guys were getting a lot more tips than we were, and the DEA was going crazy trying to find out where the leak was.

That’s why it had been a surprise when a van pulled into the warehouse, followed by three cars, all with headlights off. Raul had wanted to call for backup, but I knew exactly what that meant. By the time anyone showed up, the mole would have sent a warning out, and we’d miss our chance. I needed a win. We all did, and I wasn’t going to let these guys slip away.

The only problem was that we were two DEA agents against what had turned out to be a dozen armed, trigger happy assholes who didn’t understand that freeze meant fucking freeze.

At least we broke up the party, I thought, but from the look on Raul’s face, I knew he didn’t feel the same way. Lately, he had been on my case about how reckless I was becoming, and this was the perfect situation he’d call me on later.

A bullet slammed into the wall above my head, and I winced, crouching down lower behind my cover. There was the distinct screech of tires, and I cursed under my breath. The gang was on the run, and the longer we stayed hidden, the less our chances were of coming out of this with anything other than a hit to our egos.

I took a deep breath and dashed across the space between my cover and Raul’s, keeping my head low as more bullets flew past, one grazing the nape of my neck. Raul pulled me down to the ground, stood up and fired, then crouched down again.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” he said.

“Adrenaline, buddy,” I replied. “We live for it, right?”

“We could have waited for backup.”

“You know these assholes would have gotten a warning long before the cavalry got here,” I said.

“Yeah, we’re doing great on our own,” Raul said. “Tell you what? Remind me to rip you a new one when we get out of here.”

I smiled at him, trying my best to ignore the burning pain where the bullet had grazed my neck. I peeked out behind the crate. The van was still there, two men with guns on either side of it and a third lying on the ground dead. At least we had gotten a hit. A few feet away, three more men with guns were loading the trunk of one of the cars with what looked like cocaine packets, racing back and forth between the van and the car as they rushed to finish the deal we had interrupted.

“See that?” I gestured towards a metal staircase a few yards away. “You take the high ground. I’ll cover you.”

Raul looked at the staircase, then back at me. “This is a stupid idea,” he said.

“Come on, big boy,” I said. “You can do this.”

Raul grunted, moved to the edge of the crate and looked back at me, waiting. I nodded at him, and as soon as he broke cover, I was on my feet, firing. The combination took the two men by the van by surprise, and they fired aimlessly, not knowing who to concentrate on. I watched one of them slam into the van and fall in a heap as one of my bullets hit their target, and the other immediately turned to me, yelling as he returned my fire.

I crouched back down and watched Raul race up the stairs. The other men abandoned what they were doing and joined the fire fight, and I watched in horror as they aimed for Raul and fired. I broke cover, aiming my gun at the first of them and taking him down quickly. The others turned their attention back to me, and before I could get out of the way, I felt a sharp pain in my belly.

“Alex!”

I fell to my knees and rolled behind another crate, the pain in my stomach coursing through me like wildfire. It was as if my whole body had been set on fire and my guts were searing. Raul was calling my name over the sound of gunfire, and I quickly reloaded my gun. I looked down, blood spreading across my shirt from where the bullets had hit me. I felt the world around me swim in and out of focus.

There was more shouting, and I heard the sound of the car trunk being slammed shut.

They’re going to get away!

I pushed to my feet and looked around quickly for Raul, but he was nowhere to be found. The gunmen were firing at the walkway above my head, though, and I knew that although I couldn’t see him, Raul was definitely there. I used the distraction and broke cover again, firing at the two men, hitting one of them and sending the other scurrying away. Car tires screeched, and I hurried towards the van, feeling blood seep down the front of my legs as I struggled to keep my eyes from glazing over.

I raised my gun and fired at the car as it raced out in front of the van, the back window shattering as the car swerved and crashed into a heap of crates, wood exploding around it as it raced out of the warehouse. I fired again, knowing that it was useless, but far too angry and in too much pain to think straight.

I heard the gunshot before I felt the exploding pain in my leg, and I fell to the ground, crying out in pain, my gun flying from my hand. A gunman came out from behind the van just as I was pushing myself up, and fired. The bullet hit my chest and the impact threw me back, my head connecting with the hard, concrete floor.

Another volley of gunfire and the gunman collapsed onto the ground next to me, his dead eyes staring into mine.

The last thing I heard as my eyes closed and darkness took over was the distant sound of Raul yelling my name over and over again.

I was pretty sure I’d never open my eyes again.

Chapter 1: Alex Logan

“Are we there yet?”

I glanced up at my twelve-year-old daughter Kelly in the rearview mirror, her eyes glued to her phone. The frown on her face reflected the frustration I felt at being asked the same question for maybe the tenth time in the last hour, and a part of me wondered if it ever got old.

Whine much, Kelly? I wanted to say, but held my tongue. If there was one thing I had learned over the years, it was that my daughter had a tongue as sharp as mine, and my sarcasm was only going to be returned ten-fold. So, I didn’t reply and returned my attention to the road.

I could hear Kelly shift in the seat, moving about loud enough to reflect her discomfort before she followed it with a deep and annoyingly loud sigh. The trip to Connecticut was taking its toll on the both of us, and between cheap motels and hours on the road, we were this close to snapping at each other.

She’s just a child, Alex.

My wife Janice’s soft voice whispered in my ear. It was so real I turned toward the passenger seat, almost believing I’d find her sitting there.

I let out my own sigh. No, she wasn’t there. She’d never be there again. It was a fact I was still trying to reconcile, her death, even after all these years. I glanced in the rearview mirror at Kelly, the physical clone of her mom. Twelve-year-olds were the new sixteen, and this early bloomer was quickly turning into a miniature copy of yours truly. She had her mom’s beauty and my bad attitude. It was turning out to be a scary combination.

“Dad?”

“We’re an hour away, sweetheart,” I replied, trying to smile as best as I could.

“You said that an hour ago!”

“Then I guess it’s obvious that asking me that question over and over again will get you the same reply,” I shot back.

I caught her in the rearview mirror, rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest. “Walking would probably be faster than this.”

“I can always pull over and put that to the test,” I said.

“Or you could step on it, grandpa,” Kelly said.

Whoever said that being a single dad was hard had no fucking idea what he was talking about. Hard didn’t even scratch the surface. No, it was not cute when random women came up to me in the street and oohed and aahed at me after I had spent a night cleaning up baby barf. It was never easy being called into the school because my daughter had punched a classmate, only to get that condescending nod of understanding when I told them that Kelly’s mother was no longer with us. Nothing about raising a little girl alone was easy. And with my job, it only made things more difficult.

You should stop blaming her. It’s not her fault that she had to grow up quickly.

I’d come to hear my wife’s voice more and more over the years, somewhere in the back of my mind, consoling me and telling me that everything was going to be just fine. Deep down, I knew it was only my subconscious trying to let me know that I wasn’t fucking this up too much. But it made it a lot more believable when I used Janice’s voice for these little pep talks. She was the voice of reason to my instinctual desire to shoot first and ask questions later.

You can’t shoot your daughter.

“I know,” I replied to no one in particular.

“What?”

I looked at Kelly and shrugged. “I know I can step on it,” I said. “My leg’s acting up again. Sorry.”

“I can take over if you want,” Kelly said enthusiastically, leaning in between the seats as if I wouldn’t object to her suggestion of letting a twelve-year-old drive.

“Nice try, chipmunk,” I said, giving her a quick look. “I’ll be fine.”

Kelly slumped back into her seat and huffed.

One hour. Just one hour.

I leaned back in my seat, feeling my muscles scream at me, wondering what Kelly would do to me if I stopped for a few minutes to stretch. My leg really was starting to give me hell, the right thigh clenching around my healing bullet wound. Most days I could go a good twenty-four hours without it giving me much stress, but driving for almost two days was not the kind of stress it would let me endure without protest.

I let go of the wheel and rubbed at my thigh, willing the pain to stay at a tolerable level without the need to reach for my pain killers or stop the car. The doctors had told me it would get easier, back when I would wake up screaming from the pain and Kelly would have to help me with the meds because I was in too much agony to do anything for myself.

I looked up at the freckled face of my daughter, her brown hair falling to her shoulders in waves, and her green eyes locked on the phone’s screen. She really had grown too fast. It always surprised me when I thought about it.

And she’s turning into you.

Stubborn, mischievous, and always ready for a fight.

Unfortunately, all true. And being a DEA agent, constantly in the line of fire, didn’t help. My partner, Raul, had always told me to take it easy, to cut back on the workload, to not take the risks I was prone to taking.

“You have a little girl at home, man,” he would always say. “I’m not ready to tell her that her father’s dead because he was being a reckless asshole.”

It was the only way I knew how to do my job, though. I would be lying if I said I didn’t care what happened to me. Being a father changes you, in more ways than one, and I would have gladly given my life for Kelly if I had to. Dammit, I’d kill for her. But sometimes, instinct just kicked in, and for a few seconds, a few stupid seconds, I’d forget that I had a little girl waiting in the neighbor’s apartment for me to come home safe.

Which was probably why the captain had asked me to take a leave.

Or the fact that you had survived four bullets and no one on the force wanted to be the bearer of bad news if things had gone south.

That, too.

I could still remember my conversation with the captain a week ago, when I was finally able to walk on my own two feet again and could trudge into the precinct. I had tried to assure him that I was fine enough to come back to work, maybe even take a desk job for a while. But I wasn’t very convincing, and I doubt the cane I was using to help me get around made it any better. He had literally kicked me out of the office, told me to take a break, stay with family, heal first, then talk about coming back to work.

“And for fuck’s sake, Alex, look after your goddamn daughter!”

It seemed like everyone was always chastising me to be a better dad, telling me what I was doing wrong and what I should be doing right. I appreciated their concern and tolerated their words. What they didn’t seem to understand was that no one chastised me more than myself. I started asking myself what would my dad do?

That’s when I started thinking about going home for a while.

Not home to the house Kelly and I shared on Beaker Street, but home to Connecticut, where I grew up. I had called my father a few days after I took leave and told him we were coming home to visit.

Kelly was great company, usually, but with the start of summer holidays and both of us in each other’s faces all day, the house was quickly turning into a warzone. I blamed it on puberty, she blamed it on the fact that I wasn’t taking enough meds. Or that I was just being an asshole intent on ruining her life.

It’s like I’m married all over again.

“We could’ve taken a plane, you know,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“You don’t say,” I replied. “Jeez, I should’ve thought of that.”

Kelly leaned in again. “You know, sometimes I wonder which one of us is the adult in this relationship.”

“Tell you what,” I said. “I’ll pretend to be the father whose credit card pays for all the stuff you have, and you pretend to be the daughter who is always grateful that her father loves her so much to spoil her in every possible way.”

She huffed at me. “Spoils me so much that he’s trapped us in a car for two days?”

“So much that he hasn’t stopped two states back and told the closest trucker to drive you back to Miami,” I replied. “Do you know what happens to little girls whose parents don’t keep their eyes on them all the time?” I looked at her in the rearview and frowned. “Do you know?”

“I’m twelve,” she replied. “I’m not living under a stone.”

“I’m going to have to rethink giving you your own phone,” I said, shaking my head.

Kelly threw her hands up. “Sure, take it,” she said, slumping back. “Just what I need to make my life even more miserable.”

“Your life is not miserable,” I countered.

“I’m in a car for two days,” Kelly shot. “What’s your definition of miserable?”

This conversation for starters, I wanted to reply, but just smiled and shook my head.

We passed a road sign that read “Kent 30 Miles” and I let out a sigh of relief. Kelly had noticed it to, because she let out her own frustrated “finally” before shifting closer to the window to get a look at the world around us. I think it was the first time she had peeled her eyes away from that damn phone in two days.

Connecticut was beautiful in the fall, peaceful, the complete opposite of Miami with its year-round flow of tourists, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and the scorching tropical heat. I had grown up in Kent, my parents’ house a constant reminder of the youth I had spent scraping my knees and bruising my elbows.

Moving to Miami had never been an easy decision, especially since leaving my dad alone was pretty much like giving a child a gun and asking him not to pull the trigger. Ever since my mother’s death back when I was in middle school, I had come close to losing a finger, breaking bones, and literally running a man over because my dad had thought it would be funny to let me drive his truck.

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, eh buddy?

I looked at Kelly again in the rearview and wondered just how much of my dad was in me, how much of me was in her, how close I had come to ruining both of our lives, and shuddered. She definitely had a guardian angel watching over her, because more times than not, I wasn’t.

“Looking forward to seeing your grandfather again?” I asked.

The last time Kelly had been around my dad, the two had hit it off quite nicely. Well enough to the point where they had ganged up on me on numerous occasions. Sometimes I felt like he understood her a lot better than I did, and I usually wrote it off to the fact that he had been through the whole ‘single dad’ phase and had enough experience to handle situations I literally sucked at. Needless to say, he was thrilled when I told him we’d be spending a couple of months with him at home in Connecticut, a place I had not been back to in years.

“At least I’ll have someone to talk to that might actually care about what I have to say,” Kelly said, a hint of spite and accusation in her voice, like always. “And might actually listen to me once in a while.”

“What are you talking about? I care about what you have to say,” I said in a hurt tone. “And I always listen.”

“It would just be nice to have a conversation with someone who won’t end up yelling at me or think that talking about bad guys with guns is appropriate conversation for a kid my age.”

“You just told me that you know what happens to little girls who get left at truck stops,” I scoffed.

“Sure, dad. Whatever.” Kelly rolled her eyes at me again. “Your father of the year trophy is waiting for you to pick it up.”

“You know, sometimes I wonder if maybe I talk to you a little too much,” I said, frowning at her sarcasm, but on the inside secretly proud of her strength and guts.

I hated how much she took after me, but there were some things I was grateful she had picked up. Including having the balls to not let anyone take advantage of her, even her pain in the ass old man.

“Kent, next exit,” she said, nodding toward the exit sign.

“I see it,” I said. “I’m not blind.”

“No, you’re just deaf and dumb,” she said. I frowned at her in the rearview and caught her smiling without looking at me.

“Fine, I’ll take that one,” I said, shaking my head without letting her see the grin on my face. “Now play with your phone and let me drive.”

“Sure. No problem.”

I turned off the Interstate and cruised toward the town I had left behind almost twenty-five years ago. My leg protested a little more, but I quickly pushed the pain away.

In a few minutes, I’d be back home.

Chapter 2: Jenni Beale

There were certain things I had always promised myself I would never do, and sleeping with a man on the first date had been one of them. The day I broke that rule was the day I let Garth Liston into my life forever. It was a day I would always regret.

