Page 48 of No Broken Promises

“If there’s nothing else, then I’ll walk you out.” Dom stands up. “I want to get this video processed and see what’s on it, and there’s still a lot of work to do.”

“Yeah, of course.”

I follow him out of the office, and he guides me around the opposite side of the bullpen, behind a dividing wall.

“This is an easier way out,” he explains. “Plus, you won’t have to deal with Linc’s annoying face.”

I laugh at that, unable to stop myself. “Yeah, he’s annoying sometimes. But he means well. Plus, he feels obligated since I was… you know, married to his brother.”

Dom’s face sobers in an instant. “Yeah, I know. Danny was a good man, Parker. I was proud to serve with him.”

My heart does some sort of flop in my chest at the mention, and we both fall into a companionable silence as we walk through the halls. This right here, this is why I kept his secret all these years. No one needs to think of Danny as anything other than the dead hero.

“Shut the fuck up, Stryker.” Remy’s angry voice comes from the end of the hall where an open door stands. “You don’t know shit about Parker.”

“I know she’s got you whipped to the point that you won’t even come out with your friends anymore,” comes the response. “That’s all I need to know about her. Not to mention that she fucked Danny to get back at you when you joined the Marines.”

Eddie Stryker, one of our best friends in school. At least I thought he’d been my friend. All the anger in his voice is aimed at me, and there is literally nothing I can do to avoid it.

Dom looks down at me with a concerned expression and immediately tries to usher me in the other direction. “Let’s go the other way,” he whispers.

I can’t even move, my feet have turned to lead, or maybe they are encased in cement. No matter how much I want to leave, they won’t budge. Dom is left standing there, watching me struggle with the most basic of things.

“You’re a fuckin’ idiot, Stryker.” Remy’s ferocious growl is met with the sound of something slamming against the wall, hard. “You have no idea what I did to that woman or why she went to Danny. I don’t blame her for choosing him. No one blamed her, and no one ever should have given her shit about it. I broke her. Not the other way around. You’re not going to start shit with her now, or you’re going to regret it.”

“No.” Stryker’s voice comes from right on the other side of the doorway. “I’m not. Even if you’re blinded by her, I’m not. She’s fuckin’ poison, Remy. And she’ll ruin your life, just like she ruined Danny’s.”

Every word he utters sends a slash of pain through my heart straight to my soul.

Do people still see me that way? After all these years? I can’t fucking live it down. This is why I need to leave Birch. I need to get away.

“We should go now.” Dom tries to physically move me, but I pull my arm out of his grasp and turn my attention back to the doorway.

Panic fills my bones at the thought of them seeing me. Of Remy knowing I heard him being forced to defend my honor, and I scramble to get away, ready to leave. Unfortunately, I don’t move fast enough. Remy and Stryker both fill the doorway, with Remy’s hand grabbing Stryker’s collar as he shoves the other man into the wall.

“If you ever, and I mean ever say anything about Parker again, I swear on everything I hold dear, I will fucking end you.”

But Stryker isn’t looking at Remy.

No.

His hate-filled eyes are locked on mine, and the smile on his lips is lifeless.

When Remy turns his head ever so slowly, his eyes meet mine and everything else fades away.

“Parker.” My name is nothing but a whisper on his lips, and I can’t even bring myself to answer him.

Not with the tears streaming down my cheeks and the ache filling my bones.

I did this.

For the first time in my life, I see myself through Stryker’s eyes. The eyes of a man who knows what I did and doesn’t excuse the pain I caused Remy just because Danny died.

“I’m so sorry.”

Running by them before Remy can even let go of Stryker, I push through the door with a large red EXIT sign above it before I break down completely.

My life is such a fucking mess.

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