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Locke leaned back in his chair, his eyes distant as he gathered his thoughts. “Your father and I were more than just best friends. We were brothers. We went through everything together, all the experiences of two boys living on Heathens Hollow. I don’t have memories that don’t involve him. When he died, a part of me died with him.”
I could see the pain etched on his face, and I reached across the table to take his hand.
“You remind me of him,” Locke said quietly. “You have the same fire in your eyes that Gabriel had. The same restlessness. And I see so much of him in you. That same stubborn and impulsive streak, and it scares the fucking life out of me. I don’t want to see you end up where he did.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I took another sip of wine and looked down at the table.
“I know I can’t protect you from everything,” Locke continued. “But I’ll be damned if I don’t try.”
We sat in silence for a few more minutes, sipping our wine, eating our food when it arrived, and enjoying each other’s company.
Suddenly, Locke stopped eating and stared at me, his expression unreadable. “I need to tell you something,” he said, his voice low.
I nodded, unsure of what was coming next.
“I’ve been keeping something from you,” Locke began slowly. “Something that I think you need to know.”
I felt a nervous knot form in my stomach as I waited for him to continue.
“I could have stopped your father from being killed. The guilt of that eats me up every fucking day.”
My heart felt like it stopped beating for a moment as the words sank in. “What do you mean? How could you have stopped it?”
Locke took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving mine. “Your father was getting in bad deals with a lot of people. I knew that. All the owners of The Vault knew. We warned him. We gave him shit. Hell, I even offered him a shitload of money. But we didn’t stop him. We let him be Gabriel because that’s who he was.”
I sat in stunned silence, the weight of his words crushing me.
“We all knew he was crossing the wrong people, but we didn’t step in. I didn’t step in, and I fucking should have,” Locke said, his voice heavy with regret.
Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes as I thought about my father. He had made mistakes, but he didn’t deserve to die. But they were his mistakes. His alone.
“You couldn’t have stopped it, and you know it. Even if you stopped him that night, it was just a matter of time. My father thought he was invincible.” I took a deep breath and finally looked up at him. “His mistakes weren’t yours. You have to let that guilt go.”
“There are things about this world I live in, that your father lived in, that you don’t know and maybe can’t understand.”
“You’re assuming,” I said. “It might surprise you how much I actually do know. And trust me. I understand.”
“I wish I could go back and change things. Act. It fucking haunts me that I didn’t act.”
“He fucked up. Doesn’t mean he deserved to die. But you couldn’t have prevented it. I know that much. So stop feeling so guilty. He wouldn’t want that for you.”
Locke nodded, his expression still heavy. “I know. But it doesn’t change the fact that I could have tried harder. Done more. It’s part of the reason why I keep such a stronghold on you. I don’t want anything to ever happen to you and then have to live with that guilt as well.”
I squeezed his hand tightly. “But you can’t suffocate me.”
“If I could lock you in a box and forever keep you safe, I would. I’m not going to apologize for that,” he said firmly, his statement acting as the period to the last sentence of our conversation.
We finished our meal in comfortable silence, but the atmosphere had shifted. The air was thick with emotion, and neither of us knew quite how to break it. I could feel Locke’s eyes on me, studying me like he was trying to memorize every feature of my face.
“I understand why you’d want to do The Hunt,” he finally said. “And I know you’re a grown woman.” He released a deep breath. “Trust me, I do.”
My face heated from the intensity in which he looked at me.
“But?” I asked, knowing there had to be something more.
“I mentioned this before. The visual of you being chased by a man through the forest is…” he swallowed hard, “too much for me to take.”
My blush continued to intensify, and a stirring of confusing emotions formed in my belly. His eyes were dark, his lips set in a firm line. I could tell he was struggling to keep his emotions in check.