I had known Garth since high school, the class jock that every girl was drooling over, and the one boy I knew was way out of my league. Then again, back then I was a little late to the party, always sitting in the back, my face covered with my black hair, wearing clothes that were always a size or two bigger than what I should have been wearing. I hated the spotlight. I hated the attention. And quite frankly, I hated Kent fucking Connecticut, my puny little home town that was probably the most boring place on the planet. Garth Liston was the most exciting guy in town; dark, mysterious, even a little dangerous. I guess that’s what drew me to him initially, but now scares the hell out of me.

“Garth, seriously, this is the wrong place and time,” I said, trying to push him away. It was like trying to push over a brick wall. Garth was all hard muscle beneath my hands. Despite my efforts to resist, I felt dampness pooling between my legs.

We were in the storage room at the back of the diner where we both worked with the door closed, Garth pressed up against me and practically pushing me into the wall. He was very much the hunk of a man people guessed he would grow up to be, and just as much of a letdown as every other jock who had thought the world would be his oyster. A busted knee had screwed his chances at a football scholarship. Since then he’d been running his father’s tire business and a few other private ventures that were helping him make a lot more money than his father ever could selling tires.

“Come on, Jenni, I’ve missed you,” he whispered in my ear, pressing his cock against my thigh as one hand grabbed my breast over the dark blue t-shirt I usually wore to work.

He kissed my neck, then my ear, and I couldn’t help but shudder under his touch.

“Hank is going to come in here and see us,” I said. “Then what? Do you want me to get fired?”

Garth held me by the waist and pulled me closer, his dark brown eyes boring into mine. The lust in them scared me and excited me at the same time, and he knew it. The smile on his face said it all.

“Let him see us,” Garth said. “I’d like to see your father fire the best manager this piece of shit diner has ever had.”

He pushed harder against me, and the bulge in his jeans nestled comfortably between my thighs, forcing me to gasp despite myself. I tried to push him back a bit, but my efforts weren’t convincing enough and only made him grip me harder.

“Seriously, Garth, stop it,” I said, unable to contain my smile as he kissed my neck again. I was heating up, and my efforts to get out of his lock quickly died out when his hand found its way under my shirt and into my pants.

“You’re saying it,” Garth growled, his hand snaking into my panties and cupping my mound, “but I just don’t believe it.”

My body was giving me away, and I knew that finding me as wet as I was would only push him on. His fingers were quick to find their way into my pussy, spreading it wide as he pressed the heel of his hand against my clit. I gasped again, this time wrapping my arms around his neck as he fingered me, pushing my hips against his hand.

They were things like this that turned him on the most. Taking me in places where he knew we could get caught. Out in the open, for everyone to see just what he could do to me. The fact that my father Hank was just one door away from it all must have made him even hornier, because his breathing had quickened and his kisses were quickly turning into soft bites as he ravished me.

“Garth, please, stop,” I gasped. “He’s right outside.”

“I know,” Garth replied, his speed intensifying as he finger-fucked me up to the knuckle, pressing me further against the wall, grinding his cock against my thigh. “That’s the point, baby.”

He turned me around and pushed against me, his hands fumbling with the zipper on my jeans as his cock pressed hard against my ass. Within seconds he had my pants and panties down around my ankles, and I grinded against him while the sound of his belt unbuckling echoed in the room. He pushed me down, bending me at enough of an angle for him to quickly slide inside me, and I had to cover my mouth to stop my moans from alerting everyone outside of what was happening behind the closed door.

I closed my eyes, my mind torn between how wrong this was and how good it felt at the same time. The first time he had taken me in public, we were in the parking lot behind the diner. It had probably been our fourth or fifth date, but it was definitely the first time our relationship turned from ‘seeing each other’ to full on fuck bunnies. I remembered him dropping me off at home, my panties torn and in the bushes somewhere behind the restaurant, and the heel of one of my shoes broken. The hungry good night kiss had turned into some more sex in the backseat, and even though it felt incredible, I couldn’t help but watch the front door, praying my father wouldn’t come out to see what was going on in his driveway.

“Come on, baby, work with me,” Garth urged as he pushed his cock deeper inside me, grabbing me by the hair with one hand and my t-shirt with the other. I pushed back against him, his cock stretching me out even more, and this time my moan did escape me before I could stop it.

That only turned him on even more.

Before I knew what was happening, he was thrusting in and out like a jackhammer, ramming me with everything he had. “Yes…don’t…stop!” I tried not to scream, and quickly covered my mouth. His thrusts only intensified. He reached around and grabbed my breasts, squeezing them hard, and it only made me push harder against him.

I turned around, grabbing his cock and pumping it while I stared in his eyes. The hunger in them was intoxicating, and I could tell that he wanted to do so much more to me if only I would give him the chance. And I wanted to. A voice in the back of my head was telling me to stop, to end this while I still had the power to, but the way he was holding me, the look in his eyes, made me quickly push that voice back to the deepest recesses of my mind.

He grabbed my ass, lifting me up against the wall. Quickly, he slipped his cock back inside me, and I quickly wrapped my legs around his waist. “You want this as much as I do, don’t you?”

I swirled my hips around his cock, squeezing him, silently letting my body tell him what I wanted him to do. He smiled at me, the smug grin I could never get used to, and I squeezed his cock again.

“Come on,” I begged. “Faster… harder… oh… god…”

He pulled back and then slammed inside me, hard enough to make me cry out loud. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I rode him, feeling his cock move faster against me, pummeling me.

“I’m… cumming…” I moaned. “Cum… with me… cum…”

“Fuck yeah…” He growled in my ear like a wild animal. His hands squeezed my ass cheeks, and I pressed him closer with my legs, urging him in deeper. He grunted, throwing his head back, and I squeezed down again, knowing he was close. With a groan, he thrust inside me once more and exploded. He mashed his lips to mine to keep us both from screaming.

I hung there, suspended in his arms for a few minutes before he let me down on wobbly legs. He held me up long enough to let me gain my composure, then pulled back and began to buckle his pants up.

“Now that is what I call an afternoon delight,” he smiled.

I didn’t reply, quickly pulling on my panties and jeans, feeling both hot and dirty at the same time. I began to wonder if I could slip into the bathroom undetected, before my father caught wind of what had just happened in the back of his diner. How his daughter was using the storage room for her own little pleasures. I suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over me.

“Same time tomorrow?” Garth asked, running his hand through his thick black hair.

I paused. “You’re not coming over tonight?”

Garth shook his head. “Sorry, babe, can’t,” he said, his chest rising and falling as he looked at his reflection in a large pot and brushed his hair with his fingers. “Got business to do tonight.”

“You’ve got business to do every night,” I mumbled, instantly regretting it when he shot me a less than amused look.

Garth wrapped me in his arms and pressed me close, squeezing one of my breasts as he looked down at me. I always hated it when he did that.

“It’s not like I’m leaving you high and dry, babe,” he said. “I mean, come on, this was really amazing.”

I tapped his chest with my hand and gently pushed away, arranging my clothes. “It was. I just wish we could do this at home, you know? Without me having to worry about people seeing us or my dad walking in.”

“What are you talking about?” Garth frowned. “I come over all the time.”

“Not since I moved,” I said. “You haven’t even seen the new place.”

Garth pulled me to him again. “I will, I promise,” he cooed. “Besides, what’s the hurry? We see a lot of each other all the time.” He looked down at my breasts and smiled. “We see a whole lot of each other.”

“Stop that,” I said, pushing away again, a little more forcefully this time.

“Oh, come on, don’t be such a cunt,” Garth chuckled. “How about I come by tomorrow? We could make a whole day of it.”

“I’ll believe that when it happens,” I replied. “And when you leave your cellphone at home.”

Garth’s eyes shot wide. “Damn, my cellphone, forgot about that,” he said, patting his pockets. “Forgot it on the bar.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair to get it back in place so I didn’t look like I was just fucked in the store room by my boyfriend. Or the guy I considered my boyfriend.

I gave him a playful push. “Get out of here before my dad sees you.”

Garth smiled, blew me a kiss and unlocked the storage room door, quickly slipping out of sight. I sighed again, looked at my reflection in the same pot to make sure my hair wasn’t out of place, and followed him out.

The diner wasn’t busy this time of the day, but it was packed with our regulars. Some of them had been coming here ever since I was in high school, and I knew them all on a first name basis. It was part of why my dad had wanted me to take charge, knowing that I could handle the crowds that kept the family business alive. I felt especially self-conscious walking out of the storage room now, anxious at what looks I’d be getting from them, and especially wary of my father.

Luckily, everyone seemed a little more pre-occupied with one thing or the other and didn’t notice Garth coming out from the back with me close behind. He grabbed his phone, left a few bills on the bar and headed out without even a second glance. I watched him leave before my eyes drifted and fell on my father behind the cash register, watching me carefully. He had a look in his eyes that I knew far too well, and I thanked any God that was listening for the fact that I didn’t have to go home with him anymore.

“What do I owe you, Jenni?”

I turned to the old man sitting to my right. Samuel Logan was smiling at me, reaching for his wallet as he tapped the small plate that had cradled his regular afternoon cheese cake.

“The prices haven’t changed in ten years, Sam,” I replied with a smile.

“Seems like the only thing that hasn’t changed around here,” Samuel said, frowning toward the door. “Was that Garth Liston walking out from the back?”

Dammit, not everyone was minding their own business.

I felt my cheeks flush a bit, and Samuel quickly waved my discomfort away. “Don’t mind me,” he said. “To everyone his own.”

“It’s not what you think,” I said quickly. My father and Samuel had been friends for years, back when I was still in grade school, and his approval was almost as important to me as my father’s. Kent was a small town. People lived by their word and reputation. My word was still good, but my rep was quickly becoming as cloudy as muddy water, thanks to Garth.

“Sweetie, I’m not the one you have to convince of that,” Samuel said seriously. He nodded toward the pass-through window that opened into the kitchen. We could see my dad. He was bent over the grill frying eggs and bacon. “Your dad’s worried about you. I keep telling him that you’re an adult now and you know what you’re doing. No matter, you’ll always be his baby.”

I smiled at that, but couldn’t hide my embarrassment nonetheless.

“You do know what you’re doing, right?” Samuel asked.

I nodded. “Don’t worry about me, Sam.”

“Good enough then,” Samuel smiled, passing me the check with his usual generous tip. “Well, I’m off. My son’s probably already waiting for me.”

“Alex?” I asked, a little surprised. “Alex is coming home from Miami?”

“Yup,” Samuel smiled even more, adjusting his hat on his head. “Spending the summer with me. Brought my granddaughter Kelly with him, too.”

“Big old family reunion, huh?”

“Well, something like that,” Samuel said with a wink. “Have a good one, Jenni, and I’d steer clear of your dad for the rest of the day I was you. He doesn’t seem very happy. Seems that old grill is giving him fits again.”

I smiled and watched Samuel leave, waving to my father as he walked out the diner door.

Chapter 3: Alex

“He’s late,” I said, leaning back against the car to stretch, feeling the muscles in my back grate against each other as I breathed in the afternoon air. Just being here made me feel so much better, and being able to stretch my legs had sent the pain scurrying away. For now.

I looked back at the Victorian I had grown up in. It hadn’t changed a bit since I had left, although it could have used a fresh coat of paint, and some of the windows looked like they needed to be changed. Still, it was pretty much the home I had left behind, and a wave of nostalgia washed over me as I took it in.

Kelly, on the other hand, had found her way back to whatever was taking her attention away on her phone. She was stretched out on the hood of the car, eyes glued to the small screen in her hands, looking more like she hadn’t wanted to come here than ever before.

“You’re one to talk,” she said, fingers dancing across the touch screen in a way I knew I would never be able to do.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, come on,” Kelly said, exasperated. “When was the last time you picked me up from soccer practice on time?”

“That’s not fair,” I frowned.

“Really?” She turned to look at me, raising her eyebrow the way her mother had always done when I said something ridiculous. “I know the groundskeeper by name, dad. I know he’s divorced with three kids, plays in a jazz band on weekends and thinks that religion is a load of shit.”

“Language,” I replied.

“Just saying.” She turned back to her phone, once again ignoring me.

She has a point.

Janice’s voice seemed to be whispering in my ears more and more these days, and I quickly brushed it aside. A part of me knew that Kelly was right, but what was I supposed to fucking do? I can’t be in two places at the same time, and I never kept her waiting for too long.

An hour, Alex. At least an hour.

I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, turning to look out at the road in hopes of seeing my father’s truck anywhere in the distance. My eyes wandered, and they fell on the few houses around us. I wondered if the people I had grown up around still lived in them. Some of them I had come to really cherish over the years, especially after my mother had passed. Others had seemed like leeches, practically throwing themselves at my father in hopes of becoming the next Mrs. Logan. At least in that department, my father had had the good sense to keep his distance.

“Did granddad change his truck?”

I turned around, first looking at Kelly, then focusing my attention on the Range Rover that was making its way toward the house. I frowned, knowing well that there was no way my father could afford another car, let alone a four-by-four. Besides, that old blue Ford had always been his life. His mistress, as my mother had always called it. He had even named it Lulu, for fuck’s sake.

The Range Rover slowed down as it neared the house, pulling up a few yards away from the house. I tried to get a look at the driver inside, but the sun was reflecting off the windshield and blocking my view.

“My old man wouldn’t be caught dead in a Range Rover,” I said, waiting.

The car doors opened and two men stepped out of the Rover, each clad in jeans and a checkered shirt that passed for typical ‘Kent-attire’. I recognized the one with the cigarette in his hands, but couldn’t place him. He smiled at me, obviously recognizing me as well, and threw his hands up in the air in greeting.

“Holy fucking shit. If it isn’t Alex Logan himself!” he called out.

“Heath?” I hoped I had the name right. “Heath Collins?”

“One and only, buddy!”

I clasped Heath’s hand, and he pulled me into a hug, slapping my back a couple of times more than I would have preferred. I pulled back, attempting to give him the best smile I could fake. I had grown up with Heath, and the nicest thing I could ever say about him was that he knew how to spend his family’s small fortune in ways that would make the billionaires back in Miami cringe. Other than that, I had always steered clear of him. Which made it even stranger that he would show up here.

“How’s Miami, my man?”

“Sunny and hot,” I replied, briefly nodding at his friend who was watching me with a deep frown on his face.

Heath turned to the other man and slapped his shoulder. “Jack, meet Alex Logan,” he introduced us. “We go way back. Like to fucking kindergarten.” Heath turned back to me, all smiles and eyes that mirrored mischief. He looked over my shoulder, and his smile widened. “Now who is that pretty lady?”

I turned and waved Kelly over, silently happy that she made enough of a fuss before finally sliding off the hood of my car and trudging over. “This is my daughter, Kelly.”

