Blood Moon (5 page)

Probably the first, Brooke,
I told
myself with a sad sigh. Though I knew I deserved to be treated like
I was made of porcelain today, it became a little unbearable after
so long, and I had to wonder how much longer it would go on for.
Surely after seven years it should have passed, right? The only
reason I could think of that it kept me from moving on—that kept us
all from moving on—was that we never were able to figure out what
happened in the alley that night. Bobby’s murderer was never found,
and his case remained unsolved and locked away in a cabinet of cold
cases.

We lacked the closure that solving his case
should have brought, and I was reminded of it most on this day: the
anniversary of his death.

“Happy birthday, beautiful.” The sound of a
very familiar voice from my past pulled me out of my silent
torment. My body stiffened as a multitude of memories flooded my
mind. These weren’t memories I openly welcomed, however; they were
painful and just another reason that I was who I was.

I didn’t have to turn around to know exactly
who had found me. Nick Evans. My ex. I whispered his name, and my
voice shook before being carried off into the night. He must have
sensed my unease, because he stopped walking toward me, based on
the lack of his footsteps.

Very slowly, I turned to him, fear gripping
at every part of me as I struggled to meet his eyes. Though, as
soon as I did, I was lost in the warm, blue-green color. He
looked…

Damn it, he looked good.

Dressed in dark jeans and a fitted gray
sweater, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows and showing off his
thick forearms, he took another step forward. His sandy-blond hair
was longer than I remembered, but intentionally so and not like
he’d simply forgotten to go to the hairdresser. I found my fingers
itching to run through it to see if it was as soft as I remembered.
He looked nervous, his face tight, back rigid.

Entranced as I was, I couldn’t ignore how
anxious Nick’s sudden reappearance in my life made me. Maybe it was
because he was there the night that Bobby died, or it could have
been because not too long after that horrible night, he broke off
our engagement and left me. There was no real explanation given,
either. What was worse was that I never even saw it coming.

Nick was the sweetest boyfriend. Even though
he was a total jock in high school and college, he had a soft
side…maybe it was just for me. I liked to think so, anyway. He was
always going above and beyond to please me. Always sending me
flowers, taking me out to fancy dinners or dancing. It was rare
that we didn’t spend our free time together…

But in the weeks following Bobby’s death,
everything had changed. Nick had grown more distant from me, always
claiming to be busy, until suddenly he packed up his things and
left, breaking my heart even more than it already was. It didn’t
matter how much I begged him to stay, he simply claimed he needed
“space,” that he was going through some “changes,” and how he hoped
I would “understand.”

I understood, all right. I understood that I
was—
still am
—beyond damaged after finding my brother dead in
an alley. Who the hell would want a piece of that?

“What the hell are you doing here?” I didn’t
mean for my question to come across as rude as it sounded—or did I?
Regardless, it was too late to take it back.

His smile widened, his shoulders relaxing
slightly, probably thinking I wasn’t as angry at him as he feared.
Wrong. As he worked on closing the gap between us again, his easy
gait reminded me of how he used to be so carefree. I thought I
could still see that cocky glimmer I used to love in his eyes, but
it disappeared, suddenly replaced with a seriousness that could
only come with age and tragedy. I would know.

“Well, I was in town, visiting my folks,
when I ran into your mom at the supermarket this morning.”

“She invited you?” I demanded, suddenly
angry that my mother would even consider something like that.

Nick shook his head. “No. It just came up in
conversation. She has no idea I’m here.”

“Trespassing,” I interjected callously,
glancing down at the clear water in the pool. “Typical.”

“I missed you,” he confessed, coming to a
stop right in front of me, his head dipping lower and causing his
unruly hair to fall over his forehead. I’d forgotten how tall he
was at just over six feet, having to tilt my head back to meet his
gaze. My eyes remained trained on him, and his lips came perilously
close to mine.

