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“I MET ALANA AND THE girls at a bar called Sideways. We were all drinking and dancing. One thing led to another, and we ended up spending the night together. The next morning, I left, and I figured I’d never see her again. But then my brother fell in love with Olivia and we ended up seeing each other all the time.”
“What did Alana do for a living?” I ask because I can’t control my nosiness.
“By trade, she was a nurse. She worked in hospitals at the beginning of her career, but one patient changed her career path, and she ended up working at a women’s shelter.”
I put together what I know. “So, that’s how you knew about the women’s shelter you sent me to?”
Owen nods, “Yes. I called in a favor and they took you in with no questions.” He looks sheepish. “If I’d known then what I know now... I wouldn’t have let you out of my sight.” He runs the back of a finger down the side of my cheek and I lean into the touch.
“What happened between you and her? Why didn’t you end up together?”
He smirks. “The girls told you a lot, didn’t they? Well, neither one of us was ready to settle down, but we weren’t ready to be apart, either. I loved her and she loved me, but it just wasn’t enough at the time. I just had my knee surgery, and since they officially discharged me from the military, I had started working for Hughes International in the field. Alana had the medical flight business and the women’s shelter. We were both busy with our lives and careers. We’d see each other once in a while, but we weren’t official or anything. It was casual.”
I don’t know what to say, so I just nod along.
“When she went missing, though, I dropped everything to go find her. But, I was too late.”
He sounds like he blames himself for that. “You didn’t kill her, Owen.”
“I know, but I couldn’t protect her either, and I’ll live with that for the rest of my life.” He watches a memory in his mind as he looks past me. “I found her body.”
“You saved Piper.” I tell him because I think he needs the reminder. “You saved your brother’s wife. You saved your niece and nephew’s mother.” I take his hand in mine. “You killed him, didn’t you?” I had heard all the news stories about how the guy fought the police and ended up dying of his injuries. Everyone cheered the police for taking out the serial killer. No one thought twice about it. But sitting here now, feeling the rage flow off of Owen, I suspect he had a hand in the killer’s death.
Owen looks up at me and nods his head, but doesn’t say a word. His eyes do all the talking. He’s waiting for me to judge him, scorn him for his actions. I won’t do that. Owen is a hero in my book. He couldn’t save the one person he loved, but he saved his family and community from a killer. Owen doesn’t need scorn or judgment. He needs saving himself.
I push the covers off of my legs and climb into his lap. Taking his head into my hands, I look him dead in the eyes. “You are an amazing person, Owen Hughes. Your family knows that. I know that. And Alana knew that, too.”
“The last few years have been hard to move on from that day.” He sighs, “I hate that term, ‘move on’. People tell you to move on like you’re leaving the dead behind you. I hate it.” He shakes his head.
“I don’t think of it like moving on. I think of it like a train.”
His confusion is clear on his face. “How?”
“When I was a little girl, my goldfish that I won at a carnival, died. I couldn’t understand how he was here one minute and gone the next.”
“Alana wasn’t a goldfish.”
I ignore his comment and continue, “But my mom explained it like we are all on a giant train that is circling the entrances to Heaven and Hell. Everyone and everything is on this giant train and we all have our own ticket. Our ticket dictates how many times we need to circle the entrances before we have to get off the train. Our life actions dictate which entrance we can go through. Then the train leaves the station and goes to the next stop.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We didn’t leave anyone behind. They just got off on a different stop. The destination is still the same for all of us. Alana got off the train and entered Heaven. The bad guy got off the train and entered Hell.”
Owen just nods.
“Well, it made sense to my ten-year-old brain. But it’s how I’ve been thinking of my mom lately. She got off the train at her stop.”
“No, I get it. I like your analogy.”
“My point is, you couldn’t save her because her ticket said it was her stop to get off the train. You’re not leaving her behind by moving forward in your life.” I lean in and kiss him. “It’s getting late and you have a long day tomorrow with the gem show. And what are we doing about Patrick?”
“I called a friend from the FBI, Rick Newberry. Don’t worry about it. He’s got it under control.” Owen and I slip under the covers. He turns off the light and pulls me onto his chest. I willingly go. “I wish I didn’t have this thing tomorrow.”
“Me, too. But you do. So, get some sleep.” I tap on his hard abs.
It’s quiet and I’m almost asleep when Owen says, “I don’t understand it, but what I’m feeling for you is much more powerful than anything I felt for Alana and it scares the fuck out of me, Mallory. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid when I’m not here. Please?”
“I promise.” And I plan to keep this promise.
Owen deserves it.
~~~
I feel a rocking on my shoulders, but I don’t want to get up. It feels like I just fell asleep.
“Wake up, baby. Time for breakfast.” Owen’s voice is soft until it’s not. “Bella! No!”
I feel like someone has punched me in the stomach when a Great Dane puppy, that is not the normal puppy size, lands on my abdomen. “Ugh!”
“Sorry. Bella, get down. Sorry. Are you okay? She’s in quite a mood this morning.”
“What time is it?” I still haven’t opened my eyes and not only is my abdomen sore, I’m realizing I’m sore in other places as well. Must be from last night’s activities.
“Seven. Now, get up. Breakfast is ready and I have a surprise for you.” I feel him pull Bella off the bed.
I love surprises. “What’s the surprise?”