Heath bent down, hands on his knees, and looked Kelly in the eye. “Welcome to Kent, little lady,” he said. “I bet your dad has told you all about me, eh? His old pal Heath?”

“Never heard of you,” Kelly responded.

“Kelly!” I frowned at her, but couldn’t help the smile that played at the edge of my lips.

“We’re going to have to remedy that, aren’t we?” Heath said, winking at me. “I can show you all the cool places around here. Things have really changed since you left, Alex. Really changed. Kent’s not the same old sleepy little town it used to be.”

Kelly looked up at me. “Can I get back to what I was doing, please?”

I nodded and watched her walk away, race away actually, only looking back at Heath once with enough disgust on her face to make me cringe. At least her instincts were spot on.

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked after I was sure she was out of ear shot.

“Came to see your old man,” Heath said, briefly looking at the house. “He here?”

I shook my head. “We’re waiting for him,” I replied. “You’re welcome to join us, but I have to warn you, Kelly isn’t great company.”

“Typical teenager. She’ll come around,” Heath said, and the way the words came out of his mouth immediately threw up red flags in my head. “Any idea when Samuel will be back?”

“He knows we’re coming, so I’d say any minute now,” I shrugged. “What’s this about?”

“That’s between us and him,” Jack cut in before Heath can answer.

“Excuse me?” I turned to him, my eyes shooting daggers and my fist clenched. I didn’t like this guy, and the way he was looking at me pissed me off.

“Hey, shut up,” Heath shot at him, slapping his chest. “What’s your problem?” Heath turned to me and shook his head, shrugging. “Sorry, Alex, Jack forgets his manners sometimes.”

“Apparently so,” I replied, keeping my eyes fixed on the idiot who couldn’t control his mouth.

“We only wanted to talk to him about the land out at Stone Creek,” Heath explained.

“What about it?” I knew what he was talking about, a dozen or so acres my mother had inherited from her father decades ago. It wasn’t farm land, but the landscape was beautiful, and we often had investors asking us to sell. It was a little strange that Heath would ask about the land, considering that his family already owned most of the land around town. Then again, the man was as unpredictable as a child with matches. There was no telling what his ambitions were.

“I got a few friends who are interested in the land, willing to pay a pretty hefty price for it, too,” Heath said.

I nodded, knowing that there was no way my father was going to sell the acreage because of the attachment to my mother. That, and of course the fact that Heath was involved, made me wonder just what good old dad had gotten himself into.

“I’ll let him know you came by,” I said.

Heath looked at me for a beat, trying to read me, and finally nodded. “You do that,” he said. He clapped me on the shoulder again and squeezed. “It’s good to see you, Alex, it really is. Let’s get together soon and have a little fun.”

With that, the two men made their way back to their car, Heath waving at me like an idiot and his friend looking like he wanted to do a lot more than just talk. For the first time since my leave, I wished I had kept my gun on me.

“You really attract the creeps, don’t you?” Kelly asked as I walked back to her, the Range Rover disappearing around the corner. My leg was starting to act up again, my secret friend who promised he was here to stay.

“I guess so,” I said, unwilling to go into a sarcastic spree with her. At that moment, I was more worried about my father than arguing with my snarky teenage daughter.

“Is granddad in trouble?” she asked, looking at me seriously.

She’s definitely got my instincts.

“Nah, your grandpa can take care of himself,” I mused. “We’ll have to ask him what’s going on when he gets here.”

Kelly looked at the road and nodded. “Here’s your chance.”

I turned just as my father’s old Ford turned a bend and lazily made its way up to the house. Dad let out a few honks before pulling up beside my car. “Sorry I’m late, kids!”

He climbed out of the truck just as Kelly slid off the hood and rushed to hug him. He let out a gasp of surprise when she threw her arms around him, and for a second I thought she’d topple him over and they’d both go down.

“Wow, who the heck is this young lady and where is my little granddaughter?” Samuel exclaimed. “You’re getting so big!”

Kelly hugged him harder and smiled at him, the first genuine smile I had seen on her face since the beginning of summer. “And you’re getting so old!” she shot back.

“Always with the compliments,” Samuel chuckled. “Thank you, sweetheart, I do feel like I’m closer to eighty than seventy.”

“We’re going to need to get you a wheelchair soon,” Kelly joked.

“But only the one with a Hemi engine,” Samuel laughed. “I want to be able to race up and down North Main Street with the thing.”

I smiled, momentarily forgetting about Heath and whatever problems came with him. My father looked great, better than me, in fact, and Kelly was actually glowing.

The plan to spend late summer in Kent was starting to feel like a great idea.

Chapter 4: Jenni

“Hey, there, Casper.”

I barely had the door closed when Casper, my white German Shepherd, came rushing to me, jumping up and begging for attention. I laughed, ruffled the hair behind his ears and quickly got him down before he threw me off my feet.

“Who’s a good boy?” I said, clapping and racing him into the kitchen. “Casper’s my boy, aren’t you?”

I grabbed the dry food and filled his bowl, laughing every time he tried to push me away and thrust his snout into the box. I had to hold him back, and he took the wrestling for a game that he was more than willing to play.

There were very few memories I took along with me when I moved out. Or to be honest with myself, things my father let me take. Casper was one of them, and the most important one at that. I remember my dad telling me that if I was going to be living alone, there might as well be a man in the house.

Casper filled that role perfectly.

I left him to devour his food, and made a mental note to make sure I walked him before I set out again. I kicked off my shoes, took off my shirt and began unbuttoning my jeans as I turned my laptop on. From where I stood, the large windows gave me a perfect view of the woodlands outside my apartment complex, and for a minute I lost myself in its tranquility until the Windows chime brought me back.

Casper bumped into me as I quickly brought up my email window, and I giggled as he tried to get my attention. “We’re going out, don’t worry,” I said. “Just calm down, will you?”

I quickly checked my mail, deleting the spam that somehow still found its way into my inbox, and cursed under my breath when I read the message from my publisher. They had changed the publishing schedule again, and that meant I had to double my daily word count just to catch up.

“No time to lose,” I said and made my way to the bathroom, Casper close behind me. I undressed quickly, turned on the water and stepped into the shower.

I closed my eyes as the cold water washed over me. I had managed to evade my father as much as possible, but I knew that if he didn’t call me tonight, he was definitely going to talk to me in the morning. I felt like shit, really, not at all happy with what I had done. Even though it had felt fucking incredible. The diner was our bread and butter, and my father had slaved for decades to turn it into what it was today. Just thinking my actions could ruin all that made me feel even worse.

I had started working at the diner when I was only sixteen, and after my mother had decided that Kent was too small for her ambitions, I was taking on a lot more responsibility than a girl my age should have. I hated her for doing that to me, for deciding to see the world while I had to stay back and pick up the pieces. Still, over the years, Kent had slowly turned from ‘that town you want to get away from’ to a place I couldn’t imagine ever leaving.

My father had been good to me. He kept food on the table, helped pay through college so I wouldn’t be burdened with student loans, and made damn sure I grew up to be the strong woman he could be proud of. Obviously, fucking in the storage room was not one of the things he’d approve of. Then again, there was very little he approved of. He had given me hell just for moving out.

“Why the hell do you want to pay rent when you have a perfectly good room right here?”

His voice still echoed in my head every time I thought back to that night. It hadn’t been easy to explain, and when I thought about it now, I still couldn’t really voice my opinion. I had wanted out, I guess. A little independence, maybe. I loved the man to death, but a girl has got to be able to be on her own without her father constantly looking over her shoulder. Besides, I wanted to be able to bring a guy home without worrying about my father waiting in the living room with a shotgun.

Besides, I liked living alone. And at the age of thirty, the fact that I had still been living with my father was a little ridiculous.

I stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and dried myself quickly, before wrapping another one around my head and stepping out into the apartment naked. Another perk I had grown very fond of over the years. I checked my mail again, answered my publisher quickly, and then slumped down on the couch.

The diner was definitely a handful, and I cherished the hour or two I had between coming back home and driving out to the lake where I liked to write. A good cup of coffee would have made this perfect, if I hadn’t been too tired to get up. I pulled over the small blanket I kept to one side and covered myself, laying my head back on the cushions. If I was lucky, I could maybe get some shut eye before hitting the midnight oil.

I tried to think of the story I was writing, running through the rough plot I had in my head and tweaking the edges of it where I thought the story could really expand. For a few seconds, I let myself be dragged into the novel, standing to a side like a silent spectator as scene after scene played in front of my eyes. I smiled to myself.

I had started ghostwriting a couple of months out of college. There weren’t a lot of jobs in Kent for Lit majors, and the fact that I wasn’t going to be leaving any time soon made things even harder. Besides, running the diner was never easy, and I doubted any other full-time position would have given me the chance to help out as much as I currently did.

Ghostwriting was the perfect gig for me. Working wherever I wanted, a nomad as long as I had my laptop and an internet connection. Over the past two years, I had gotten really good at it, too. The work was paying for rent, gas and a few other bills, making my life a lot more comfortable than the pay from the diner alone would have done. I sometimes wondered if it was worth having two jobs, being harassed with deadlines while I slaved away at the keyboard. But it all seemed to pay off when the stories were done, when the manuscripts were sent in and well received, and even more work would come flooding in.

Besides, I was writing erotica, and that was always fun.

I opened my eyes just as Casper began to nuzzle against me, and I remembered that he still needed to be walked. I got up quickly, raced into the bedroom and pulled on the first pair of jeans I could find and a Slayer t-shirt. ‘Music of the devils’ my father had always said, although secretly, he would listen to a few heavy metal bands himself when he thought no one was looking.

I grabbed Casper’s leash, fought to put it on him as he raced around my legs, eager and excited, then lead him out of the apartment. A slight breeze had begun to pick up, and the smell of summer filled my senses. Casper led me along our regular route around the complex and onto a small path leading through the woods behind us. At the end of the path was a clearing that had been turned into a picnic area a couple of years back. Luckily for me and Casper, not a lot of people knew about the path through the woods. Which meant we usually had it all for ourselves.

The minute we reached the clearing, Casper struggled against the leash until I let him loose and he charged off. The picnic area was pretty crowded this time of day, and beyond the large clearing I could see North Main Street where the main parking lot was. Usually Casper had the good sense to stay close to me, and that gave me enough breadth to really relax while he played with whichever children were willing to give him the time of day. I found a shaded spot near a tree, sat down and pulled my knees to my chest. Days like these made me feel alive, and with the crowd around me enjoying the summer afternoon, I closed my eyes and let my mind wander.

I must have dozed off for quite a while. When I finally opened my eyes, the sun had begun to set and the skies had turned a brilliant orange. Casper was dozing off beside me, and he quickly perked his ears and looked at me when I shifted positions and stretched.

“You were supposed to wake me up,” I told him, ruffling his fur before reattaching the leash. He got up even more reluctantly than I did, and with little protest let me lead him back to the path home. I looked at my watch, cursed and picked up the pace. If I didn’t get a move on, I’d never get any writing done today.

Working at home had become harder and harder, and despite the workstation I had set up for exactly that purpose, I had recently found myself becoming distracted by the smallest things. For the past week, I had begun the routine of writing at a small café near the diner, close enough to pop in if needed, but far enough not to be called upon for every little thing. The only problem was the café had a habit of attracting an evening crowd, especially college students, which meant I never really got anything done anyway.

Looking at my watch again, I realized that if I got moving now, I might only be able to get a couple of hours in.

Better than nothing. You’re never good at tackling work when it’s piled up.

I rushed up the stairs, quickly grabbed my laptop and headphones, made sure Casper had his food and water, then raced back out.

I bumped into Heath Collins just as I was exiting the complex.

“Whoa, there, missy,” Heath chuckled, catching me before I dropped the one most important piece of technology I owned. “What’s the rush?”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, smiling and embarrassed. “In a bit of a hurry.”

And when it came to Heath Collins, being in a hurry was always the best option. To say I couldn’t stand the guy was an understatement, and the fact that his family owned the apartment building where I was now living made avoiding him even more difficult. Not to mention he was at Garth’s side most of the time anyway. They had been best friends since kindergarten. Thick as thieves, those two. Sometimes I wondered if the next time Garth decided to fuck me in public, if he might bring Heath along with him.

“Where to?” Heath asked, blocking my way.

I smiled at him and tried to keep my tone as polite as possible, a weak attempt at hiding my discomfort towards him. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I’m late,” I said quickly. “Sorry again, and thanks for saving my laptop.” I pushed past him, even though he left very little room for me to maneuver, and my thigh accidentally brushed against his crotch.

Oh God, the asshole actually has a boner!

“See you around,” Heath called after me.

I didn’t reply, made straight for my car, and quickly got in. Only after I had pulled out of the parking lot did I let out the shudder I had been keeping in. I cringed at just the thought of Heath using me as his masturbation fantasy.

I made a mental note to talk to Garth about it when I saw him, not that it would do any good.

Chapter 5: Alex

“What do you think?”

Of all the places in the house that had special meaning to me, the attic was on the top of that list. When I had turned thirteen, my parents had finally agreed to let me move into it, and since then it has always been my getaway. I remembered the day my mother died, and how I had spent almost a whole month locked up in here, with my dad leaving me awkwardly made sandwiches at the door. It had been a difficult time for the both of us, and I never really got over it.

Losing Janice a few years after Kelly was born had just made that even worse.

“It’s okay,” Kelly said. “I guess.”

“You guess?” I chuckled. “Sweetheart, this is the best room in the entire house. It’s got everything. Privacy, your own bathroom, and look here.” I pulled up one of the windows and pointed to the large ledge outside. “If you promise not to jump off, this place was great for reading.”

Kelly raised an eyebrow at me.

“Fine, for spending time on your phone,” I said.

“Does the Wifi reach here?” Kelly asked, dumping her backpack on the floor and eyeing the room with scrutiny.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “We’ll have to ask Sam about that.”

“If there’s no internet, I’m moving to another room,” Kelly warned.

I shrugged and shook my head. “Suit yourself,” I said. “Just remember, the bathroom downstairs has no lock, and your grandfather could walk in on you by accident.”

“Oh, gross, dad!”

“Just saying,” I smiled, patting her suitcase as I made my way out. “Settle in, and I’ll see what your grandfather has got lying around that could pass for food.”

“I have a feeling it’s going to be more than what we usually have,” Kelly called after me.

“Love you, too, sweetheart!” I replied, taking the small staircase by twos to the second-floor landing.

The house hadn’t changed much, mainly because my father had taken the downstairs guest room as his new bedroom and had left pretty much everything else the same. The master bedroom was locked, which I assumed was because he himself didn’t really want to go in, even after all these years. The other three rooms on the second floor were left unattended, unoccupied, and had a film of dust on every surface that would probably take a few days just to get cleaned up.

