Blind Love (9 page)

Gabe waved his palm, as if shaking the pain off. “No, I’m fine. You’re strong.”

Evan sat a little straighter and smiled.

“So we have a deal?”

He nodded.

Gabe got up from the table and went to the sink. “Good. Now I need a favor from you.” He rinsed out the glasses, his back to Evan. “Call me Gabe, not sir.”

When the boy didn’t respond, he shrugged. “Or at least consider calling me Gabe.”

Evan cleared his throat as Gabe dried his hands.

“Gabe?”

He looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“What’s your brother’s name?”

“Mathew.”

The little guy smiled. “‘Mathew Evan Briggs. Taken too early. Loved by all. We’ll miss you, Sprout.’”

Gabe leaned against the counter. His face heated with emotion.

“Whenever we go to Tyler, we visit him in the cemetery. Momma said he would have been proud of me if he had ever met me.”

“True, he would have.” Gabe’s voice came out hoarse as he searched the kid’s face.
How much
did he know?
Evan was too busy wiping the crumbs off the table to notice. “Did you go to Tyler a lot?”

“Yeah. Summer. Thanksgiving. Christmas. My nana lives out there.”

Autumn spent the holidays with his mom and went to visit his brother’s grave? What other secrets had she kept from him? And for that matter, when he’d seen his mother at Autumn’s funeral, the old lady hadn’t said a word, probably because he’d made it clear she needed to stay far away from him and the kid. His head throbbed from all the information. As nice as it was to converse with Evan, this was not a topic he wanted to discuss further.

“Where did your momma keep the extra sheets?”

“They’re all dirty. I looked.”

The two walked to the living room. Gabe pointed at the sofa from hell. “How about you sleep here.”

After tucking Evan in, Gabe turned off the light and settled in on the floor. He stared up into the darkness. Aside from the ticking of the clock on the wall, the space was silent.

“Did your mom ever tell you the story of how I met her?”

“No, sir, she didn’t.”

“She was sixteen and had really short blue hair.”

He giggled. “Naw ahh.”

Gabe closed his eyes and savored the sound. It was the first time he’d heard it.

“Kid you not. I asked her if someone had taken a bag of blue cotton candy and mushed in onto her head.”

His giggle dissolved into a full-blown, heart-melting laugh.

“She was so mad,” Gabe continued, hoping he’d keep laughing. “She came up to me with her arms crossed and chewed me out.”

“She still does that even now,” Evan said.

Gabe cringed. The room fell silent. When the kid started sniffling, he considered going over and hugging him but decided against it.

“I miss her,” Evan whispered.

“I bet. She was an amazing mom.” He searched for something to say. “Your momma sent me pictures of you all the time.”

“Really?”

“Yup, she was proud of you.”

“Momma was proud of you too.”

Gabe swallowed down the rising emotion. The woman was a saint.

“She said you were one of the nice guys,” Evan added.

He paused and considered the kid’s words. “Did you ever meet guys who weren’t nice?”

The boy didn’t respond. This time the silence was uncomfortable and for the hundredth time, Gabe got the sense the kid knew more than what he was saying. “If you ever do run into one of the bad ones, come find me. One squeeze and I’ll take care of it.”

The room was quiet for a few minutes before Evan spoke. “Gabe?”

“Yeah, Sprout?”

“I wish you had come sooner.”

A tear crept out from the corner of Gabe’s eye. “Me too, little man. Me too.”

Chapter Fifteen

Torture Tactics

“I should have been deaf instead of blind,” Lauren muttered as she thumped her forehead against the desk.

Up until today, she had considered Jack’s solo yodeling and howling performances adorable. But for the past four hours, his concerts had become an incessant, ear-splitting, torture tactic. Even expert information extractors for armies across the world would find his efforts admirable. She was a hundred percent confident there was no one with working eardrums capable of surviving this hell.

