“Luka! Stop! You have to let me explain!” Petal cries from the front door. “Luka, please!”

I stop five feet from my truck. My heart slams against my chest like a fucking sledgehammer. I feel sick all over. How the fuck did I let her take me for a ride like this? How could she have lied to me for fucking months and I never knew?

“What the fuck can you explain Mag—Petal?” I ask, and it feels like the words come out in a moan that is torn from my soul. “Can you explain why you fucking lied to me every fucking day for months? Can you tell me why the fuck you played me for a fool?”

“It wasn’t like that, Luka! It wasn’t!”

“Then how was it?” I cry. I feel like my heart is shattering into a million pieces.

“I love you, Luka! I knew you wouldn’t want me if you knew how old I was, I knew, and I had—”

“Had to lie to me? Had to fucking make me fall in love with a kid? Christ, you weren’t even legal when we met! Do you realize your mother is in there right now threatening to have me arrested? How do you think a statutory rape charge will look on my FBI application? You knew how important that job was to me. You knew, and you put everything important to me in jeopardy!”

“I love you, Luka! I wanted to be important to you. We can—”

“We can’t do anything. You don’t know what love is. You’re a kid—a selfish, spoiled fucking kid!” I hurl at her. I hear her crying my name, and her tears hurt me, but the anger inside of me is stronger. And the betrayal… God, the betrayal is drowning me from the inside out.

* * *

Present:

“Hey, Luka man, I need to talk to you for a minute.”

“What’s up, Daniel?”

“Can we talk in your office?” He looks around the front lobby of the Sheriff’s office. Daniel is my best deputy. He’s usually laidback and easy-going, but he’s clearly uncomfortable now.

“Sure.” I shrug, wondering what is bothering him. “Have a seat, man. What’s up? You’re not about to quit, are you?”

“What? Oh! Hah! Hell no, you wish. Nah, man. I heard something at the diner today that might not sit well with you. I wanted to give you a heads-up.”

“Please tell me the mayor isn’t getting ready to fuck us over again on the budget.”

“Shit, man, you’d know more about that than me.”

He’s right. The mayor is my father, and he’s an asshole on the best of days. It’d be just like him to cut the budget again, mostly because he wants me to resign and apply for the Bureau again. I’ve been kicking it around not because I really want to, but because it might be good to get some more distance between me and Petal. The only reason I haven’t is because the idea of not seeing my son every day hurts me.

“Tell me what’s up, man.”

“Craig Weston was at the diner,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What nonsense was that blow-hard spouting today? How he ever got that fucking job in Dallas is beyond me.”

“Well, Boss, he was talking to Black, and—”

“Black Lucas? I thought Black couldn’t stand the asshole.”

“Yeah, I thought that too, but that’s just the thing. They seemed really friendly.”

“Shit. Who knows? Maybe Craig is less of an asshole since working in the city.”

“Come on, Boss. You don’t believe that shit.” Daniel laughs.

“Not for a minute,” I agree.

“Well, the thing is, Black was setting the bastard up on a date—with his sister.”

“You’re kidding. Jesus, why would he do that to Maggie or hell, even Mary? Fuck, I would have thought he would watch over both of them better than that, though I guess anything is better than the idiots they usually—”

“It was Petal, Boss. He was setting him up to go out with Petal,” Daniel says, and it takes everything I have inside of me not to react.

“Maybe they’ll hit it off,” I tell him, and my voice stays as calm as I can make it. I’m almost proud of myself.

“You mean you’re okay with him taking out your—?”

“She’s not my anything, Daniel. Not anymore. River is the only thing Petal and I have in common.” Maybe if I repeat it enough, I will start to believe it.

“You two have been spending more and more time together, and I know you went out with Tani and all, but I just thought—”

“You thought wrong. There’s one bright side to this, however.” I force a laugh out as I get up. Daniel follows suit and follows me back into the lobby.

“What’s that?” he asks, and I don’t think he’s buying my act, but he knows better than to question me further.

“Couldn’t wish a nicer mother-in-law on Craig, that’s for damned sure,” I joke, ignoring the pain the thought of Petal marrying another man—any man—brings me.

Daniel laughs, as I knew he would and says something in return that I don’t really pay attention to it. I finish up going through the paperwork Tani laid out for me and then make an excuse to leave. The air in the office seems stifled. I can’t breathe.

I just need to get away…