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TWENTY-FOUR
But he did walk away.
A week later Rogue stood in the parking lot of what had once been the Bar and stared at the debris with a sense of . . . relief.
She’d lost everything she owned except the Harley, but she was thankful she had a reason to walk away from it now. An era had come to an end. The Bar was gone, the dangerous Dayle Mackay and his rabid revolutionists were gone. Jonesy was gone.
She shoved her hands into the pockets of her pants and let her gaze wander over the blackened remains of lumber where the walls had toppled in.
“So what now?” Her father’s arm went around her shoulders as his tall, sturdy body gave her a place to lean.
She shrugged at his question. “I bought out Natches Mackay. I guess I’m part owner in a restaurant now. ”
Her father gave a heavy sigh as she looked up into the strong features of his still-handsome face.
“I want you to come home,” he told her as her mother, Brianna Walker, moved to her other side. “Damned house is too quiet. With your sister married and gone, and damned John won’t even stay the night. The nest is too empty. ”
She grinned at that. “Sorry, Dad. This is home. ”
Somerset was home. Lake Cumberland was home.
All she had left to do was to get over one arrogant, too-sexy sheriff and her life would even out. One day she might even sleep through the night without crying.
“What about Zeke?” her mother asked as though reading her thoughts. “He called again last night. ”
He had called every night for the past three nights. She refused to answer the phone; she refused to talk to him. He was back on the job now, the crime that had been committed when he was a child had never been mentioned, and for that, she was glad.
His father had betrayed him, tried to destroy him and his future. No man should have to pay for that.
“I don’t want to talk about Zeke. ” She didn’t want to cry again. The pain was like a festering wound inside her soul that refused to heal.
He had used her. He may not have suspected Jonesy of being the killer he was seeking, but he hadn’t been honest with her, either. He hadn’t told her he was fucking her so the killer would believe he was distracted by her and not giving his attention to tracking him. He hadn’t told her that the only reason he had come to her bed was to further the goal of capturing that killer.
I was helpless against you. Know that, Caitlyn Rogue. I couldn’t have walked away for anything. Even my own life.
He had whispered those words before he had left with Cranston. But he had still left. He had walked away from her without a backward glance to help Cranston round up the final straggling members of the organization he had fought to bring down.
James Maynard had been arrested, though he was now free on bond due to his cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department.
Gene Maynard, she had learned, had been helping DHS all along.
There had been other arrests in Louisville as well as Frankfort, and according to Alex Jansen, the Freedom League was now nothing more than a very bad memory.
“Just come home for a while,” her father tried again. “A month. ”
She shook her head again as a smile touched her lips. He kept trying; she had to give him credit for that.
“I’m ready to go back to the apartment now, Daddy. It should be repaired enough,” she told him as she turned into his embrace and hugged him quickly. “Just take me home now. ”
There was a small moment of silence. Her parents were sharing that look, she thought.
The one they shared whenever they didn’t know what to do with the children they had rais
ed.
“Fine. ” Her father finally sighed heavily. “But if you’re not coming home, then I’m hanging around awhile. Dawg Mackay offered us the use of his houseboat now that’s he’s moved into the house he built. I think we’ll take him up on that. ”
She almost winced. God, would Lake Cumberland survive her parents? Even for a few days? Surely they wouldn’t stay any longer than that.