I took the room closest to the attic, the one that had been mine before I had moved upstairs. The bed was small, the mattress uncomfortable, and the posters on the walls a reminder of a time when life was a lot easier. No dead mothers or wives, no shootouts, no drug rings killing away at our youth. My desk was at the same wall, under the window because my mother had believed that the view would help inspire me to work hard. Beside it was the closet that at one point in my life had seemed massive, and now just stood there collecting dust.

I lifted my suitcase onto the bed, and took a step back when the dust flew up in small clouds. I was going to have to change the sheets, probably even clean the whole place up, and just the thought of it made me groan.

Kelly’s room first.

“Obviously, Janice,” I whispered in reply to the voices in my head. I shook my head, wondering just when I would start having full-on conversations with them that would make me look like I belonged in a fucking asylum.

I opened the closet, cringed at the sight of the cobwebs, and closed the doors again. Out of my suitcase it is, I thought. The smart thing to do was get this place cleaned up now, but with the exhaustion from the drive and the fact that my leg was screaming bloody murder, I decided it could wait.

Maybe even sleep on the couch?

I sighed, stretched and ran a hand through my hair before exiting the room and making my way downstairs.

My father was in the kitchen, the stove on and his nose buried in one of my mother’s old cook books. He was frowning, obviously confused by what he was reading and completely out of place with the flowery apron he had on.

“Hey, dad,” I greeted, opening the refrigerator and being greeted by a sight I had gotten used to over the years; nothing. Well, beer and eggs, but little else other than what looked like baked potatoes with enough green on it to make you gag.

“Hmmm,” Samuel offered in reply. He scratched his head and squinted at the page in front of him. “What the hell is a ‘dash of garlic’ anyway? How do you measure that?”

I grabbed a beer, closed the refrigerator and sat at the kitchen table with a grunt. “When was the last time you actually cooked anything in here?” I eyed the pot sitting comfortably on the kitchen counter, gleaming in a way that assured me it hadn’t been used for years. Actually, the entire kitchen seemed spotless, the sure sign of a room unutilized.

“I usually eat at The Red Roof,” he mumbled. “Anything I try to make ends up burnt anyway.”

“Do you actually have anything to cook?”

“Bought a few groceries on my way here,” Samuel replied. “Thought if I’m going to have to take care of two people other than myself, might as well make sure they eat properly.”

“Thought this through, have you?”

“Apparently not enough,” he answered, flipping through the pages and trying to make sense of what he was reading. I smiled to myself and took a drag from the beer.

“This is hopeless,” he said, closing the book and taking the apron off.

“Don’t do that,” I said. “The colors suit you.”

“Alright, wise ass, I get it,” Samuel smiled, shooting me the fatherly look he usually gave me when he was exasperated. “How’s Kelly settling in?”

“Offered her the attic,” I said. “She’s asking about the Wifi.”

“The attic, huh?” Samuel opened the fridge and took out a beer for himself. “Alex Logan giving up his hideout?”

“Passing it on,” I replied as he sat down. “She needs the space more than I do. I think she’s sick of her old man.”

“Kids her age usually are,” Samuel waved. “You weren’t any easier at her age.”

“She’s twelve and already acting like I should be sending her off to college.”

“They grow up faster these days,” Samuel nodded. “Surprises me every time.”

I shrugged and took another swig of the beer. Samuel sighed, took off his hat and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. He looked great for his age, but it was only now that I noticed how deep his lines had become and the bags under his eyes.

“I’m waiting for the day she asks me for her own place,” I said.

Samuel chuckled. “Believe me, when she’s gone, you’re going to wish she had stayed.”

“I know,” I smiled. “It’s not easy, though.”

“Preaching to the choir, son.”

“I was a treat.”

“You were a little brat,” Samuel said with a laugh, drinking his beer. “Reckless, stupid, and didn’t listen to anything I said. I’m surprised you found a woman who would put up with you.”

“A lot easier than raising a girl.”

Samuel gave me a bemused look. “Really?”

“Yeah, at least you didn’t have to explain why blood came out of me every month.”

“Did you teach her how to put on make-up as well?” Samuel asked. “Go dress shopping with her?”

I laughed. “Fuck you.”

Samuel chuckled and raised his beer to me, taking a long swig. “You’re doing a good job,” he said, looking at me seriously. “She’s a strong girl. Gonna make you proud one day, that one.”

“She already does.”

Samuel eyed me for a moment, smiled and nodded. “Good boy.”

I watched my father for a few seconds, really taking him in. I owed the man a lot, and sometimes I wished I could be half the father for my daughter that he had been to me. I never really appreciated everything he’d done for me until I was stuck with a three-year-old, on my own, with nothing but YouTube videos for support.

“By the way,” I said, leaning in and resting my elbows on the table. “Heath Collins passed by here today, just before you got back.”

Samuel frowned. “What does that little prick want?”

The change in tone took me a bit by surprise, and my DEA instincts kicked in. “Told me he wanted to talk to you about the acreage by the lake. Something about having friends who wanted to buy them.”

“That shit’s been harassing me about that land for weeks now,” Samuel replied. “Got himself mixed up with the wrong kind of people, that one. Him and that other pinhead, Garth Liston. His daddy owns the tire store out by the highway.”

“Garth Liston?” Just saying the name left a bad taste in my mouth. I remembered Garth Liston. His parents had owned the biggest house on our street and Garth always acted like his shit didn’t stink. He was an entitled, smartass in high school; a fucking bully, a total jock until he blew his knee out. I expected that he had not changed much, given the look on my father’s face.

“Yeah, that one,” Samuel said. “Piece of shit. Just like his old man before he died. I drive all the way to Kingston to buy tires. God forbid I put money into any Liston’s pocket.”

I smiled. I loved it when the old man got riled. “What do they want the land for?”

Samuel shrugged and shook his head. “Some hot shot from Atlantic City wants to build a kind of resort or something,” he said. “Got a license for a casino and all. It’s supposed to bring tourism into Kent, open up a bunch of jobs, all that.”

“A casino? In Kent? Really?”

“Hey, you got money you want to throw away, be my guest,” Samuel said. “Just don’t come knocking on my door.”

“Did you know the name of the investor?”

Samuel shook his head. “Nope. And couldn’t care less,” he said. “I’m not selling.”

I sat back and tried to make sense of what my father was saying. Sure, a resort in Kent wasn’t a completely bad idea, especially with the junior college nearby and the sudden burst of gated communities all around. Still, there were dozens of places where something like this could have been more profitable, and a lot easier to set up. Heath’s interest in the land made a lot more sense now. I could see him grabbing onto an investment opportunity like this with teeth and claws. What Garth’s connection to all this was, though, I had no idea.

“Does Garth still live in the old house up the street?” I asked. “Maybe I could drop by and get a better idea of what’s going on.”

Samuel shook his head. “Moved out a long time ago. His mother married some rich guy by the name of Harlow, I believe, the guy who built Harlow Estates just outside town, near the college.”

I remembered passing by the large sign that promised “A community for the elite” and thinking just how conceited the developers had to be to use that as their slogan.

“He’s got his own house and all, opened a club right next to the student dorms. Called it something ridiculous, I can’t remember.”

I made a mental note to check that out later.

“Kent’s changed a lot since I’ve last been here,” I said.

“Yeah,” Samuel replied, his face scrunching up in what I could only assume was disgust. “Anyway, Kelly isn’t going to be able to get through the day without a proper meal, so what do you wanna do?”

“Red Roof sounds like a plan,” I offered.

Samuel drained the rest of his beer and nodded. “Then Red Roof it is,” he said, pushing himself to his feet with a grunt. “I’ll call her.”

“Don’t bother,” I said, taking out my phone. “You wanna reach Kelly Logan, you gotta message her.”

Chapter 6: Jenni

“Dammit!”

I turned the key in the ignition, waited for the engine to roar to life, and cursed again when all it did was sputter and die. I slammed my fists against the steering wheel, opened the door and stepped out into the night. The summer breeze that welcomed me was supposed to calm me down, but instead I felt like grabbing a baseball bat and hit on the car.

I had been planning to change the battery a week ago, but never really got around to doing it. Now I was paying the price for my burst of procrastination. I looked up the street, toying with the idea of just walking the rest of the way, then quickly abandoned the notion. The café was at least three miles down the road, and by the time I’d get there, I wouldn’t be able to get any work done anyway. I had a better chance of walking home than trying to get any work done tonight.

I cursed again, kicked at the wheel, and pulled out my phone, trying to decide on whether I should call my dad or Garth.

Definitely, Garth. Dad’s just going to use this as an example of why you can’t be on your own, and he might even bring up the little ‘adventure’ you had in the back room this morning.

Yeah, but Garth was going to be just as useless. He rarely answered the phone anyway, something I had learned early on. And even when he did, he always found some excuse to call you back.

Which never happened.

I scrolled through the contacts on my phone, wondering if I may have saved Pete’s Garage’s number somewhere, when the battery began to blink and the screen went dead.

“Just my fucking luck!”

I kicked at the wheel again, winced with the pain that shot up my leg, and hobbled back to the driver’s door. I took in a deep breath, trying my best to calm my nerves, and let it out in a long sigh. I looked up and down the road, hoping I could maybe hail someone down, but the streets were deserted. You’ll just have to wait.

I looked across the street at the few houses that sat in a huddle around the ballpark, and considered my options. The typical ‘can I use your phone’ excuse might be a little too cliché, and even in Kent, people had begun to lock their doors.

With the spike in recent crime rates, it’s not really a surprise.

I opened the driver’s door, slumped into my seat and closed it with a slam loud enough to portray my frustration. Not that it mattered, really; no one was around to watch me break into a three-year-old’s tantrum. I fished in the glove compartment for a car charger, and when I didn’t find one, slammed that shut, too. The night couldn’t have gotten worse.

Maybe you can get some work done here?

I thought about that for a second, shrugged, and reached for my laptop in the backseat. I took it out, flipped the cover open and waited for it to start up. In the rearview mirror, I spotted twin lights in the distance. For a second, relief washed over me, and then the lights disappeared as the car turned onto another street. I sighed and settled back down, turning my attention back to the laptop.

The battery only had thirteen percent left.

I slammed the lid shut and lay my head back. Why I constantly forgot to charge my electronics, I had no idea. The only thing I was sure of was that if one thing went wrong, everything else probably would to.

“Three dead batteries,” I said to the empty car. “That’s nursery rhyme material right there.”

Another pair of lights illuminated the rearview mirror, and these didn’t swerve onto any other streets. I watched them approach for a few seconds, trying not to get my hopes up, and when I realized that the car might pass me by, I quickly stepped out and waved it down.

The Ford truck slowed to a stop beside me, and I found myself gazing into eyes that seemed to glimmer in the little bit of light that the night had to offer. The man gazing back at me took me by complete surprise, and I found myself lost for words as my eyes traced the strong jaw and cheekbones down to the muscular arm leaning on the open window. Why, hello!

I thanked whatever God was in heaven for the fact that he couldn’t see me blush.

“Jenni?”

I frowned, recognizing the voice immediately, and looked past the hunk in the passenger seat at Samuel Logan. He was leaning on the steering wheel to look at me, and between the two men sat a beautiful girl with thick brunette hair, probably no older than twelve or thirteen, with her eyes glued to her phone.

“Sam!” I cried out, a wave of relief washing over me. “Am I glad to see you!”

“What are you parked all the way out here for?” Samuel asked.

I bit my lip, embarrassed as I looked from Samuel to his passenger and back. Those eyes! I felt the heat rise in my cheeks.

“Battery died on me,” I replied, trying my best not to focus on the man still staring at me.

“Did you try calling Pete’s?” Samuel asked.

“Phone died, too,” I admitted, albeit a little more quietly.

“Hold up,” Samuel said, stepping out of the truck with a groan. “Let me see what we can do about that.”

I watched him walk around the front of the truck, then looked back at the man in the passenger seat. He gave me a small smile and a nod, and I quickly returned both before following Samuel to my car. I unlocked the hood, and he pushed it up, locking it in place.

“So, what happened?” Samuel asked.

“Just stopped in the middle of the road,” I replied, briefly looking over my shoulder as the other man stepped out of the truck.

“And it won’t start?”

“Nope.”

“Problem with the alternator,” the other man said, walking past me and reaching into the hood of the car. I saw him fiddle with the spark plugs before clicking his tongue. “At least that’s what it sounds like.”

“Jenni, you know my son, Alex,” Samuel said.

No fucking way!

My eyes shot wide as Alex Logan smiled and reached out a hand. I took it, shaking it loosely and just stared at him. Like an idiot, I might add.

“I think he babysat you a couple of time,” Samuel chuckled. “This is Hank’s little girl, Alex.”

Alex nodded in recognition, his eyes never leaving mine, and I felt like I was beginning to drown in them. There was something more than just masculine about him. His entire demeanor reflected control and confidence, and for a second there I actually believed he could start my car with just the snap of his fingers.

“Jenni Wright,” he said, smiling again. “I remember.”

I remembered Alex from my old days, when he was a senior in high school and on his way to college. He had babysat me a few times, especially when my dad had to pull double shifts when we were short on staff, and I remembered him telling me that I could do whatever I wanted as long as I made sure to keep it down. He had even let me stay up late. I also remembered the childish little crush I had on him.

“Surprised you’re still in Kent,” Alex was saying.

“I’m managing the diner with my dad,” I replied. “And doing a little writing.”

“And robs me of my money every morning,” Samuel cut in, chuckling. I shot him one of my ‘don’t play that card’ looks I usually reserved for my dad’s friends, and that only made him laugh harder. Alex seemed quite amused at the whole ordeal.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do for you here, Jenni,” Samuel said, “but we can tie your car up to the truck and I can tow you to Pete’s.”

“Anything is better than sitting out here,” I said. “I was thinking of just walking home and leaving it here until the morning.”

“And have your father give you hell over this tomorrow?” Samuel asked, shaking his head. “Nah, we want him thinking you’re the strong, independent woman you claim to be.”

“I would call that comment sexist if I didn’t need the help,” I smiled.

Samuel laughed and slapped Alex on the arm. “Help me with the chains.”

I stood to a side as I watched them work. Samuel maneuvered the truck until its rear end was a few feet away from my fender, and Alex quickly worked the chains in between them, giving them a quick tug just to make sure they wouldn’t break loose. There was definitely control in those hands, and for a split-second I wondered what it would feel like to have them working me.

What the hell’s the matter with you?