And then I slapped him, the sound travelling
across the backyard. My hand stung, but Nick’s face hardly moved
beneath the force of my blow. An angry red welt started to form on
his cheek, but he didn’t look angry. His face remained unreadable,
his chiseled jaw clenching while the rest of his prominent features
softened. He looked like he understood why I had done it, and that
only made me angrier. “I haven’t heard a word from you in almost
seven years.” The venom in my tone didn’t deter him, and he reached
for my hands—probably to stop me from lashing out again.

“I’m seeing someone,” I managed to choke
out, taking a couple steps away from him.

Confusion reflected back at me in his
mesmerizing eyes. “Oh? Your mother never mentioned…”

“Because it’s
none
of your business.
It stopped being your business the day you walked away.”

“Brooke?” David’s voice caused me to jump,
and I turned toward the patio door. He looked between the two of
us, confused at first, and then annoyed. He was the one good thing
I had going for me right now, and I cared for him more than I could
even imagine. So, to have him find me out here with my ex worried
me. Especially after what happened inside. Would he think something
was going on? Surely he knew how I felt about him—even if I didn’t
want to share our relationship with the rest of the world?

What if he doesn’t?
It was that
question that made me realize I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t lose
someone else I loved.

I averted my eyes from his as he crossed
over to me, staring at everything from the silver moon above to the
millions of tiny stars surrounding it, and then down to the
recently manicured toes peek-a-booing through the tips of my shoes
again. When I felt his hand lay flat against my back, I could sense
that he wasn’t angry with me. What I did pick up on, however, was a
certain level of possessiveness, and while this wasn’t a
characteristic I normally found too appealing, the fact that he was
silently challenging Nick was somewhat thrilling.

A smile played at the corners of my mouth,
and I looked over at him, even though he never took his narrowing
eyes off of his apparent rival. His angular jaw clenched, and it
was probably a good thing he had one hand on the small of my back
and the other wrapped around the stem of one of my mother’s crystal
glasses. On second thought, maybe the glass wasn’t such a good
thing; we had been sent out on enough domestic abuse cases to know
that anything could be used as a weapon.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Brooke?”
Nick suggested, his tone of voice changing ever so slightly into
one I no longer recognized. It was no longer soft and compelling,
but lower and almost territorial. Not that he deserved to feel like
he had any say over what I did and who I did it with.

“Oh, um, right.” I uncrossed my arms and
wrapped one around David, mirroring his hold on me, hoping to stop
the quiver that continued to move through me. “David, this is Nick.
He’s an old friend.”

“Friend?” Nick inquired, his voice shifting
back to its previous, much lighter sound. “Surely, we were much
more than that, Brooke.”

My eyes narrowed, shooting daggers at Nick,
and David’s hand pressed harder against my back. I could sense his
restraint, and I hated that Nick was trying to get a rise out of
David like this. What was worse was that it seemed to be working.
While I’m sure it wasn’t Nick’s intention to piss me off further,
he’d failed. I squeezed my right hand, testing it to make sure it
felt okay enough to slap him again. It did.

I looked at David, and his rising irritation
concerned me on a number of levels. Mainly because he was usually
so calm and collected—it didn’t seem to matter what was happening,
he just was. The only time I’d ever seen him get this upset was
when we were out on a call last year and a perp slugged me. David
may have used a little more force than was entirely necessary to
subdue the son of a bitch.

I rubbed David’s back soothingly and rested
my other hand on his chest, feeling his heart pound violently
beneath my touch. Knowing I needed to calm him down, I glared at
Nick and spoke with a seething hatred that still burned through my
veins from his total abandonment. “That was a long time ago, Nick.”
He glanced down at me briefly before retraining his steely gaze on
David. “You should probably just do what you do best and go.”

Nick’s eyes sparkled with the knowledge that
he was getting under David’s skin. “You’re right. Maybe I should
have called first.”

I flinched as his words struck an exposed
nerve that I thought had been severed long ago. By the time I found
my voice again, he was already hopping the fence into the
neighbor’s yard, probably afraid to announce his party-crashing
ways to my parents.