First, Sunny tried kicking him out into the backyard, but after half an hour, Lauren worried the neighbors might complain. So they brought him in and made him go to the garage. Instead of muffling his sounds, the room seemed to amplify them. Three disastrous phone sessions and several doggie relocations later, she found herself in this pitiful position with her head banging against the desk. The rest of her appointments for the day had been rescheduled because nothing she and Sunny could do would shut him up.

Well, there was one thing…

What he had wanted her to do all along. Her stomach burned.

The pitter patter of his paws and his mournful song grew louder as he approached until finally he was sitting outside her closed office door.

“Jack, stop!”

He quieted for a few seconds and began again.

Lauren stormed over, opened the door, and glared at the blur of brown. “I’m the one who feeds and bathes you. Where the hell has
he
been the last five years?”

“So help me if you don’t get him to shut the hell up, I’ll either leave or personally remove his damn vocal cords. Pick one,” Sunny hissed.

Jack’s response was like pieces of glass being shoved into both ear canals.

The awful groaning sounds coming from Sunny made it clear she shared the same pain.

“Neither. Let’s go.” Lauren grabbed his harness and stomped down the stairs. Sure enough, he shut up and scurried alongside her.

“I’ve already talked to Dipshit.” Sunny followed from behind.

Lauren nearly tripped over her feet as she processed her friend’s words. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? And why the hell is he still out there?”

“Because he won’t leave until he talks to you.”

She stopped at the door and turned to face her friend. “Again, why didn’t you tell me?”

Jack started his song.

“Shut up!” both women screamed at the same time.

Lauren giggled as he whimpered and Sunny cursed.

“Because you were on the fucking phone and had sessions scheduled back-to-back. What the hell was I supposed to do?” Sunny yelled.

She reached over and squeezed her friend’s arm. “It’s okay,” she said in a soothing voice. “Take a deep breath.”

Her tightly wound friend tugged the arm away. “Don’t fucking tell me to take a fucking deep breath. My head’s killing me, your ex is driving me crazy, and if your stupid dog doesn’t shut the hell up, I swear to God, ripping his throat is considered humane compared to my other ideas.”

“Sunny, focus.”

“How the hell am I supposed to write much less focus on anything?”

Their voices rose as Jack continued his nails-scratching-on-chalkboard serenade. Lauren grabbed Sunny, pulled her close, and spoke into her ear. “If you want him to shut up, we need to get rid of Ben. Tell me why he’s parked outside my house.”

“He asked me not to tell you. He wants to do it himself,” Sunny snapped.

“So you pick today to start keeping secrets from me?”

She mumbled something but it was hard to hear with Jack standing right beside them.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sunny muttered and opened the front door. “Free Jack.”

Before Lauren could stop him, the dog scurried out of the house. “Jack’s not leashed. He could get hurt.”

Sunny slammed the door shut. “You think Dipshit would let that happen? Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”

When Lauren tried to follow the dog outside, Sunny grabbed her arm. “Ben opened the car door and Jack climbed in. I looked. He’s safe.”

Lauren let out the breath she was holding and nodded. “So what’s he doing parked outside my house?”

“Well it seems Dickwad is coming back to Denver and Dipshit wants to make sure he doesn’t kill you like he did his wife, so he’s planning on staying parked right out there.”

Stunned, Lauren tried to process the news of Gabe’s return. It had been a month since he’d left town. “Gabe won’t hurt me.”

“And you know this how?”

She rolled her eyes. “Sunny, seriously.”

“No, I agree with Dipshit on this one. We have no clue what Dickwad’s capable of doing. So if having his ass out there scares Dick away, then out there is where Dip needs to be.”

Lauren shook her head. “And what about Jack? He’s going to go crazy every day Ben’s out there.”

“Ship his hairy ass out with him.”

Lauren pulled open the door and, with a deep breath, walked out into the afternoon sun. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the light and for her hands to stop shaking. On the road beside her house sat a large silver blob she knew to be his car. With each step she took toward him, her muscles tightened and palms moistened.