I shook my head quickly and ran a hand through my hair. What was I thinking? I was acting like a teenager with no control over her hormones. It was completely unlike me, and I mentally chastised myself for it. I couldn’t understand what had gotten into me, and although I was known to be attracted to the strong ones, current relationship included, I felt like this was pushing it a little too far. I blamed it on the erotica-ghostwriting state of mind I was currently in, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

Stop it! You keep acting like this, and he’ll get the wrong idea.

Still, I couldn’t help thinking there was something about him. Sure, he was hot, and his physique left little doubt as to what was under the shirt he was wearing. But I was definitely not the kind of girl who just threw herself at every man she thought was attractive. Besides, the girl in the truck could only be his daughter, which probably meant that there was a Mrs. Logan in the picture.

And there’s a Garth Liston in yours.

Fuck.

“I think we’re good here,” Alex said, shooting me a quick glance before checking the chains a second time. He got up, stretched, and I noticed how one hand was massaging his right thigh. Samuel gave us a thumbs-up, and Alex gestured to the truck. “Get in,” he said.

“That’s okay, I can ride in the car,” I said quickly.

“Why?” he asked. “There’s enough space in the truck. And besides, Sam will probably send me home walking if I didn’t insist.”

I looked at the car, then at Samuel as he waved me over, then shrugged. Alex led me to the back of the truck, opened the door and helped me up. I felt a slight burst of electricity race up my arm at his touch, and again found myself thanking the darkness for hiding whatever my face would have given away.

Alex climbed into the front just as I settled myself in my seat. The girl had forgotten about her phone and was now watching me closely.

“Hi,” I smiled.

The girl only looked at me and didn’t reply.

“Be nice, Kelly,” Alex said as he put his seatbelt on and Samuel slowly pulled away from the curb.

“I didn’t say anything,” Kelly complained.

“Exactly.”

Kelly looked at me, and I rolled my eyes, quickly trying to take her side on this. Kelly smiled, rolled her eyes as well and shrugged.

“She seems nice,” she said.

“She’s sitting right there,” Alex replied while Samuel chuckled.

“I know,” Kelly retorted, looking at me over her shoulder. “That’s why I said it.”

Chapter 7: Alex

Jenni Wright. Wow, had she grown up to be a looker and a half.

It was all I could to not turn around and look at her.

For years since Janice died, there were only two things that had occupied my head. The first was Kelly, the little girl that had to do with only her father when what she really needed was a mother. And the second was the job.

I never really had any time for relationships. I had never even toyed with the idea of maybe bringing someone into my life. For years, my whole world had revolved around Janice. We had met during a particularly dark period of my life, when nothing was going to way I had planned and I was ready to just throw it all away and head back to Kent with my tail between my legs.

We met at the carnival, a run-down assortment of crap rides at a pier where the only good thing that could possibly come out of it was a good fix. And that was exactly why I had been there. I had started working at the DEA a year before, and one of the first assignments was cracking down on a distribution channel coming out of the carnival.

The job had been easy enough, the dealers too comfortable in their turf, and the carnival attracting nothing more than the low-life of the city. It was one of the reasons why I had been a little surprised that Janice was there to start with.

She had been taking her nephew out, showing him around the city, and had found herself caught in the middle of an arrest when we cracked down on a couple of dealers by the Ferris wheel. She had been shell-shocked, and I had felt the need to make sure she was okay. Had even driven her and her nephew home.

And from then on, well, the rest is just history. Several dates led to her moving in with me, and eventually I was on one knee by the same pier where we had first met, asking her to be my wife.

I had flown my father in for the wedding, and it was the only time I had actually seen him cry. I couldn’t even remember him shedding a tear at my mother’s funeral. And if he had, then he’d done a pretty good job at hiding it from me. He didn’t do that on my wedding day, though. The man was practically bawling his eyes out, and it had scared me just a little.

Kelly came a couple of years later, and for me, it had been the happiest day of my life. I had looked into my daughter’s eyes, and knew that I would do anything I could to keep her safe. The two of them were my world, and everything revolved around them.

The cancer came quick, and Janice was gone before I even had the chance to register what was going on. Kelly was three when it happened, and Samuel had flown down again just to make sure I didn’t drive the both of us off the pier and into the ocean. A thought that I hate to admit, came often.

“That girl needs you,” Samuel had told me, but I wasn’t listening. At that point, you could have me that the world was on fire, and I wouldn’t have flinched. I tried to be a father, and a cop, and had been failing miserably at both for quite a while until I learned to pull myself together. Hours of therapy and tough love helped, but throwing myself into the job with all the fury of a hurricane did even more.

And every time I was late picking her up, or missed a recital, or didn’t show up for a PTA meeting, I said to myself that I was doing it for her. I was working the night oil for my daughter, to give her the life she deserved.

Until I got shot, of course, and realized I was probably not doing it for Kelly after all. A part of me still missed Janice, and that same part seemed to have an inexplicable death wish.

Sometimes I look back at all that, and wonder what the hell went wrong. When did I forget to take care of myself for her sake? When did I think it would be okay for her to grow up without both parents?

Maybe those hours of therapy didn’t help after all, buddy.

Maybe. And maybe I had been pushing people away for the exact same reason. Why build long-lasting relationships I didn’t expect to keep, right? It was why I had never been on a date, why I had never let any woman into my life, and definitely why I couldn’t even fathom the idea of sharing a bed with someone Kelly might one day call ‘mom’.

Which made my attraction to Jenni Wright even more confusing!

She was definitely my type. Brunette, check. Slim, check. Smile that could melt steel, double-fucking-check. But there was something else there, something more than just the way she looked. It was in her eyes, a hint of mischief, a touch of a desire to live on the wild side. Reading her was definitely not easy, but that had been clear enough. And maybe that was exactly why I was feeling the way I was. Janice had that same spark, the willingness to jump headfirst into the unknown.

Dammit, she had even made jokes about the cancer when the pain had been bearable enough for that.

Jenni Wright…

The truck hit a small speed bump, and I was abruptly brought back to where my mind had wandered off to. Samuel was pulling into the driveway of a small workshop, Pete’s Garage in large painted uppercase letters on the front. I remembered the shop from my childhood, a lot of long afternoons spent with my father and Pete as we fixed up whatever the Ford had been complaining about then. It felt a little nostalgic.

“Okay, you kids stay here while I go talk to Pete,” Samuel said, jumping out of the truck.

“Take me with you,” Kelly said, following suit.

I watched from my seat as the two of them disappeared into the shop, then turned to look at Jenni. She was huddled up near the door of the backseat, biting her lip as she gazed out the window. She smiled at me when she saw me looking, and I felt parts of me melt immediately.

“So, what brings you back to Kent?” she asked.

“Decided to spend the summer with the old man, show my daughter where her father grew up,” I replied.

“That’s nice,” Jenni smiled. “Is it her first time here?”

I nodded. “Ever since her mother died, and we’ve kind of been avoiding free time.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jenni said, her eyes suddenly wide in shock. “I had no idea.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It happened almost ten years ago.”

“That’s a long time to be avoiding ‘free time’.”

I shrugged. “We’re not very good at mourning.”

“And Kelly?”

“She has to deal with me, which I think is probably the hardest part of it all,” I said.

“I know where she’s coming from,” Jenni said, looking out the window again, her eyes glazing over.

“Mother, too?”

Jenni nodded. “But she walked out on us,” she said. “I’m sure it’s not the same, but the end result pretty much is.”

I laughed. “Hank isn’t exactly the lenient type.”

“Tell me about it,” she smiled. “But he’s a great dad, all things considered.”

“Is that why you stayed back in Kent?”

Jenni hesitated, then shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said, frowning. “Partly, yeah, but I don’t hate it here, either. It used to be a great place to live for a while.”

“Used to be?”

“The college campus brought a lot with it,” she replied. “Good business, but also late-night parties, drunk drivers and of course, our all-time favorite, drugs.”

The DEA agent inside me suddenly woke up. “Drugs?” I asked.

Jenni looked at me, and for a second I had a feeling that she was about to tell me something she wasn’t supposed to. It looked like she was conflicted over what to say and what not to.

“The usual,” she shrugged. “Weed, a couple of synthetic garbage, you know?”

I did, and I also had a feeling there was a lot more to it than that. It was in the way she said it, how she looked away while trying to act like there was nothing serious to it. I made a mental note to ask Samuel about that later. The last time I had checked, Kent wasn’t exactly the place most people would associate with drugs.

I was about to ask her more, when a knock on the window startled me. Samuel waved for me to come out and help him with the chains, and as I stepped out of the truck, I glanced back at Jenni. She was looking out the window again.

Pete was standing next to my father, the hood of Jenni’s car up as he hunched forward to check the damage. “Right, it’s the alternator,” Pete said. “Don’t have the parts now, but should get ‘em in a couple of days.”

Pete stood up and stretched, then gave me a wide smile. “Welcome back, Alex.”

I shook his hand. “Thanks, Pete.”

“You tell Jenni she can come pick this up on Monday,” Pete continued. “Till then, she betta find herself another way to go about her day.”

“Thanks, Pete,” Samuel said, clapping the man on the shoulder. “We’ll manage, just do what you can.”

I unhooked the chains, then helped Pete push the car into the garage. “Now don’t you be a stranger, kiddo,” he said. “You gotta pass by here more often.”

I walked out of the garage with the promise that I would. Kelly was standing in the middle of the driveway, waiting for me.

“Grandfather’s invited your new friend to dinner,” she said with a smile.

I gave her a wary look. “Does that bother you?”

Kelly shook her head quickly. “Nope, I like her.”

“You don’t know her.”

Kelly frowned and tapped her index finger on her chin. “Let’s just say I have a feeling about her,” she said. “What’s the world I’m looking for? Intuition? I think that’s what you keep throwing at me, right?”

“One day that lip of yours is going to get you into a lot of trouble,” I smiled, resting my arm around her shoulders as we walked back to the truck. Samuel was talking to Jenni, and she looked over at us as we approached.

“Your father’s trying to charm his way into my heart,” Jenni said.

“Yeah, be careful about that,” I replied. “A real heartbreaker, that one.”

“So, a man can’t ask a beautiful woman to join him and his family for dinner?” Samuel asked, looking at the both of us with an amused smile on his face.

“Well, we could use the company,” I chimed in. “Normally, the three of us can’t really stand each other, so you’d be like a buffer.”

Jenni laughed. “Only if it’s okay with Kelly,” she said.

Nice. She knows how to play this right.

“Are you kidding?” Kelly rolled her eyes. “Please come. Save me from these two geezers.”

Jenni laughed again and nodded. “Fine, dinner it is. Where are we heading?”

“The Red Roof,” Samuel replied, hoisting himself into the driver’s seat as the rest of us got into the truck.

I stood back to let Kelly in and was a little surprised when she opted for the backseat next to Jenni. I gave her a confused look, and she shot me a warning gaze that made me smile.

It looked like I wasn’t the only infatuated with Jenni Wright.

Chapter 8: Jenni

The Red Roof wasn’t the kind of restaurant where you expected to see the rich and the glamorous. But it was one of the best in Kent, and probably the only place you could really take a date to. The owner, a wonderful woman whose mother had opened the restaurant thirty years ago, tried her best to make the atmosphere as cozy and welcoming as possible. Which just added to the appeal. The fact that she had a sort of monopoly on fine dining in Kent didn’t change the fact that she put her heart and soul into the place.

Which was one of the reasons why the place was packed when we walked in. A lot of times, just getting a table at The Red Roof required a reservation, but apparently Samuel Logan was so popular there, they already had a table ready for him. It felt nice to be able to just walk in and eat, and I giggled when Samuel leaned in and told me that he should probably be charged rent for the table he usually occupied.

We were led to a table in the back, close to the window that looked out onto North Main Street, but was far enough to give us more of a woodland view than street. It was a charming little setup, and I slid into my seat comfortably, a little taken back when Alex actually pulled out my chair for me. Whoever had said chivalry was dead, had obviously not gone out with Alex Logan before.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had been to The Red Roof for a comfortable dinner with friends. The most recent memory of the place was when Garth had brought me here for a quick dinner and a quite memorable fuck out back.

“So, what’s good here?” Alex asked, opening the menu.

“Everything,” Samuel replied quickly. “I’d stay clear of the chicken, though. You’ll probably end up ordering seconds.”

I smiled at that, and turned my attention to Kelly who had abandoned her menu and was watching the other guests. “Not hungry?” I asked.

Kelly jumped a little and looked at me. “It’s just, this place seems a lot like something out of a bad Rom-Com.”

“Kelly, eyes on the menu,” Alex said.

“Seriously,” she said. “Look at everyone around us. I mean, they’re practically making out in public. It’s gross.”

I laughed. “It’s one of the few romantic places in Kent, so you’re going to have a lot of dates here.”

Kelly looked at me for a beat before she shrugged and turned her attention back to the crowd. “There’s really not a lot to do in Kent, is there?”

“You’ll be surprised how much fun you can have outside the big city,” Alex said.

“Sure, dad, if you say so,” Kelly replied. “And what’s up with that guy? He’s staring at us as if he knows us.”

I turned my attention to where she was looking, and felt my heart jump into my throat. Sitting a few tables away, hidden by a table of six, was Garth. I had missed him coming in, and the tables between us would have kept him out of sight if Kelly hadn’t pointed him out to us. Garth was smiling at me, winked, and stood up slowly. I didn’t recognize the people he was with, but one of the women looked like she had just stepped out of a ‘Whores R’ Us’ catalog.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Alex turn just as Garth weaved through the tables towards us. “Is that Liston?” he asked.

Samuel just grunted, and I could see the look of utter disgust on the elder Logan’s face.

“If it isn’t Alex Logan!” Garth greeted, arms wide and voice as loud as ever. I cringed as people turned towards us. It was just like Garth to make a scene. “Heath told me you were back!”

He didn’t wait for Alex to stand up and clapped him on the back, quickly putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling at him like they were old friends. I saw Alex eye Garth’s hand, then shoot him a smile that bordered on discomfort.

“It’s nice to see you, Garth,” Alex said, slowly pulling away from Garth’s hold.

Garth leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Hi, babe. I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

Marking his fucking territory. Next thing you know he’d probably piss on my leg.

I saw Alex eye us before quickly looking away just as Garth turned to him again. “I was just asking Sam about you,” he said. “Told me you moved out of the old house.”

“Yeah, we did,” Garth nodded. “Got us a nice little place on the outskirts, really sweet deal. You should pass by sometime, let me give you a tour. Maybe I could even convince you to sell that crap hole you’re living in and move into something fancier.”

I could see Samuel’s face go red and daggers shoot from his eyes. It never ceased to surprise me how much Garth can piss someone off with an off-hand remark like that.

“I’d like a tour,” Alex said. “But to be honest, I’m an old-fashioned kinda guy.”

“So, are you back for good, or just visiting?”

