Luckily for me, I know just what to do. I kiss her before she can ask anything else, knowing that it’ll distract her from asking me any questions—and it does.
Now I just have to figure out how to keep her from wondering what’s going on…
That fateful Tuesday,Bas calls me after dark.
I’m in the basement with Haven when my phone rings. Not because she has to stay down there anymore. She doesn’t. The door at the top of the stairs hasn’t been locked in months, except the few times she locked it herself just to prove she could. We’re down here because she asked to watch a movie on the leather couch for old times’ sake, then spent half of it tucked against my side, pretending she wasn’t sleepy.
When Bas’s name flashes across the screen, I feel Haven shift beside me. She reaches for the remote, pausing the movie, and I only hope to hell that she doesn’t overhear anything I don’t want her to.
I answer. “What’s up? I’m watching a movie with my wife. She’s right here. Say ‘hi’, sweetheart.”
Haven gives my phone a finger wave.
“She says ‘hi’,” I tell Bas. “What about you? Is everything okay?”
Bas hesitates. I’m sure he’s trying to figure out what he can say now that he knows Haven is right next to me. After a moment, he has it.
“Everything’s good,” he says. “Adrian handled it with his Tomcat before it got too far at the church. He’s got her with him now.”
Good.
If anyone in this fucked-up town understands what it means to lose the woman you’ve built your whole life around, it’s Adrian. The difference is that, when my chance came, I took Haven to my home, then kept her there until she had no choice but to stay.
If I’m understanding Bas right, Adrian had to shoot a man at the altar to get his girl—but he got her.
“So… uh, about what we were talking about the other day? You gonna do it now?”
I peek over at my wife. Haven is watching me curiously.
Shit.
“No,” I tell Bas.
Bas exhales over the line. “Connor.”
“No.”
“She’s going to find out.”
“I know.”
“And?”
I take Haven’s hand, kissing her knuckles.
Damn it. She deserves the truth. I know that. And I want to tell her. But… Ican’t. Not now.
“Fine. I will,” I say.
Bas is quiet for a beat. “You sure?”
“Yes.”
Eventually.
Just… maybe we can finish the movie first.
TWENTY-SEVEN
