Page 40 of All My Broken Dreams

He wished they could stay like this for the month that he had left with her. She had to leave at the end of the fall semester whether she found Harry or not.

She wouldn’t find Harry. Robbie’s brother, Harry, was dead.

The words were stuck in his brain on repeat. Harry Listowel was dead. That friendly, eager mountain of a man who played football and was crazy about books, was dead.

Harry, his cousin–a cousin he didn’t even know he had until a few hours ago.

Anger bloomed in Deacon’s gut. The rage that was always simmering in the depths of his being threatened to erupt to the surface. Casey was his target. Casey knew all three of them were related and didn’t say a word. When he got him alone, Deacon was going to thrash him to within an inch of his life. Not even Alastair would save the bastard this time. Seeing his cousin’s face black and blue would make whatever punishment he had to take worth it.

Harry was dead.

Deacon’s eyes burned with unshed tears.

Robbie shifted under his arm. He pulled the duvet up higher to cover her bare shoulders.

How was he ever going to tell her?

???

The summons came when they were with the cats. Robbie had brought one of Harry’s knitted scarves for the cat box to keep the kittens warm when their mother was off hunting. Deacon was in the middle of constructing a makeshift roof to keep the snow off the cat box when his phone buzzed with a text from Alastair Manderville.

His presence was requested at an early morning meeting at Locksley Hall in the dining room reserved for Fuil Bratach.

“I have to go,” he said. “I’ll walk you back to the flat. We can pick up some breakfast on the way.”

“Is it him?” She paled. “Harry’s father? He wants to see you.”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell him about us?”

“No. We best keep that to ourselves, Robbie.”

“I’m not ashamed, Deacon. We didn’t do anything wrong. Are you sorry it happened?”

He met her eyes. “You know that I’m not.”

They had awoken early and reached for each other for another hour of sex play that brought them both to the brink of breaking their rule of ‘everything but.’ Deacon barely stopped himself that time. They were playing with fire and Robbie was the only one who didn’t know how badly she could be burned.

“It’s for your sake,” he said. “You don’t want to be seen in a relationship with the custodian of Locksley Hall. Not with this lot. They’ll never let you live it down.”

“I don’t care about that.”

He ducked his head, focused on the cat to avoid her scrutiny. “You say that now. One day, your feelings might change. You don’t want to be stuck with our acquaintance on your record. This meeting is going to be about nothing, Robbie. He probably wants a bulb changed in one of the rooms. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Go ahead then. I’ll hang out here a while longer.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I have to get used to this. It’s not bad here with all the stone buildings. If I’m not going to be stuck with your acquaintance, I can’t get dependent on you to bring me outside. I have to learn to do this on my own.”

“You have my number if you need me, right?”

“Go. I’m fine.”

He believed her. He didn’t know why he believed her. Probably because it was convenient. Alastair’s request to jointhem at the Hall was not a request. Even so, Deacon didn’t have it in him to disobey his uncle. Or make him wait while he walked Robbie home.

He hurried down the narrow alley, jogging in the direction of the tradesmen’s entrance at Locksley Hall. The snow had let up at least. He hated leaving her alone. He hated what he was running to even more.

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