“Visiting,” Alex said.

“You’re still in Miami, right?” Garth asked, returning his hand on Alex’s shoulder, something I’ve seen him do all the time. It was Garth’s way of showing the person in front of him that he had the upper hand, and from the looks of it, Alex knew that, too. And was not liking it.

“That’s right,” Alex said, his smile faltering for only a moment.

“Homicide, was it?”

“DEA.”

Garth’s smile faded a bit. “Yeah, that’s it. The D-E-A. Keeping the streets of Miami free of drugs.”

“Something like that,” Alex said, forcing a tight smile.

There were few times when I had seen Garth interact with others. Most of the time when we were together, we were either arguing or fucking, and in both cases, alone. It was rare that I actually got to witness his dealings with other people, and there was a good reason for that. When it came to social skills, pretentious was an understatement in regard to Garth Liston, and he had a way of getting under your skin, which pissed off most people he dealt with.

And in the case of Alex Logan, I could see he wasn’t fairing any better.

I was impressed by Alex’s control, although there were enough signs to show that he was as comfortable with this back and forth as I was watching it. His jaw was clenched, his smile just a little too wide, and his eyes betrayed him completely. Garth would definitely pick up on that, no doubt about it, but if he did, he wasn’t showing it. Right now, he was marking his territory, letting Alex know who the bigger fish in this pond was, and he was doing it with the grace of a Neanderthal.

What the hell do you see in him?

I asked myself that question all the time. I would have loved to write it off as just a sexual attraction, but a part of me knew that the bad boy ensemble was something I was pretty much drawn to like a moth to the flame. The only question was, how long would I be able to put up with Garth’s shit before it became too much.

“Hey, while you’re here, why don’t you talk to your old man about selling that piece of land he’s been holding on to?” Garth asked, leaning in as if he and Alex were old friends.

“Why don’t you ask me yourself?” Samuel said.

Garth smiled at him and raised both hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I’m just the middle man here. Gotta do the job, you know. Don’t shoot the messenger and all that.”

“I got a double-barrel that would love to do just that,” Samuel replied.

Garth’s eyes darkened, although the smile never left his face. I knew that look, although I’d never actually been on the receiving end of it. Luckily. Garth wasn’t used to be told that he couldn’t have something; it was as if you had insulted him just by saying no. Samuel didn’t seem to care, though, and stared right back at Garth, resolute.

“Your old man’s stubborn,” Garth said through clenched teeth.

“You can’t really blame him,” Alex replied. “He’s really hung up on that bit of land. I suggest you tell your friend, whoever he is, that he should stop trying and maybe look for something else.”

Garth’s gaze shifted to Alex, and for a second there, the look they shared made chills run up and down my back. I shifted in my seat, adjusting myself for no other reason other than to avoid the awkwardness, and briefly met Kelly’s eye. She smiled at me and winked, as if she knew how I felt and was trying to console me. Don’t worry, my dad’s got this, her eyes seemed to tell me, and I smiled weakly back.

“You know, they’re offering quite a lot of money for it,” Garth said. “More than it’s worth. Enough to put your daughter through college and then some.” Garth reached for Alex’s shoulder, but this time Alex quickly brushed the hand away. “I think you should talk with your old man. It’s not fair for you, Alex. He’s not going to be around forever, and chances like these only come once.”

“You know, I think we’ll be okay,” Alex said. “Besides, Kelly’s looking forward to student loans, aren’t you sweetheart?”

“The backbone of the American economy,” Kelly replied lazily. I smiled. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

Garth looked at Kelly, a look that gave me chills, and smiled. “Smart girl.” He turned back to Alex and smiled even more. “I heard your wife passed. Sorry I missed the funeral, man.”

I winced. That was a low blow.

Alex, though, seemed unfazed. “That’s okay,” he said. “We hardly noticed you weren’t there.”

Garth’s smile dropped. I quickly turned away, hoping he didn’t see the smile I had failed to control, and adjusted myself in my seat again.

“I’ll be seeing you around, Alex,” Garth said, the leaned in and kissed my neck. “And I’ll see you tonight.”

With that he gave us all a wide smile and walked back to his table.

“Your boyfriend’s weird,” Kelly said as her father sat back down.

“Kelly, I said be nice,” Alex chastised.

“Well, he is!”

“That’s okay,” I cut in before Alex could reprimand her for telling the truth. “He’s not really my boyfriend, anyway. It’s an on and off kind of thing.”

“Hopefully more off than on.”

I smiled at Kelly. I really like this girl.

“I hate to put my nose into other people’s business,” Samuel said, “but I have to agree with my granddaughter. That boy’s nothing but bad news.”

“He’s not always like that,” I tried to defend, but didn’t feel like I had my heart in it.

“He looks like he has a stick up his ass,” Kelly said, and I laughed at both the comment and the way Alex’s eyes widened.

“Language, Kelly, seriously,” Alex said.

“He’s got more than that up there,” Samuel said.

“Maybe there’s still space for your double barrel?” Kelly asked her grandfather.

I couldn’t hold my laughter back anymore and almost fell off my seat, grabbing the table and tipping my glass over in the process. If I only liked Kelly before, I was in love with her now. The girl had a wit about her I wished I could match, and it was even more impressive at her age.

“How about we all try and give Jenni a break here,” Alex said, stifling his own laughter. “Maybe not comment on her personal life?”

“Believe me,” I replied, tears stinging my eyes as I choked on my merriment. “At this point, I really don’t care what they say.”

“I’m glad to see you’re amused,” Alex replied, letting himself go and laughing along with the rest of us.

Kelly leaned over, grabbed my hand with both of hers and shook it dramatically. “You’re better than this,” she gasped. “So much better. You deserve to be happy. Get out while you still can!”

“Alright, Emma Stone, that’s enough,” Alex said, pulling her back. “Choose what you want to eat.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes and picked up my own menu, but my eyes never left the three people sitting at the table with me. For the first time in a very long time, I actually felt happy. At ease. Like I belonged, although I was technically still a stranger to both Alex and Kelly. Nevertheless, I felt welcomed, and they had drawn me in as if I were part of their family. It felt nice, different than what I was used to, and it wasn’t hard to sit back and relax.

From across the restaurant, Garth was watching us, and for some strange reason I didn’t seem to care. I’d deal with him later. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy my meal and the company I was in.

Chapter 9: Alex

We drove Jenni home right after dinner, although a part of me wanted to humor my father’s suggestion that we get a few drinks. If I had been a little more comfortable with leaving Kelly home alone, I might just have done it, too. But after the little run-in with Garth at the restaurant, and the fact that Heath was making daily visits to the house, the notion of Kelly in the house by herself made me incredibly uneasy.

Jenni’s apartment complex was closer to the college dorms than I thought, this part of Kent new to me after my prolonged absence. Whatever development had begun around town, there was no regard to architectural charm, which made me think that it was only a matter of time before my hometown became another heartless bundle of concrete eyesores.

“I had fun,” Jenni said as I walked her to the double glass door and waited for her to fish her keys out. “Thank you so much for dinner.”

“Don’t mention it,” I replied, catching the greens of her eyes and feeling like I could lose myself in them if I wasn’t more careful. “And sorry about what Kelly said. She can get a little out of hand sometimes.”

“It’s okay,” Jenni said. “What she said wasn’t too far off from the truth anyway, and besides, she’s an absolute sweetheart.”

“If you say so,” I chuckled. “She seems to have warmed up to you, too.” I looked over my shoulder to where Kelly sat on the open window watching us carefully and smiling. “She rarely does that with new faces.”

“Then I’ll consider myself lucky,” Jenni smiled.

If you don’t stop smiling, I’ll have to kiss you.

I quickly pushed that thought to the back of my mind. What the fuck, Alex?

“We’ll see you around,” I said instead as she unlocked the door and pushed her way in.

“Sam’s always having breakfast at the diner,” she replied. “You guys should join him. Our eggs are to die for.”

I chuckled, knowing well that Kelly would probably be pulling me out of bed tomorrow just for that. I wondered what excuse my daughter would make up so she wouldn’t look too desperate.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You do that,” Jenni smiled. “And thank Sam for me. He didn’t have to pick up the check.”

“He’s old school,” I said. “He’d never let a lady pay for her own meal, not while he had a penny in his pocket.”

“Thank him for me anyway,” she said and waved as the doors closed behind her.

I waited until she was out of sight, watching her skip up the stairs before turning back to the truck. My mind was racing, doing summersaults in my head, and I looked back at the glass doors as if expecting her to come back down. I shook my head angrily, forcing myself to keep moving, trying to understand what hell had gotten into me.

Smitten, Mr. DEA?

It wasn’t Janice’s voice this time, but my father’s, and when I looked up I could see him smiling at me from behind the wheel, like he knew some secret I didn’t.

Or do you?

Or did I, indeed. Dinner really had been fun, and I hadn’t felt that relaxed around someone in a long time. She was funny, handled herself well, and knew exactly what to say to win you over. My father was already infatuated by her, something he had no shamed in admitting when he called her ‘the daughter he never had’. And she was definitely on Kelly’s favorites list. So, was it really all that surprising that I would be attracted to her, too?

Too many walls, buddy. Gotta knock a few down.

True, but it had taken years to build those, and tearing them down felt like throwing away a lifetime’s effort. Besides, it wasn’t like she was available, even if her current paramour was an ass that needed to be brought down from his ivory tower. For the life of me, I could not tell what the fuck she saw in Garth Liston, but to each his own. It was not my place to voice an opinion on that, and I was not in the habit of meddling in other people’s business.

But, I did have to agree with my father. Garth felt like bad news, and it didn’t need the instincts of a DEA agent to figure that much out.

We drove home in silence, Samuel with a wide smile on his face, Kelly in the backseat and lost in her phone once again. I didn’t want to bring up dinner with either of them, and talking about what had happened with Garth seemed like a conversation for another time. Besides, I had a feeling the discussion might bring out the worst in both me and my father, and I didn’t want Kelly in the middle of it.

When we got home, my father disappeared into his room with a cheery good night, and I made sure Kelly settled in for the night. Unlike her father, she had changed the sheets on the bed and had already turned the room into her own. Got that from her mother, I thought to myself, a little impressed.

“So, when are you going to ask her out?” Kelly asked me as she jumped into bed and pulled the covers up to her waist, telephone in hand.

I snatched the phone away and put on the night stand, a ritual we went through every night. I had read something about terrible sleeping habits if you’re on your phone before going to bed.

“Ask who out?”

“You know who,” Kelly squinted at me.

“For starters, let’s agree that there are certain rules to this sort of thing,” I said. “Like, not asking someone out who is already dating?”

“Oh, come on, she hates that guy,” Kelly protested.

“You don’t know that,” I said, “and it’s none of our business.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Loud and clear, thank you Sherlock.” She reached for her phone and I pushed it away. “Second of all, I have no place for another woman in my life. You take up most of that anyway.”

“Wow, using your daughter as an excuse,” Kelly nodded. “Do they teach you that in the DEA?”

“No, they taught me how to find someone’s weakness and use it against them,” I replied. “For example, one more snarky comment from you, and your phone is mine.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Get used to it,” I said. “Now get some sleep.”

Kelly rolled over with a huff. I smiled and switched off the light.

“She likes you, you know?” Kelly mumbled.

“Phone privileges, chipmunk.”

I closed the door to the sound of one of her usual, pre-teen groans and made my way downstairs. The lights were out on the ground floor, and I could hear the distant snores of my father behind his closed door. The man still sounds like a steam mower, I thought, remembering how his snoring had always kept me up as a kid.

I closed my bedroom door, thankful that Samuel was sleeping downstairs, and gazed at the bed, pondering whether or not I had the energy to actually change the sheets. I was exhausted, and ever since we had gotten back home, my leg had started acting up again.

Just get it over with.

I sighed, pulled the dusty sheets off the bed and rummaged through the closet for fresh ones. Within twenty minutes I was undressed and lying in bed, the window above the desk open to let in the night’s breeze. It felt good not having to turn on an air conditioner, and I closed my eyes, replaying the events of the day in my head until I fell asleep.

* * *

For some reason, I was thinking about Janice, how she was always laughing.

If there was one thing nobody could deny, it was that Janice had an incredible sense of humor and had no shame in laughing out loud when she was genuinely happy. It was one of those things people found incredibly charming about her.

It was one of the things that made me fall in love with her over and over again.

“Okay, wise guy, if you want to play it that way,” Janice said. “My sister, my mother and Britney.”

“Wait, which one’s Britney?” I asked.

We were both drunk, sprawled on the living room floor with wine glasses in our hands and Boyz 2 Men playing in the background. It was a Saturday, and instead of going out, we had opted for a night in watching Friends reruns and eating popcorn. It was one of the few days I had off and I didn’t want to spend it anywhere else but home, with her. Only her.

“She’d be offended,” Janice said.

“Britney’s the art critic, right? The one who tried to sell us that painting of a dog shitting on a stone?”

Janice laughed and kicked at me. “That was a beautiful work of abstract art!”

“Looked like a dog shitting on a stone.”

“Whatever,” Janice laughed, sipping on her wine. “Yes, that’s Britney.”

“Okay, I would definitely fuck Britney,” I started.

“Expected.”

I frowned at her, smiling, and continued, “Marry your sister.”

“Gross.”

“Would you stop interrupting me?”

“That’s gross, and you know it.”

“It’s the friggin’ game,” I laughed. “And I would kill your mother.”

Janice shrugged and nodded. “Makes sense.”

“I hate that woman.”

“She’s not very fond of you, either.”

I laughed, reached for the one bottle and refilled my glass. “Your turn,” I said.

Janice leaned in, cradling her glass near her neck and blew me a kiss. “Let’s hear it, lover boy.”

I smiled. “Me, me and me.”

Janice bit her lower lip, raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her wine. I waited, our eyes locked, and shuddered when her foot touched the inside of my thigh and made its way up.

“I already married you,” she said, her foot inching closer to my cock, which, usually with a mind of its own, was already stirring. “I sometimes want to kill you.” Her foot found its place between my legs and began to rub against me. I closed my eyes, feeling the alcohol race through me and dance in my head.

Janice leaned in, replaced her foot with a hand that squeezed playfully, and whispered I my ear, “And I would most certainly fuck you.”

“Now that sounds like a plan,” I whispered.

Janice took my wine glass, placed it on the coffee table next to hers, and straddled me. Her lips locked onto mine as she slowly began to move against me, making me even harder, pushing her crotch against mine. My hands found their way around her waist, and slowly began pushing the hem of her shirt up.

“You know,” Janice said, breaking the kiss but not the grinding of her hips, “your idea of staying in tonight? Brilliant.”