He kisses me, “Nope. You have to come down to breakfast.”
“Oh, on the dining room table? Never done that before.” I tease. He says nothing back, so I don't think he expected that from me. I open my eyes to see if he left, and I find him staring at me, completely dumbfounded. I bust out laughing. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
He points to me, “You just made a promise about the dining room table I plan on collecting tonight. I love to eat at the dining room table.” He turns and walks out of the room.
“That’s the spirit, dear. Keep trying until you’re successful.” I tease after him. Now I’m wet, remembering what he did between my legs last night. I’m okay with him doing that all over again.
“You remember you said that.” I hear him call back at me from down the hallway.
I take a few minutes using the bathroom and getting dressed and then head down the stairs, following the smell of chocolate chip pancakes. My favorite. “Something smells delicious.”
“You smell delicious.” Owen comes up behind me and envelopes me into his arms. “Your breakfast is getting cold. On the dining room table.” He smirks at me.
“Where’s my surprise?”
“Under your pancakes.” He points to the table.
I turn and find a stack of pancakes on a plate, on a laptop. “The pancakes or the laptop?”
Owen ignores my question. “It’s state-of-the art. You couldn’t want anything more on a computer. I even had the latest graphic design software installed. It’s all yours.” He pushes me down into my seat.
“You got me a laptop? When?”
“Yes. It came this morning. Eat.”
I push the plate of pancakes aside and open the laptop. The display says ‘Welcome, Mallory’. “Where did you get this?”
“We had a spare at the office. Would you please eat?”
“You just so happen to have a spare five thousand dollar laptop lying around the office and you decided to give it to your girlfriend?” I can hear the skeptical tone to my voice. I don’t believe him. “I don’t believe you.”
Owen sits on the chair next to me and pulls my chair so that we’re face to face. “First, love that you called yourself my girlfriend. For the record, I’m your boyfriend. Second, it’s a ten thousand dollar laptop. If you’re gonna judge, do it right. Third, I don’t care if you believe me or not. That is for you. And fourth, you need to eat.” He kisses me quickly, pushes my chair back into place at the table, takes the computer away from me, and pushes my pancakes in its place. “Eat. I have to go soon.”
I take my fork, cut some pancakes, and dip them in syrup. They taste delicious. “Do you know how long you’ll be today?” I ask around my mouth, full of food.
He watches me and laughs. “Too long. But I’ll be back before the meeting tonight.”
At the mention of Patrick, I lose my appetite. I push the rest of the food away. “So, what is the plan for tonight?” The room has a heaviness to it that wasn’t there just a minute ago.
“This afternoon, the FBI will be coming over to set up to take Fusco into custody tonight at the marina. I’ll meet Rick, that’s my friend’s name, here and we’ll go to the marina. This will all be over tonight.” He smiles at me and I feel his optimism, so I smile back. “I want you to promise me you won’t leave the house today for any reason.”
“I promise. Olivia, Piper, and the kids are all coming over to go swimming. And I have this new laptop to play with.” I smile up at him.
“Good. We want all of you in one place. You’ll notice that there’s more security around the property. It’s on purpose. I don’t like that Fusco’s still out there and I won’t be here with you. Gabriel had one of our security teams come over. They’ll be around if you need them.”
“Got it. Stay home. Hang out. Call if we need anything. I promise.” I know he needs to hear this after what he told me last night. He can’t be here and if anything happened to me or his family, he’d never forgive himself. And everyone is at risk because of me. He’d never forgive me, either.
I watch him strap on four different guns, handcuffs, and other gizmos and gadgets to his body. Then he puts on a bulletproof vest and suddenly I’m worried about him. “Aren’t you going to protect some rocks? Does that really require a bulletproof vest?”
“If I need a gun, then I need a vest. It’s a package deal.”
I nod. “Do you really need a gun?”
He stops what he’s doing when he hears the fear in my voice. “The gun is for protection only. If I don’t have it and there are bad guys with their own guns... they will win every time.”
I take a deep breath and nod. “Okay.”
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
The doorbell rings, and Bella barks and runs to the door.
“Knock, knock. You decent?” Gabriel yells from the front door.
“In here.” Owen calls out.
“Good Morning, Mallory.” Gabriel says as he comes up and kisses me on the cheek. Matt is right behind him and does the same thing. I think I hear Owen growl, but I can’t be sure.
“Ready to go?” Gabriel and Matt are dressed exactly like Owen and they have just as many gadgets and gizmos on themselves.
“Ready. Meet you out there.” Owen dismisses them both and they get the hint and leave.
When we’re alone, Owen turns to me. “Stay here and have fun today.”
“Stay safe and come home.” I tell him as he pulls me into his arms and hugs me.
“I don’t like my brothers touching you.”
“They kissed me on the cheek. I’ve seen you do the same thing to Olivia and Piper.”
“I still don’t like it.”
“Okay.”
We stand in this embrace, and it feels like the ground is shifting beneath our feet again. Owen pulls away, but grasps my head and looks at me. “I’m going to tell you something. Don’t fret about it. Don’t worry about it. Just accept it. Okay?”
“Um... okay.” Is he going to tell me something about Patrick? About this job he’s about to do? I don’t know, but I’m nervous suddenly.
“Mallory. I’m falling in love with you.” Owen says, kisses me on the forehead, turns and walks out the front door.
Holy shit.