Calm and confident.

At the destination, Lauren plastered on a smile, held her head up high, and waited as the power window lowered. “Good afternoon, Benjamin.”

“Hi.” He sounded nervous. His voice even cracked. Like it did last month when he showed up at her house with the detectives. It reminded her of a younger Ben. The one from high school who kept missing her mouth whenever he tried to kiss her. As much as she tried to fight it, her anger cooled a degree.

She raised her brows and crossed her arms. “Are you planning on hiding in there all day, or at some point did you intend to actually walk over and knock on the door?”

He cleared his throat. “As soon as I grew a pair, I was going to pay you a visit.”

Lauren flashed her best go-screw-yourself smile. “So should I leave you to your whole regenerating thing?”

When his door opened and slammed shut, she didn’t feel as brave as she did a second ago. Jack’s wet nose pressed against her bare thigh. She rubbed his head and tried to calm herself. A hard task to accomplish with Ben’s musky scent filling her senses.

“Besides to make it clear my dog loves you more than me, is there any other reason you’re here?”

“To apologize.” The sadness in his voice tugged at her. When Jack moved over and started licking him, Lauren’s eyes watered.

She fiddled with the hem of her shorts and tried to stay focused. He cheated on her. Why the heck was she feeling guilty? “Apologize for?”

“Everything.”

Again the tugging thing in her chest had her all sorts of confused. Yeah, she wasn’t ready to have this conversation. Lauren turned and walked to her house. “Well, consider it done. Thank you for sharing. Have a good day and take the damn dog.”

He grabbed her arm. “Lauren, please.”

The touch intensified her pain. He had ruined everything. “Please what, Ben?” she whispered.

“Don’t hate me.”

She closed her eyes and fought back the bitterness. No more tears would be cried for him. “For what? Making Jack torment me all day? Acting like an ass in my house four weeks ago? For cheating on me? What reason could I possibly have to hate you?”

“All of it.”

Lauren pulled her arm away and placed a hand on the doorknob. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Then listen. There are things I need to say.”

She shook her head and turned her attention to Jack, pulling on his harness. “If I do this, will you stop with the noises?”

Jack licked her toes in agreement. “Okay, you have five minutes. Start talking.”

“Your neighbor and his son are on their way here.”

Feigning surprise, her brows raised.

“So, Sunny told you already.”

“Well, hell!” the woman in question snapped from the other side of the door.

“She’s my best friend, Ben. Unlike Jack, her loyalty is with me.”

“Fuck, yeah,” her friend responded from inside.

Lauren smiled and focused back on the topic. “If he’s driving up here, it means he’s not in jail. Which means he’s not a murderer.”

“They haven’t found the killer yet. Just because he’s not in jail and they’re letting him shift his residence to Denver doesn’t mean he’s innocent. He’s still a possible suspect.”

Her eyes rolled. “Just because he cheated on his wife doesn’t make him a killer, either.”

His teeth ground against each other and Lauren was pretty sure his hands were balled in fists. There was a level of satisfaction, even pleasure, she got from ticking him off.

Ben sighed. “True, and for the kid’s sake, I hope you’re right. But until I know for sure, I’m not going to take any chances.”

“Good luck with that,” she snapped.

“Look, I get it. I’m a fucking piece of shit and it makes you sick to be around me. Go ahead and hate me, I deserve it. But I plan to do whatever the fuck I need to do to keep you safe, even if you throw shit at me every second of the process.”

Now it was Lauren who was clenching her teeth. “I’m not in danger, Ben.”

“You don’t know for sure.”

With Sunny on the other side of the door in agreement with him on that point, Lauren decided against arguing it. “Fair enough. But you being parked outside my house every day isn’t going to guarantee anything, either.”

“Let me crash at your place a couple of days a week. This way he’ll see me around and think twice if he gets any ideas in his head.”

