Page 58 of Deklan


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“Why don’t you tell me what you did today?” I stare at him pointedly. “How’s business?”

“You know I’m not going to talk about that. I’m not putting you at risk.”

“Well, the coffee business can be pretty risky, too.” I toss my e-reader on the coffee table and lean back, crossing my legs in front of me with my arms across my chest. “You never know when you’re going to run out of Half and Half.”

“What the fuck has gotten into you today?”

I’m being pissy, and none of this is Deklan’s fault. Guilt washes over me, but I know I need to come up with something else, or he’s just going to keep pressuring me. Dad always said the best way to lie was to give it an element of truth, so I go with something else that has bothered me.

“I’m just…annoyed.”

“About?”

“It’s just…just…”

“Just what? Jesus, Kera! Out with it already!”

“I don’t know anything about you!” I pull my knees up to my chest and put my chin on my knees. I glance sideways at Deklan.

He pauses and his eyes darken. Pushing himself from the couch, he stalks out of the living area and into the kitchen. He leans heavily against the counter for a moment before pulling a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet. He takes a long pull from the bottle before he puts it on the counter with a loud clunk that echoes around the room.

“What do you want from me, Kera?” he asks. “Do I need to tell you my life’s story or something?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.”

Chapter 17

“I never talk about this,” Deklan says as he pours whiskey into a glass and returns to the couch.

I can see that he’s nervous, but all I feel is excitement. Deklan never talks about himself, and I know almost nothing of his background. He’s turned off the television, and the silence is too much for me.

“I just want to know you better,” I say softly. I reach out and place my hand on his arm. “Most people find out all this stuff before the marriage, not after.”

“Yeah, we aren’t exactly conventional.”

“We aren’t.” Deklan reaches for my hand and pulls it into his lap. “We’re okay though, aren’t we? I mean, this might not be what we had planned, but it’s worked out okay. At least, it has for me.”

Deklan stares into my eyes, and I see a rare vulnerability in his gaze.

“For me, too,” I say softly. I touch the side of his face with

my free hand. “I’m glad I married you, Dek.”

“I’m glad, too.” He squeezes my hand and leans his face against my palm for a moment and then looks away. “I admit it, Kera…I’m afraid to tell you shit. I’m afraid that if I tell you too much—tell you the wrong things—that you’ll change your mind. I’m afraid you won’t want to be with me if you know the truth.”

“I know what you do.” I can’t meet his eyes as I say the words.

“No,” Deklan says, “you really don’t. I hope you never do. I’m not going to tell you any of that, but I will tell you how I got here—how I started working for Fergus Foley.”

Deklan reaches over and pulls me close to him, his lips brushing over mine as he closes his eyes and hugs me tightly. After a moment, he releases me completely and reaches for his whiskey. I settle back against the couch and wait as patiently as I can for him to begin.

“I just barely remember my birth parents,” Deklan says. He takes a long breath as he stares into the liquid of his glass, swirling it around as he speaks. “When I was four, there was a break-in at our house.” He pauses and takes another long breath. When he speaks again, his voice is shaking slightly. “I was upstairs with my mother—I remember that part clearly—but I don’t know where my sister was. My mother had just put me into my pajamas and was reading me a book when we heard the front door slam open. There was a lot of shouting, and then I heard the loudest sound ever. My mother shoved me into the back of my closet and threw a blanket over me. She told me not to move or make a sound. I don’t know how long I was there. I heard more shouting, and I heard more loud bangs. A while after that, someone walked into my room. When the closet door opened, I closed my eyes and tried not to breathe. A couple minutes later, I heard footsteps going out of the room.”

Deklan drains his glass.

“I don’t know how long it was before the police showed up. Maybe a few minutes. Maybe an hour. I don’t know. I never moved from that spot until they showed up. They took me out of the closet and out of the house. We had to go through the living room to get outside, and I saw blankets lying over lumps on the floor and a lot of red. At the time, I didn’t realize they were my parents’ bodies.

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