I gasped, my eyes briefly closing. “I thought you might appreciate it.”

“I do,” she whispered, her lips brushing against mine. “There’s just so much we can do, isn’t there?”

“Got any big ideas?” I asked.

She looked at me seductively and began unbuttoning my pants. “A few.”

She raised her arms and let me push her shirt over her head, her breasts on full display and her nipples erect. I immediately went for them, devouring one after the other, sucking on them as she wrapped her arms around my head and brought me in closer. She moaned as my tongue swirled in circles between sucking and nibbling.

“Just like that,” she breathed against my ear, driving me crazy. “That’s it, baby, just like that.”

She began to grind harder against me, and with both hands on her ass, I pushed her down harder, feeling the warmth between her legs seep through the fabric of our clothes. Her body began to heat up, and I gently pushed her onto her back, kissing my way down. I pulled her pants off, slowly, kissing each inch of bare skin as I removed them, and then quickly got rid of her panties as well.

I stood up, swaying a bit and making her laugh as I stumbled to take off my own pants. When I had finally managed to get out my clothes, she gazed into my eyes and with a finger, beckoned me to her.

I slipped inside her easily, her warmth and wetness embracing me completely, her back arching as she moaned. My lips embraced her nipples again, and she ran her nails up and down my back, sending shudders through my whole body. I felt her clench down on me, her breath hot against my ear.

“Love me, Alex,” she whispered.

I began to move against her, slowly at first, only picking up the pace ever so slightly. I found a rhythm we were both comfortable with, something in between the insane lust I had for her right now, and the gentle love making we shared when we felt the world was barren except for us. I gazed into her eyes, kissed her lips, ran my hands up and down the sides of her body and felt her shudder with my touch.

She wrapped her legs around mine, pushing her hips up to meet my thrusts, holding me close so that I was kissing her neck and she was moaning in pleasure against my ear. The feel of her naked against me made my head swirl, and I never wanted this to end. I prayed that it would go on forever.

She rolled me over onto my back and straddled me, guiding me inside her effortlessly as she began to move. Her hips grinded against me, her fingers raked against my chest, and she threw her head back as her orgasm shook through her. She leaned in, kissed my neck, and quickened her pace. It felt like heaven, and I doubted that I could hold out much longer.

She felt the muscles of my body flex, and knew that I was close.

“Come for me,” she whispered in my ear. “Don’t hold back, baby, come for me.”

And I did. I exploded inside her with such force, my entire body shook. I held her tight in my arms, breathing her in, feeling myself pulse inside her as she clenched against me.

We stayed like that for a long time, and when she finally rolled over and snuggled against me, she was already half asleep. I held her close, felt her heart beating against my chest, and drifted away.

* * *

I woke up to the sounds of footsteps on the second-floor landing, and instinctively reached under my pillow for the gun that I had forgotten was not there. The lights in the house were out, and the only illumination came from the moonlight that found its way through the bedroom window.

Kelly appeared at my door, hair disheveled, blanket in her hand.

“Dad?”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, frowning as she made her way into my bedroom and stood by the bed.

“New house,” she said simply, and it was all the explanation I needed.

I made space for her to crawl into bed next to me. She shifted and turned until she found a comfortable position, then pulled her blanket over her shoulders.

I laid back and stroked her hair until her breathing slowed. I envied how quickly she could fall asleep sometimes, although it was a trait I wished she had had back when she was a toddler. Back when putting her down usually meant that I would fall asleep first and she would wake me up every few minutes, as if it were some kind of game to her.

I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes. After her death, I had dreamt of Janice almost on a daily basis, and I usually woke up feeling a lot worse than when I had gone to sleep. It was no secret that I missed her, but the dreams made finding closure so much harder. Luckily, those dreams had become rarer over the years, but every now and then, that one memory would pop up. That night of wine and games and laughter, when we were our happiest. It was three weeks after that night that we had found out Janice was pregnant, and to this day, that night was the one memory that cut through me the worst.

Kelly shifted beside me, and for the first time in a long while, I longed for Janice to be here with us. To see the beautiful girl her daughter had grown up to be. To take care of the idiot her husband had become.

To keep the two of us from losing our minds completely and tearing at each other’s throats. To share the moments when we laughed so hard, Kelly would roll onto her back and kick her feet into the air.

My chest clenched, and I felt tears well up behind my closed lids. I fought them back, took a deep breath, and let it out in a long and broken sigh.

I fell asleep a few minutes later, and dreamt of nothing at all.

Chapter 10: Jenni

I couldn’t stop thinking about Alex Logan.

I had tried to sleep early, grateful for the fact that Garth had not passed by as promised. On any other night, I might have been upset, angry even, although it would be fairly unlikely for him to actually do what he said he would. A part of me had expected him to show up and break the mold, only because he had seen me out with the Logans. Garth had a habit of marking his territory, and spending the night at my place would have been an opportune way to show me who wore the pants in what we were kidding ourselves into thinking was a relationship.

Thankfully, though, Garth hadn’t passed by, and I had spent the night tossing and turning in bed before finally giving into the fact that I was not going to get any sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I’d see Alex. Hazel eyes boring into mine, strong hands holding my waist and pulling me closer to him. I imagined running my hands over what I could only imagine was a perfectly chiseled body, and I caught myself crossing my legs just to calm the heat coming from in between them.

I had spent most of the night in front of the computer, Casper cuddled at me feet as I wrote. Chapter after chapter, the words just flowing as if I had no control over them. I was on cruise control, typing away like a mad woman, and all the time using Alex as the image for my protagonist. The sex scene I wrote was one of the hottest I had ever conceived, and I had stopped at least three or four times to cool down before continuing. In my head, Alex was the alpha male and I was the innocent damsel in distress, and although the story I was writing was borderline cliché, it hadn’t been hard imagining the two of us as the characters rolling about under the covers in my story.

It was only when the sun had come up did I find myself crawling into bed and falling asleep, only to be woken up two hours later to the incessant ringing of my phone and Hank demanding to know where the hell I was.

“I need to talk to you.” My father’s gruff voice startled me, and I looked up from the finance sheets I was revising from the day before. I was exhausted, eyes drooping, the numbers in front of me blurring into each other and making absolutely no sense.

The morning crowd had already begun to gather, and most of the tables were occupied. Three waitresses were dashing back and forth between the guests and the kitchen, calling out orders and refilling coffee. It was the usual bustle of a busy day, and although I was supposed to be wide awake, keeping an eye on everything going on, I was lost in my own little world.

Something my dad was aware of, especially after giving me a look that would have had me cowering into a corner if I hadn’t been this tired.

“Sure, dad, what’s up?”

Hank shook his head and nodded to the back, a gesture I knew meant he had serious business to discuss with me. I braced myself and followed him past the kitchen and the storage room, then into his office.

The small space that was occupied by a desk and filing cabinet was barely enough for the two of us together, and I had to press myself against the wall just to close the door.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush, Jenni,” Hank said, sitting down behind his desk. I always found it amusing how big he looked in his chair, his burly figure almost falling over the sides as he rested his arms on the desk. “I’m disappointed, and I have a feeling you know why.”

“Sorry, dad,” I replied. “I didn’t mean to be late. I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

“That’s not what I was talking about,” Hank said. “Although, I’m guessing both subjects are related.”

I frowned in confusion and waited for my father to keep going. He had a habit of pausing for effect, and at times like this, that was more than just annoying.

“Garth Liston,” Hank said.

I felt my heart drop, knowing that the conversation I had hoped to avoid was now upon me. “What about him?” I asked, feigning disinterest.

“Listen, Jenni, what you do on your own time, behind the closed doors of your apartment, that’s your deal,” Hank said. “I already told you how I feel about you moving out, but you made it crystal clear that this is your life, and I really don’t have a say in it.”

“I didn’t say that,” I began, but was stopped before I could continue.

“Not the point,” he said. “What I do want to say, though, is that your life is what you do outside the diner doors. I don’t want you bringing your private life into this diner. Especially when your private life includes that piece of scum.”

“Dad…”

“Don’t interrupt me,” Hank cut me short. “That kid’s bad news, Jenni. Always has been, always will be, and you’d do best to stay the hell away from him.”

“Okay, can you slow down,” I said. “First of all, I’m not really dating him.”

“Just fucking him, then?”

“Dad!”

“Stating the obvious, here,” Hank said, holding up his hands. “And believe me, I’m not at all happy about it.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at him. “Fine, yes, just that. I thought there might be more to it, but apparently there isn’t, and I don’t think I’m going to be seeing him anymore.”

My father eyed me for a beat before leaning back and folding his hands on his belly, sniffing loudly as he tried to read me and see if I was pulling his leg.

“I’m serious, alright?” I said. “What happened yesterday, that was a mistake, and I’m sorry. But this really is the end of it, and I’m not just saying that to make you feel better.”

Hank scratched his nose, sniffed again and nodded. “Alright,” he said. “You know I’m only coming down hard on you because I love you, right?”

I nodded, smiling a little. “Sure.”

“And you’ll always be my little girl, so don’t even ask me to stop treating you like one, although I try not to.”

“I know.”

“But in the back room? Really?” Hank’s face shifted into a mask of disgust. “That’s just wrong.”

“If it’s alright with you,” I said, “I really don’t feel like discussing my sex life with my father.”

“Then keep your sex life out of my diner,” Hank replied. “Now go wash your face, try to at least look like you’re awake, and get to work.”

I smiled and saluted lazily. “Aye, aye, sir.”

I walked out of the office and made my way to the lockers just beyond the storage room. There was a small bathroom there reserved for the employees, and I locked myself in and gazed at my reflection in the mirror. I really did look like shit. I had no idea how I’d left the house looking like this, and quickly washed my face and adjusted my make-up and hair. When I felt like I looked at least presentable, I walked back out and took up my regular position at the bar, sitting down tiredly and sighing as I flipped through the pages of finances I had to revise.

After an hour, I quickly realized I was probably going to get nothing done today. I sat back, stretched, and watched the waitresses as they worked. I smiled at a few of the guests, got up to help when I felt the orders were a little too overwhelming, and manned the register while my dad socialized with some of his older friends. By the time afternoon came rolling in, I already felt like I needed at least a gallon of coffee or I’d pass out in the back office from the exhaustion.

“Hey, waitress, what’s good to eat here?” I jumped and turned just as Samuel Logan slid into his regular seat and Kelly jumped into the one next to him. She shot me a smile.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite regular and his incredibly gorgeous granddaughter,” I smiled, the exhaustion taking an immediate backseat as I quickly looked over their shoulders to see if they had come alone.

“Hi, Jenni,” Kelly greeted, immediately grabbing the menu.

“Thought I’d show the little rascal where her grandfather has the best breakfast in Kent,” Samuel said, ruffling Kelly’s hair and rewarded with a scowl that would have burned down buildings.

I laughed. “A little late for breakfast, don’t you think?”

“Dad took forever to wake up,” Kelly said, rolling her eyes.

I looked at the door again, then back at them. “Did he drop you off?”

“He’ll be here shortly,” Samuel winked at me, and I raised an amused eyebrow at him in response.

“He’s getting his drugs,” Kelly said. “Apparently, he can’t go a day without them.”

I frowned and looked at Samuel for an explanation.

“Pain killers,” Samuel said. “He got shot a few months back. Still dealing with it.”

“Oh my god!”

“Drug bust gone bad,” Samuel said. “But he’s fine now. Just a bad leg that constantly nags at him.”

“And of course, it’s affected his capacity for rational thinking,” Kelly muttered.

I laughed again, and Samuel ruffled her hair once more, quickly dodging as she tried to slap his hand away. “I say get this one some food before her mouth gets the better of her.”

I took their orders, relayed it to the kitchen, and returned a few minutes later just as Alex walked in. He wore an open flannel shirt over a white t-shit that gave me the perfect idea of just what was hidden underneath, and I began undressing him with my eyes as he approached us, only realizing I was doing it when he frowned at me over a confused smile. I quickly snapped out of it and smiled back.

“Good morning,” Alex said, taking the seat beside his daughter.

“Afternoon, dad, seriously,” Kelly replied.

“She still hasn’t eaten anything?” Alex asked, looking at Samuel.

Samuel only shrugged and chuckled.

“Food’s on its way,” I said. “You want to give me your order so they can fix it up and bring them all together?”

“God no, get Kelly’s food first,” Alex said. “Or we’ll be facing the wrath of the antichrist before we know it.”

Kelly looked at him, shook her head in disapproval, then looked back at me while rolling her eyes. The dynamic between the two of them was entertaining.

The bickering and snarky comments went back and forth even as they ate, and I found myself amazed at just how sarcastic Kelly was, and witty. I had read somewhere once that wit was the sign of great intelligence, and the way this girl was shooting remarks back and forth had me smiling the entire time.

By the end of their meal, Samuel had to practically drag her away from her father, making up some excuse about showing her around town. When Alex offered to join them, Samuel quickly refused.

“I’d rather the two of you spend some quality time away from each other,” Samuel laughed and winked at me.

We watched them leave before Alex turned back to me and shrugged. “Sorry about that,” he said. “We do get along on most days.”

“I think it’s cute,” I replied, gesturing to the coffee pot. He nodded and refilled his cup. “You’re doing a great job with her.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m in over my head, but she’s quick to put me back in my place.”

I laughed at that. I could only imagine what it was like behind closed doors between the two of them. Alex watching TV, Kelly glued to her phone, the two of them throwing side remarks at each other every few minutes just to see who cold annoy the other more. I felt like their life mirrored the life of roommates more than that of father and daughter. I found myself wondering what it would be like to share a living space with the two of them.

Careful, there, missy. You’re treading into dangerous territory.

“You never mentioned you were a cop,” I said.

Alex nodded. “DEA,” he explained. “Fighting the never-ending war on drugs and losing miserably one day at a time.”

“That’s a bit cynical,” I laughed.

“It’s the truth,” he replied. “Sure, we do the best we can, but the truth is we’re only getting small wins here and there. You’d be lucky to take down any of the big fish.”

“Must make the job hard.”

“It does,” Alex replied. “All you can really do is wake up, go do your job the best way you can, and pray you don’t get shot in the process.”

“I guess sometimes the prayers go unanswered?”

He looked up at me with a frown, then smiled. “Samuel told you about my accident, huh?”

“I wouldn’t really call getting shot an accident.”

“Yeah, I guess not,” he said, his voice drifting off a bit as he sipped on his coffee.

“So, is that why you’re really in Kent?” I asked. “Rehab?”

Alex looked at me, and I mentally slapped myself for prying. It really wasn’t any of my business. One dinner with the Logan family didn’t make it alright for me to ask too many questions.

“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized, giving him a weak smile.

