AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It doesn’t take long for the guys to come visit.
Mere hours later, my rental home is filled with cheers and laughter as Annie and Miley cherish their sweet time with Kellan, Fallon, and Luke. They jump from one set of strong arms to the next, hugging and showering each of them with love.
My fridge and pantry are fully stocked, thanks to Kellan. Helen’s babysitting fees are covered for the next month, thanks to Luke. And I’ve got a new security system installed, with cameras at every point of ingress and wireless transmission, thanks to Fallon. They’re really coming through for me and they’re covering all the bases, making my work and day-to-day life a lot easier.
A few hours later, I walk out from my kitchen into the living room where Kellan and Luke are seated. After I gave the girls their baths, Fallon asked if he could read them a story and put them to bed.
“They’re sound asleep,” Fallon declares as he comes back downstairs. Annie and Miley have their own room on the upperfloor, where he also installed several motion activated cameras. “Then again, they’ve had a lot of excitement this evening,” he adds with a grin.
“Oh, yeah, unpacking the groceries was a titanic job,” I chuckle, sinking into one of the armchairs with a cup of hot cocoa in my hands.
“Hey, they did a fine job,” Kellan replies with a warm smile. I can see his love for my daughters twinkling in the green pools of his eyes. They missed Miley and Annie. The girls missed them, too, and I can’t help but feel a tad guilty about that. “I’m constantly amazed by how much energy they can muster throughout the day.”
“Particularly before bedtime,” Luke quips, then looks at me. “How are you feeling, Avery?”
“Better, thank you. It takes a while to adjust.”
They exchange nervous glances before Kellan mentions the elephant in the room. “Have you reached a decision regarding Charlene’s project?”
“I’ve asked for another few days before I start back.”
“So you’re really going to keep working for her?” Luke asks.
“I’m leaning toward it, yes.”
Fallon shrugs, moving closer to my armchair. “Then you’ll see for yourself, why we wanted you to stay away from her, Avery. Soon enough you’ll figure it out. People have a way of telling on themselves.”
“So, are we going to talk about it?” I ask, the room suddenly filled with tension, the kind that crackles like lightning whips inthe air. “About the three of you and Charlene that is.”
“Do you want us to talk about it?” Kellan replies, shifting in his spot on the sofa so he can face me better. “Because there isn’t much to talk about, in the end. You already know most of the story. We were together five years ago. It only lasted for a few months before we found out what Charlene was doing and the kind of people with whom she was involved.”
My heart stings whenever I think about it. “Did you love her?”
“No,” Luke says firmly, shaking his head. “There was affection, sure. We wanted it to be more, yes. Charlene gave us the impression that it was mutual. For a second, it looked like it was headed somewhere good, but once the truth started slipping through the cracks, once we understood precisely the kind of person she was, whatever we felt at the time fizzled away.”
“And were you still together when you started building a case against her?”
Again, my men look at each other with a mixture of concern and doubt, possibly even a smidge of shame as Fallon takes the lead. “Yes. We know it wasn’t our proudest moment, but it had to be done. We had to keep her close in order to do a proper investigation. And even then, we couldn’t get all the information we needed to put her away for good. But it was better than nothing.”
“I imagine she felt betrayed.”
“No more betrayed than I was when I learned that her dark money funded the mercenaries who blew up our ship,” Luke says, his brow furrowed. The grief in his once sunny blue eyes echoes deep within me as I begin to understand the impact that Charlene’s actions had on their lives. I remember when they toldme about the submarine incident. They were seriously injured, and Luke nearly died, losing his leg that day. Luke continues. “And Charlene knew we’d been on that ship. She knew she was partially responsible for what happened.”
“Avery, Charlene has a history of funding extremist groups across the world for a variety of reasons, most of them having to do with making more money for herself,” Kellan says. “We couldn’t prove most of it, and what we could prove was easily dismissed as circumstantial. We were able to nail her on enough domestic issues to get her arrested, but even that wasn’t our best shot. Obviously.”
I nod slowly, taking everything into account as I analyze their expressions. I see the regret. The sadness. The shame.
“That’s horrible,” I say after a long pause. “I’m so sorry.”
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about,” Luke replies, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair. “At the end of the day, Charlene didn’t do anything to you. You don’t have any personal reason to keep your distance from her. If one was to follow pure logic, she should be given a second chance now that the system has deemed her fit to be rehabilitated. I admit, we have our past issues with her that may cloud our judgment, but you do need to know everything, Avery, so you can make an informed decision about your collaboration with her, who you’re dealing with.”
“Even if you decide to keep working with Charlene, at least you’ll be aware of her dark side and what she’s into,” Kellan adds. “But we will respect whatever choice you make.”
“That being said, I’m gonna have my eyes on her at all times if you do decide to work with her,” Fallon mutters, a muscle tickingin his scruffy jaw. “I don’t trust the bitch.”
I didn’t think we’d reach this milestone so soon, but it’s a step forward for us. They’re giving me the space to make up my own mind, and they’re ready to stand by my side no matter what I decide.
The evening dissolves into a few more beers for the guys and another hot cocoa for me. We watch a movie and talk about the past couple of weeks—my business plans, their new clients, and the work they do outside of Wolfhound Security. I’m learning that there’s been an uptick in drug-related crimes across Lincoln County, and that Kellan intends to increase the number of deputies, sending them out on more frequent patrols, to get a better understanding of how the problem is spreading and who’s funding the dealers.
