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Moira smirked and let loose with a throaty chuckle that went straight to my dick. The stupid bastard. “Isn’t that just like the son of a bitch? Still trying to control things from beyond the grave.”
I fought back a smile because it was exactly like Evan. He had enjoyed orchestrating every aspect of his life. It had been part of what had made him such an effective leader. It was why he had been put in charge of their squad. “If you could just read the darn thing, we’ll get out of your hair.”
“No,” she replied with a wry grin.
“Excuse me?” Did she really say no? She was refusing a dead man’s last wishes. Who the hell was this woman?
“Look, I appreciate you guys coming all this way. But I’m not going to read this until I’m good and ready. Evan doesn’t get to snap his fingers and make me do whatever he wants me to. I’m not one of his soldiers that’ll automatically fall in line because he said so. I’m not part of your chain of command nonsense.” She held up her hand before I could argue my case. “Don’t force this issue, Ben. You won’t win.” Then she turned her attention to the others. “Do you guys have somewhere to stay tonight? I’ve got some spare rooms, and y’all are welcome to them. Now, I’ve got to run into work to drop off payroll. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour, tops. And if you plan on staying, I could pick up some meat for the grill on my way home for a late dinner.”
“That’d be mighty kind of you,” Wyatt replied with a thoughtful expression.
“If you’re sure it wouldn’t be any trouble?” Aiden murmured with that charm he used to get women out of their panties. It made me want to pummel his face into the ground.
“We’d rather treat you to a meal if you’re putting us up for the night,” James offered.
They were acting like she hadn’t crushed Evan when she refused his proposal. I caught Lucas and Aiden eyeing her like she was a delicious snack they wanted to sample.
How could they? She was Evan’s girl. If there was one thing we didn’t do, it was fuck each other’s women. It didn’t matter that she was his ex-girlfriend. That was just semantics.
“It’s settled then. If you’ll follow me, I can show you where you can bunk for the night. One of you will need to sleep on the couch, though.”
Moira was on the move. The guys followed her without a thought. Why weren’t they addressing the elephant in the room?
She wasn’t reading Evan’s letter. It meant we weren’t even close to being finished in Charleston. And this was just the first one. It never occurred to me that she would refuse to read the damn thing.
Why would it? If Evan had sent me a letter, I would have already committed the words to memory. But then, I also didn’t have her memories of Evan. I had mine. And Evan and I understood each other in a way no one else did. We meshed. We had been like every buddy comedy duo, riffing off each other with a simple glance.
But those idiots followed behind her like we didn’t have a care in the world. What was even worse, I was one of them.
3
Ferocious, world-ending anger, the likes of which I hadn’t felt in ages, swirled beneath my skin. How dare Evan do this to me? What had he been thinking, issuing mandates from beyond the grave?
When Evan and I dated, he pulled shit like this all the time. Always the one who had to be in control, no matter the consequences or my feelings on the matter. And now he thought to try and continue controlling me by sending an edict from the grave.
Hell no.
I wasn’t caving to his demands, regardless of whether it was his final wish. I’d read the damn thing when I was good and ready and not a moment before. I mean, I didn’t hate the guy. I never did, even when things went south with our relationship. And I’d heard the news about Evan’s suicide. I still had friends up in Norfolk who notified me when the news was released. I was sorry that Evan was gone. It made my heart ache to think he’d taken his own life. But it also didn’t surprise me, knowing Evan like I did. When that man set his mind on something, he did it. There was no deterring him from his course.
And I even mourned him. What we had been. What we could have been had things been different. I wondered if we had kept in touch if it would have changed his decision, even knowing his determination to follow through on whatever course of action he decided upon.
How could I not? There was a time I’d loved him. A part of me still did and always would. Because if he’d not messed things up royally with his infidelity, I never would have left Norfolk and opened my own club. I had Evan to thank for that. Which was why I hadn’t told Ben he could take a damn hike away from my house.
In the meantime, I had five Navy SEALs staying in my house tonight. I knew them because of the stories Evan would tell me.
Wyatt was just as stoic as Evan described him. His inky hair was buzzed short, and his features were chiseled from stone. Wyatt might appear like he didn’t care, but that’s not what his eyes said. They cataloged everything in my house as I led them up the stairs.
Aiden was a charmer with his dark ginger hair and trim beard. Those pale green eyes made me think of the mythical race, the Tuatha de Danann, with the slight tilt at the corners.
One look at Lucas with his dashing chestnut hair and grin, and I knew this guy was a rake if I’d ever met one. He surely had left a string of broken hearts along the Eastern Seaboard.
James was a bit of a boy scout with buzzed dark hair and an engaging smile. He looked at me like I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But the infatuation was something I had seen directed my way more than once at the club. I knew it was harmless, though.
Unlike the asshole who wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone no matter how many times I changed my damn number.
And then there was Ben. The man looked at me with a sneer, and everything inside me sizzled to life. Yes, it made me a damn headcase, lusting after the one man here who made it clear by his words and demeanor he thought I was trailer trash.
Well, he could go fuck himself as far as I was concerned.