“Oh, hell…” Sunny screamed from the other side of the door.

“…no,” Lauren finished the sentence.

“I figured you’d say as much, which is fine. I’ll stay out here.”

The thought of Jack’s howls becoming a constant ritual, had her cringing. “And I’d call the police.”

“I know.”

“And they’ll tell you to stop.”

“They will and I’ll still show up.”

“And you’d get fired.”

“Maybe.” Ben hesitated before adding, “Probably.”

“Sounds like a plan. Goodbye, Ben.”

“Whoa. Hold up. You promised me five minutes. I still have two left.”

Anger burned up her throat. She stepped closer to him and poked her finger into his chest. “I. Don’t. Need. Your. Help.”

His teeth ground harder. “And that’s the problem. You think you can do it all by yourself.”

“Definitely not true. I obviously couldn’t keep my husband happy by myself, now could I?”

“For fuck’s sake,” he growled. “Do you want to know why I cheated? It’s ’cause you didn’t need me.”

Lauren laughed. “What?”

“You wanted to get away from your parents and married me to make that happen.”

Her body shook. “So I was using you. I didn’t love you?”

“No, you loved me. But once you realized you didn’t need someone to take care of you, things changed. You changed.”

“And that’s why you cheated?”

“Yeah, it is. You were so into your degree and into the whole
I won’t let my blindness define me
bullshit, you treated me like a piece of crap,” Ben snapped.

From the other side of the door, Sunny was sharing her own thoughts on the matter. Lauren tuned her out; she had plenty of her own to throw out.

“So you found someone else who gave you what your blind, self-absorbed bitch of a wife couldn’t?”

“You accused me before of cheating because you were blind, and I’ve thought long and hard on it. Know what? You were right. My fucking up our marriage had everything to do with your being blind.”

She blinked and fought the tears as his razor-sharp words cut through her.

“But not the way you’ve wrapped it up in your head. You had a chip on your shoulder the size of a Mack truck. Do you have any clue how nice it was to take care of someone without worrying about getting my ass handed to me for doing it?”

Her tears were flowing without her permission, but Lauren ignored them. The front door opened. A hand squeezed her elbow. Knowing Sunny was beside her strengthened her. She had heard the same from the men after Ben as well, but it didn’t matter, none of it justified what he did.

“Unlike me, she made you feel like a man. Well that worked out well for you, now didn’t it? Anything else you need to make sure I know?”

“Yeah.” He wiped a tear off her cheek. Lauren swatted his hand away.

“She was a mistake,” he continued. “One I should have never made. The fucked-up truth is even though Hailey did all the right things, I didn’t love her. You were the one I dreamt about every night since my life went to shit.”

“Jesus, Ben,” Sunny whispered.

The words Lauren had dreamed of hearing, he was finally saying and she believed him, every messed up part of it.

“That’s the problem. I love you. Always have. Always will,” he said.

She dried her cheek on her shoulder. “Ben. We lost our virginity together. We’ll always have a soft spot for each other.”

He laughed. “Soft spot? I doubt you have anything soft or fuzzy left in there for me.”

“What do you expect? I can’t trust you.”

“But you can trust
him
.” The hurt in his words cut at her. This whole thing was so messed up.

Lauren tried to find a way to explain the difference, but before she did Sunny spoke. “There’s a big difference, between him and you. He didn’t cheat on her, you did.”

Ben wiped another tear off her face and this time she didn’t bother pushing him away. “You’re right. I fucked everything up. If I could change it, I would. Look, he’s on his way into town. Let me stay here for a little while until his wife’s murder is solved. He’ll know someone’s around and will reconsider any ideas he might have of messing with you. I won’t try anything. Won’t touch you. Once this case is closed, I’ll disappear.”

Before Lauren had a chance to respond, the sound of a familiar truck engine grew louder and louder until it finally came to a stop in Gabe’s driveway.