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“You need to tell me what happened today,” Josiah said. “Or I will call 911 and report an assault.”
“I haven’t laid a finger on you.”
“I mean you, you dumbass. You didn’t do this to yourself. Who did?”
When Seamus realized his cold glare wasn’t going to make Josiah back down, his big body wilted deeper into the recliner. “Dale hit me with his car.”
Josiah nearly smacked himself on the side of the head to dislodge whatever was in his ears, because no way had Seamus just said that. “Who’s Dale and why would he hit you with his car? And if someone hit you with a car, why didn’t you call 911 and report it? Did you hit your head that hard?”
“Dale is...he’s the guy I was with before I moved here. He’swhyI moved here. To get away from him.”
His memory flashed back to the Founder’s Day Picnic and the black-haired guy who’d been with Seamus and glared at Josiah like Josiah had insulted him somehow. “How long has he been here?”
“Since the day I kicked you out. He demanded it so I did it.” A tiny hint of fear flashed in Seamus’s eyes. “He said he’d hurt you if I didn’t. You were safer away from me. I’m sorry things went down like that, and I’m sorry for the way I treated you sometimes. I have no moral leg to stand on here. They say that karma’s a bitch, and man did she whale on me tonight.”
“Dale abused you.”
Seamus only nodded, shame flushing his bruised face.
Anger blossomed deep inside Josiah. “If you know what it’s like to be abused, then why did you do what you did to me? The shoves, the slaps, the rough sex? Were you trying to punish him by punishing me?”
“I don’t know, and that’s the God’s honest truth. I did like you, Jo-jo. A lot. Probably too much. Maybe I’m one of those men who doesn’t have better angels on his shoulder. Maybe I just got the devil in me, and I’ll never be any good to anyone. For what it’s worth, which probably isn’t much, I am truly sorry for everything I did to you. You never deserved any of it. I wish I could do something to make it right.”
A single tear slid down Seamus’s cheek, and it spoke to his sincerity with the apology. In all the time Josiah had known him, for the few times Seamus had ever apologized in the past for being too cruel, the man had never cried. Not once. It was almost more than Josiah could stand, watching a previously in-charge sheriff dissolve right in front of him, leaving behind a shivering shell of a man.
“I accept your apology,” Josiah said. “You and I will never be friends, but we also don’t have to keep living as enemies.”
“Thank you.”
“Okay, so why did Dale hit you with his car, and why didn’t you call the police on him? That’s, like, attempted murder of a law officer, isn’t it?”
“We got into a big fight. Don’t even remember about what, just that we ended up shouting at each other. I was miserable with him, I missed you, and I just lost it. Told him to get the fuck out and stay out of my life, or I’d find a way to lock him up even if it meant planting evidence. It was an empty threat, but he believed me. I said I was taking a walk, and if he wasn’t packed up and gone when I got back, he’d be sorry.”
“So he ran you down?”
“Yep. I barely made it to the end of the driveway when I heard his car engine gunning. I figured he was leaving, so I kept walking. Then I woke up in the ditch and hurt all over. Was barely able to drive myself to the hospital.”
“What did you tell them happened?”
“Said I crashed my motorcycle.”
“You don’t own a motorcycle.”
“They didn’t know that.”
Josiah snorted and sat on the edge of the couch. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t report it. Why are you protecting him? How do you know he won’t come back one night and kill you?” Then it hit him so hard Josiah’s whole body swayed and his vision nearly blacked out. “Holy shit. He’s the guy who attacked me in the barn. He had my shirt because he found it here.”
“Yeah. I didn’t know for sure at the time, because you didn’t tell me about the shirt that night. I found it under our—my—bed covered in dirt a few days later. When I confronted Dale, he said he didn’t like the way you’d looked at him at the picnic. Said he’d wanted to scare you into staying away from me.”
“Fuck, Seamus, you should have told me. You should have fucking arrested him!”
“I know. But he said if I did that, he’d kill you. I kept my mouth shut to keep you safe.”
“Am I supposed to thank you for that? I haven’t felt safe in weeks.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck, you’re sorry. You need to report all of this. Dale needs to be arrested and charged for assaulting me then, and for assaulting you tonight. He should be in jail where he can’t hurt anyone again.”