A very large part of me didn’t want to let
him get away with just showing up here, but I made it all of two
steps before David’s hand gripped my wrist and pulled me back to
him. He lead me into the cover of darkness and pressed my back to
the side of the house as his lips met mine in a kiss that was
filled with so much need it made my knees shake.

Nick was forgotten as David’s arms snaked
around my waist, his hands moving down to cup my ass as I wrapped
mine around his neck. Goosebumps rippled over my body as I stepped
up onto my toes to bring myself closer to his height. I held him as
close to me as possible, moaning into the kiss and pushing my body
against his, feeling his growing arousal against my thigh.

I knew that he needed me to assure him that
I was his completely—that nothing on this Earth would take me away
from him. I yearned for the same thing. Tears of regret mixed with
those from being emotionally overwhelmed started burning behind my
closed eyes as David and I passionately embraced on the dark patio.
Since David made no secret about the way he felt about me, I knew
that I had to take the next step in our relationship. For him. For
both of us. He’d given me so much already, and I had done nothing
but take.

Even though I really didn’t want to, I found
a reserve of strength and broke our kiss. Feeling a little
light-headed, I had to take a minute to catch my breath as David
gripped my hips, his thumbs delightfully pressing into the soft
flesh above my hipbones. This sent tiny shockwaves through my lower
body that settled between my thighs, and I found it hard to
focus.

Licking my lips, I opened my eyes and looked
up at him through my thick, dark lashes. His blue eyes appeared
dark with lust as they danced between mine and my tingling mouth,
and it filled me with joy on a day that usually brought me such
despair. It was another welcome relief. I loved him so much. This
was the perfect moment to prove it.

“I can’t lose you,” I confessed softly.
“You’re far too important to me.”

Anger flared in David’s eyes. “What that
Neanderthal did—leaving you?—I would
never
do that.” I
nodded my understanding, but still held my doubts. “I love you,
Brooke.”

I knew he meant it; it was obvious in the
way he acted around me daily. The fight to keep my tears at bay was
lost the moment I closed my eyes, and I was angry that I let Nick’s
unexpected visit affect me like this. They rolled down my cheeks as
I turned my face into his hand and kissed the palm of it. “I…love
you, too,” I confessed honestly into the warmth of his touch before
turning and meeting his blazing stare. “And I want to tell
everyone.”

David’s eyes widened with surprise, his
happiness pouring off of him. “Really?” I nodded, and he wrapped
his arms around me, picking me up off the ground and spinning us
around.

I laughed loudly and, in that moment, forgot
the horrible memories that today brought with it. This was huge for
me. When David set me back on my feet, he kissed me so hard, I got
a little weak in the knees and had to clutch the front of his
jacket to help keep my balance.

“Take me home?” I pleaded when he pulled
away, wanting desperately for the two of us to be alone and pick up
where we left off.

David chuckled, leaning down to kiss the tip
of my nose. “Sweetheart, the night is still young, and your parents
kind of have a whole evening planned.”

It didn’t take me long to realize that we
hadn’t really been here that long—regardless of the fact that time
seemed to be dragging—and I laughed lightly at myself. “I guess it
just feels like today’s already gone on long enough.”

David pulled me toward the house, and I
stopped before reaching the door. “You ready?”

“Are you?” he replied back. “If you’d prefer
to wait…”

I shook my head hard. “No. I want to do
this. Like you said, it’s been two years. Besides, I figure my
parents would love for this day to hold happy memories. Let’s go
make that happen.”

With a smile that could light up a starless
night, David pulled me against his side and pressed his lips to
mine once more. “As you wish, sweetheart.”

E
ven with the
unexpected and joyous turn that last night took, Nick showing up at
my party and reawakening that period of my life cut deeply. How did
he not realize the possibility of that happening? As if it wasn’t
hard enough to deal with the night I found Bobby, but for Nick to
come back seven years
to the day
and act as though nothing
had happened? How did he expect me to react? He left me.
He
left
me
when things got just a little too hairy for him; it
didn’t seem to matter what I was going through.