“It’s alright,” he assured. “Partly, yes. Was forced into a vacation, needed to reevaluate a few things, and decided to do that thinking here where I didn’t have the Miami hustle and bustle to distract me.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” I said.

He smiled, took a sip from his coffee and just looked at the cup in his hands. The distant look in his eyes made me feel like I had just fucked up.

“So, what do you have planned for the day?” I asked, trying to change subjects and bring the conversation back to more comfortable ground.

“Nothing, really,” he said. “Wanted to look into a few things regarding investors who have been harassing my father about buying old family land. Want to figure out what it will take to get it to their heads that no means no.”

“Alexis?” I asked.

“Excuse me?”

“The company that wants to build a casino, right?”

Alex nodded.

“Alexis Hope,” I replied, shuddering at the disgusting taste the name left in my mouth. “She runs Hope Enterprises, or at least the branch of it that deals with real estate. Her company’s behind the compounds and dorm buildings all over town.”

“Really?” Alex asked. “Hope Enterprises? Sounds familiar, just can’t place it.”

“As much as I know, it’s a pretty low-key company, but definitely Fortune 500. Just doesn’t make a big craze about everything it does.”

Alex frowned and shrugged. “Why would they be interested in Kent?”

“The university,” I replied.

“We don’t have a university,” Alex smiled.

“We will in about a year,” I said. “Big plans, already bought the land and started digging. It’s supposed to bring in up to five thousand students. That’s a lot of business for Kent.”

“Right, and more investors, I get it,” Alex nodded. “Where university students go, the money follows.”

“Pretty much.” I leaned in and scratched the back of my head. “I mean, Kent’s seen major change just because of the college. Imagine what an added university is going to do.”

“Well, at least you’ve given me a place to start,” Alex said, “and why Heath Collins is the middle of this.”

I cringed at the mention of Heath’s name, and decided to avoid talking about Garth’s involvement as well.

“Thanks, Jenni,” Alex said, standing up and pulling out his wallet.

“On the house,” I said quickly. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, Samuel’s in here every day, so your breakfast basically been paid for a hundred times over.”

Alex laughed and pocketed his wallet. “Fine, then at least let me get you coffee later.”

I felt my heart jump and smiled. “Coffee sounds good.”

“When do you get off?”

“Usually at three, but I’m going to have to be here until the paperwork is done,” I said. “So maybe six or seven.”

“Seven it is,” Alex said with a wide smile. “I’ll see you then.”

I watched him walk out the diner, giving my father a quick wave before he disappeared out the door. I looked at the time on my phone and already began counting down the minutes.

Chapter 11: Alex

I found out very little about Hope Enterprises, the company pushing to bring a casino to Kent.

I didn’t know if it was because they were intentionally keeping a low profile, or simply the fact that everything they were involved in seemed far too boring to make any headlines.

My research online resulted in a bunch of websites outlining just what the company was all about, their achievements, and basically a bunch of praises from obscure names I had never really heard of. Other than that, they seemed clean. A little too clean, but nothing that threw up red flags in my mind.

Alexis Hope was a completely different persona altogether. From the scant number of pictures of her I could find, she seemed like the type of woman who would walk through a steel wall to get what she wanted, and do it without breaking a sweat.

Black raven hair, blue eyes that promised to bore into your soul and learn your darkest secrets, and enough of a poise that radiated confidence and control to make any man uncomfortable.

She was not a woman I wanted to cross paths with.

When you put her next to the information I could find on her company, something just didn’t add up. It was hard to believe that someone like her would lack the ambition to be front cover news on every magazine in the country. I rarely met a woman in my professional career who was in a position of corporate power and had no desire for the spotlight. Alexis Hope radiated ‘newsworthy’, and the fact that I could find out so little about her made me skeptical.

I placed a call in to Raul in Miami, and after about fifteen minutes of assuring him that I was good, that Kent was beautiful, that Kelly was doing great, I filled him in on what I needed. He didn’t seem all too convinced that doing a background check on Hope Enterprises was worth his time, but the minute I told him I’d drive back to Miami and do it myself, he promised he would. Anything to make sure I got the rest I needed, or at least what everyone thought I needed.

I spent the couple of hours before my meeting with Jenni in the park. Samuel had shown Kelly most of the town, and from the looks of it, she wasn’t all too impressed. The park, though, was different. We took her to the duck pond where I had spent most of my afternoons with my father after my mother had died. It was a magical little place, secluded from the noise of the rest of the park, nestled amid large maples that hung over it like a protective veil. At night, if the moonlight was just right, you could easily lose track of time here. And there were nights where Samuel and I stayed there until dawn.

I drove them home, literally pulling Kelly away from the pond, and parked my car in front of the diner at exactly seven. Jenni came out a few minutes later, looking like she had had the worst day of her life, eyes droopy as she opened the passenger side door and all but collapsed in her seat.

“Home?” I asked. She looked beautiful, despite how tired she appeared to be. I caught myself tracing the lines of her cheek and jaw down to her neck and collar. I imagined my lips there, and quickly shook the image away.

Jenni shook her head quickly. “God, no, I’ve actually been looking forward to this,” she said.

“Actually?”

She giggled. “Yes, actually. If I go home now, I’ll crash, and that means the day’s been a complete waste.”

I shifted the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

“You’re kidding!”

The coffee shop was a cozy little establishment just off North Main Street, surrounded by quaint little houses and with an evening crowd that wasn’t too much of an ear sore. We were sitting at a table by the large window looking out onto front garden that was decorated with enough gnomes and flamingos to make your mind spin, but the atmosphere was welcoming, and the soft rock music playing mixed with the aroma of fresh coffee splendidly.

“Nope, I’m serious,” Jenni said, laughing.

“Erotica?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. “I would never have imagined.”

“Why?” she asked, sipping at her coffee. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Agent Logan.”

“Apparently so,” I chuckled. “So why ghostwriting? Why not try publishing your own work.”

Jenni shrugged. “No idea, really,” she said. “Competition’s fierce, and getting a leg into the market’s hard. I got enough rejection letters to bind into an encyclopedia. Besides, it pays the bills.”

“But your ideas, you’re just giving them away.”

“Not really,” she explained. “Most of the time, they’re not my ideas. I get an outline to work with most of the time. So basically, I’m just filling in the spaces, if you think about it.”

“Wow,” I said, leaning back in my seat, and eyeing her. In the dim light of the coffee shop, she looked even more beautiful, and I found myself staring a little too hard. “Wow,” I repeated, not really knowing what else to say.

“I’ll send you a few things I’ve written,” she smiled. “Get your opinion and all.”

“I’m not much of a reader, to be honest, but sure, why not?”

She smiled wider and nodded, gazing out the window as we sat silently for a few minutes, just enjoying the coffee and each other’s company. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this comfortable, and it was strange. I found it funny that in Kent, of all places, I’d come across someone who didn’t make me want to immediately shoot myself in the head.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I said. “Shoot.”

“Did you ever think of quitting?”

I frowned. “The DEA?”

She nodded.

I thought about her question for a few seconds, wondering just what I could say that wouldn’t make me sound too cliché. “Not really,” I finally answered. “I love the job. Small wins or not, I feel like I’m making a difference.” Yeah, not cliché at all.

“You’re not worried?” she asked.

“About what?”

“Well, you know?” She hesitated. “I mean, you were shot.”

I shrugged, trying to look like it wasn’t a big deal. “Part of the job.”

“Come on,” she scoffed.

“Okay, maybe that’s playing it down a bit,” I admitted. “Sure, it’s crossed my mind a few times. Especially since Kelly’s only got me and Samuel. I’d hate her to grow up without both parents.”

“But you wouldn’t quit for her?”

I frowned, wondering what she was getting at, and a part of me a little uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. I hated when people assumed that I didn’t care about my daughter, that I was being selfish, but I didn’t want to jump the gun and think Jenni was just going to attack me for this. She looked like she was genuinely concerned.

“If she asks me to, I probably will,” I replied. “So far she’s dealing with it as best as she can. She was my wall when I was bedridden after the accident. She’s a lot stronger than people give her credit for.”

“What exactly happened in this accident?” Jenni asked, leaning in and resting her chin on her hands.

I sighed and sat back, playing with the table spoon. “Long story.”

“I’m actually interested.”

“Actually?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled and nodded.

“We had a lead on a major drug deal, and my partner and I were assigned with staking the place out,” I started. “We didn’t think it would be anything. You have so many moles in the business, bad information is quite common. And if the information is right, the dealers usually get a warning before we can do anything. It’s rare that we actually catch a deal of that magnitude when it’s actually happening.”

“But this was different?”

I nodded. “The dealers showed up. My partner, Raul, wanted to wait for backup, but I was sure that by the time the cavalry arrived, the dealers would have been warned. So, we went in.”

“How bad was it?”

“Bad enough that I spent three weeks in the hospital, and another month at home with my twelve-year-old babysitting me and my father trying to keep our lives together. Two bullets almost ripped my guts apart, one missed my heart by a couple of inches, and two shattered my femur. I’ve recovered for the most part, but my leg’s still killing me. Some nights the pain is so bad I can’t even get out of bed.”

Jenni’s eyes were wide, and she looked at me with a mix of sympathy and concern. I wondered what was going through her head at that moment. Her eyes were fixated on me, staring at me for what seemed like forever, as if trying to read me, before she looked away and sipped at her coffee.

“Not a great story to tell at parties,” I tried to joke.

She looked up at me, her face clearly portraying that she wasn’t amused, and looked away again. “How did Kelly handle all that?”

I hesitated. I had always seen my daughter as a rock, and although I knew she had definitely been affected by the whole thing, she was quick to show that she was okay. We had never really discussed the shooting, or how she was doing. She never gave me a reason to believe that she was suffering from it.

“She took care of her old man, and did a pretty good job at keeping her head together, I guess,” I said. “We haven’t talked about it, really.”

“She’s a strong girl.”

“Takes after her mother,” I said.

Jenni looked up again. “How did she die?”

I choked a bit. I rarely talked about Janice with anyone other than my father, and even then, it was to remember something she said or did that had us both laughing out loud. The death part had always been something we avoided.

Come to think of it, you’re a family that loves to avoid touchy subjects.

True.

“Cancer,” I replied.

“Must have been hard.”

I nodded. “When it was bad,” I said. “She was strong, though, joked about it when she could. She loved life too much to let the sickness ruin her last days.” I hesitated. “I only realized that the thing was deadly when she was gone. She never made me feel like she was going to die. I think at some point I thought she’d fight it away.”

“I’m sorry,” Jenni said. She reached out and held my hand, and although I could see her do it, I couldn’t feel the touch. I had been brought back to a time I usually avoided reminiscing about, and the rush of emotions racing through me was overwhelming.

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to smile. “I have the memories of when it was beautiful, and that’s what I hold onto when I remember her.”

“Does Kelly remember her?”

I shook my head. “She was too young when it happened. When she asks about Janice, I share what I can, and make sure she knows that she was loved. It’s what Janice would have wanted. I never talk about the cancer.”

She squeezed my hand, and I smiled at her. I didn’t understand it, but for the first time ever, I didn’t mind talking about Janice with someone else. I was comfortable, too, as if this was right. Like Jenni had a right to know, for some reason.

“How about you drive me home, and go kiss your daughter good night?” Jenni smiled. “Besides, if I stay here any longer, you might have to carry me home.”

I chuckled, a little grateful at her attempt to lighten the mood. I nodded to the waitress and gestured for the check, noticing that Jenni was still holding my hand. And I was completely fine with it.

Chapter 12: Jenni

I wanted to hug him. I wanted to hold him in my arms, feel him wrapped around me, and just hold him. It was the most overwhelming of feelings, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it off.

I didn’t know what it was. The way he talked about his wife and daughter, the sadness in his eyes, the sheer vulnerability that he had shown. It all mixed together in a mesh of emotions that had me wishing I could have him all to myself, behind closed doors, where I could hold him and make him feel that everything was alright.

I had never really expected to see that side of him. The confidence he radiated, the strength in his demeanor, it had made me a little cautious. A part of me had believed that my attraction to Alex was solely physical, and the fact that he was a cop had only added to the appeal. The ‘danger’ that I was always drawn to.

But this was different. This feeling in the pit of my stomach, the emotions coursing through me, I had never felt anything like it before. All of a sudden, I saw him in a different light. He was still the strong, confident DEA agent with all the testosterone filled appeal that I loved. But there was also another layer there, hidden beneath the surface. Gentle, loving, caring, willing to give the people he loved everything and anything. And after glimpsing it, even if for such a short period of time, I felt drawn to him even more.

You’re in a lot of trouble, Jenni Wright.

“You don’t say,” I muttered to myself.

Alex leaned against his car and folded his arms across his chest, his eyes boring into mine, and I felt that if I met them for too long, I’d end up breaking down and just admitting everything I felt to him.

“I had fun,” he said.

“Definitely an interesting cup of coffee,” I replied, returning his smile and thanking the fact that the night was hiding the blush I could feel creeping into my cheeks.

He opened the passenger door for me. “Let’s get you home before you collapse right here.”

I laughed as I got in, the day truly taking its toll on me, but that wasn’t the reason why I wanted to go home. A part of me knew that if I spent any more time with Alex, I’d be inviting him up for more coffee, and maybe a little more.

He was closing the door when he stopped. He was looking out at the other parked cars, and I turned to see what had grabbed his attention. A few cars down, I caught sight of one of Heath’s friends.

I had immediately disliked the guy when I had first seen him, and hated how he seemed to be stuck to Garth and Heath’s hips wherever they went.

He was standing between two cars talking to a couple of kids that looked like college students, and as I watched, they exchanged something quickly between them.

Oh shit!

“Hold on,” Alex said, closing the door.

This was not going to go well.

Chapter 13: Alex

“Jack, right?”

Jack swirled around just as I came up behind him, I smiled at the other two as they quickly pushed at each other and rushed away. I saw one of them pocket something, telling the other to hurry as they made their way to a car parked a few feet away.

Jack blocked their retreat, standing in front of me with his arms crossed and eyes squinting at me, an aggressive stance that almost made me laugh.

“Just thought I’d come over and say hi,” I said. “Oh, and maybe tell you that what you’re doing is considered illegal in most states. All of them, actually.”

“And what am I doing, exactly?”

I smiled. “Come on, buddy,” I said. “It’s pretty obvious. I mean, you might as well hang a sign around your neck saying, ‘buy drugs here’.”

Jack pulled himself up straight and took what I honestly believed he thought was a menacing step towards me. “Yeah? And what is it to you?”

“Well, given that it’s my job, I feel obligated to make a citizen’s arrest and take you for a ride to the Sheriff. You know, Kent being out of my jurisdiction and all.”