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Teagan was as tough and stubborn as Kieran, but as caring as Beck. She was the one who found me hidden on the back of the property two years ago, and the only reason I continued to risk leaving it. She was also the source of half of my information on Mickey, Bailey, and Finn, and vice versa . . . and the day I left Holloway, she was coming with me.
She’d been one of the very few friends I’d had growing up, her dad being a member of Holloway, but we’d wanted different lives.
Teagan had wanted all the mob had to offer, and was terrified of being pushed out when she got older . . . so she’d made sure that wasn’t a possibility by marrying Finn a year after they’d faked my death. A marriage that became her biggest regret when she discovered how cruel the family she married into could be, and how abusive her husband was.
Something she’d finally confessed to me a couple months ago when a bruise had been too hard to explain away, and only because she knew I couldn’t share the information with anyone else since I wasn’t supposed to have seen her in four years.
Like all the women and children within Holloway, Teagan had been told I’d been killed the night of Aric’s death. While the men swore to protect me and I mourned Aric’s death and my relationship with Kieran, she’d grieved my death.
But Finn had a drinking problem and loose lips, and one day during a meeting I’d managed to evade, she’d shown up at the guesthouse with tears streaming down her cheeks, screaming accusations and grabbing me in a hug that lasted forever and ended too soon.
It was in that short time with her I realized nothing about Teagan had changed, yet everything was different.
She was still stubborn and tough and loving . . . but I could see something was breaking her from the inside. I could see something was making her hate the mob as much as I always had.
I snuck out for the first time the next morning to meet her, and I hadn’t missed a week since.
We traded secrets learned from Holloway men. We plotted. We reminisced. And we spent countless mornings pouring over a memory in the form of a nightmare, trying to figure out what I was missing from that night.
Teagan’s attention caught on the journal resting on the table before sliding back to me, her mouth forming a perfect O.
Ever since the first nightmare, I’d written down what I remembered, adding to it as more of it came to me.
“Was there more?”
I gently placed my hand on the journal before she could snatch it away, my voice uncertain. “Do you think maybe my mind is just adding more? That I’m not actually remembering more of that night?”
“No.” Her response was immediate and sure. “I wondered that a long time ago, but if it ever changes, it’s when you get a new piece. I’ve researched it, it’s common for people’s minds to block a traumatic event and for them to regain pieces over time.”
My mouth twisted with doubt, but I nodded and slid the book toward her, waiting patiently while she opened it to the page where I’d rewritten the dream while I’d waited for her, adding the new parts.
“One of the other rooms?”
“No. He said it was in here somewhere.”
Teagan slanted me a glare as she reached across the table for the pen. “Someone must’ve zoned out while writing again . . .”
I swallowed thickly, looking away when she began furiously crossing out the Borello symbol I must’ve drawn. “Sorry.”
The book slammed shut less than a second before Ethan crooned, “Well, fancy meeting you here again.”
I glanced up as he slid the coffee onto the table, his eyes never swaying to Teagan or even acknowledging her presence. Shaking my head, I grabbed the mug and creamer Ethan had just set down. “I think I’m ready—”
“Finally. My love. I’ve been waiting for you for an eternity.”
“—to order.”
Teagan snorted and slid her menu Ethan’s way, never once having looked at it since we already had it memorized.
Once we’d both ordered, Ethan grabbed the menus and took a step back. “Offer still stands,” he said coolly. “Boyfriend never has to know.”
“Ethan . . . I’m sorry, but—”
“Sorry, future ex-wife. Didn’t catch that. You’re gonna remember that the offer stands?” He winked, that cha
rming grin making another appearance on his face as he backed away. “Perfect.”
Knowing it was pointless, I just lifted my cup at him in thanks, and looked at Teagan.
