Page 21 of Man of Honor

I grinned and raised an eyebrow.“And that’s only the start. Wait ‘til the boys show you all the hidden passages.Maybe worth sticking around to find out what else we’ve got, huh?”

“Maybe.” Ivy rolled her eyes, but the hint of a smile stuck around.

Then she scooted closer to me and sat with her back to Boone’s headstone just like Iwas.Our shoulders bumped, but I didn’tmind.I was just happy she was starting to feelsafe.We sat together like that for a while, relaxing in thesilence.

I breathed in the scent of magnolia and the salty tang of the nearby marsh, and for the first time, I felt a flicker of what men like Boone and Wyatt must have felt back when they’drescuedme.A responsibility that went beyond food and shelter and putting a roof over a kid’shead.People like Boone, Loretta, and Wyatt hadn’t just kept us alive; they’d shown us a way forward when we were stuck lookingback.I’d never appreciated the weight of thatresponsibility.It was heavy. The kind that didn’t let you rest easy atnight.

I’d shoved all that weight back in Wyatt’sface.I might have been legal when I kissed him, and I might have known exactly what I wanted, but tohim,it must have felt like betraying the responsibility he’d taken on the moment he carried that half-dead kid out of thebayou.It hurt like hell, but Wyatt had never been theproblem.

Maybe it was time I stopped blaming him forit.

Chapter Ten

WYATT

I’d never believedin ghosts, but then again, I’d never visited Eden House at night.Standing on the front steps, looking up at the dark windows, it was easy to imagine the eyes of some long-dead priest or sickly orphan watching me.The heat wasn’t bad this time of year, but it was sticky and humid even after the sun went down.Still, a chill seemed to radiate off the old wood siding.Cold bit at my fingers when I lifted the brass knocker.No answer—not even when I laid on the bell.

I gave up and tried peering through one of the narrow windows that flanked the door, but a set of gauzy lace panels blurred the interior.All I could make out was a dark, shadowy hallway that looked like something from a tomb.

Not exactly what I needed at the end of an exhausting day in court, watching a judge wave off the perps with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.By the time I’d filed my report at the station, I was hungry, tired, and bone-deep weary of the system.That was when Vanderhoff cornered me in the locker room and laid into me over the lack of progress in Gage’s case.

“How many favors are you planning to pull for this family, Brooks?” Vanderhoff barked, slamming his fist into someone else’s locker to drive his point home.“You didn’t even bother pressing Etienne to file charges about the stolen truck.”

“Etienne just wants to be left alone, Kent,” I said wearily, trying to ignore him as I changed out of my uniform.“He got the truck back, and he doesn’t even drive it.There’s no case.”

“Then move on to finding those men Gage attacked.They’re out there somewhere. Stop dragging your feet and get it done—or I’ll find someone who will.”

I knew a threat when I heard one.If I didn’t have something to report to him by morning, Vanderhoff would be on Gage like a dog with a bone.He had a hard-on for the whole damn family, but Gage always seemed to catch the worst of it.When he was an obnoxious teenager, he’d made himself low hanging fruit, and Vanderhoff refused to let it go.

Looking after Gage wasn’t my job anymore.He was a grown man, and he sure as hell didn’t want my help, but I couldn’t just stand back and let Vanderhoff bulldoze him.I wanted to protect him. It was instinct by this point.But I couldn’t shake the feeling that stopping by at this time of night was a mistake.

The mansion was empty, but the faint strains of a bass guitar were drifting from somewhere out back.I circled around, following the sound.Full dark was falling fast, but it was still light enough to navigate without tripping over landscaping.The moon was fat and bright, and lightning bugs lit up the gravel path like tiny spotlights.

Just as the gravel gave way to concrete, I caught the faint blue glow of an inground lap pool.A man was slicing through thewater like a dolphin.Moonlight rippled across the surface, lining the swimmer's bare back with silver.I’d know the shape of that back anywhere.I’d thought of almost nothing else all week.Gage had come into his prime with an explosion, and the sight of those long, strong limbs as he swam had my pulse kicking into high gear.

I should’ve turned back. I had plenty of time to check on him in the morning before Vanderhoff even rolled his pompous ass out of bed.But my legs felt like lead. I couldn’t force them to take that first step.I stood, rooted to the spot, fighting the desperate ache spreading out from my groin.

Gage spotted me right away, pausing mid-stroke to tread water.He tossed wet hair out of his eyes and swiped a hand over his face before offering me a slow, lazy smile.“You here to take me in, Deputy?”

I stepped up to the edge of the pool, close enough to see the water beading on his shoulders, and raised one eyebrow.“Done anything to deserve it?”

“Plenty.” His eyes gleamed, and his grin widened into something devilish.“Nothing recent, though. Not since the last time you saw me.”

“I heard otherwise.”

The smile dropped in an instant, replaced by a guarded look that made my heart ache.I wasn’t used to that kind of wariness from him.Even back when I used to haul him home in the back of my patrol car, he’d treated it like a free joyride with an old friend.

“Yeah?” he asked, floating closer to rest his forearms on the pool deck.“Who told you?”

“Silas McKenna. He said you’ve been sniffing around the Dead End, asking about some guy named Paulie.”

Gage grimaced regretfully, but I don’t think he regretted what he’d done.Only that he’d gotten caught.“I went back to the bar to look for my wallet and keys.Seems like y’all aren’t too keen to find the guys who tried to kidnap Ivy, so I figured I’d help out.Ask a few questions, you know?I’m no use here at Eden. Gideon and Loretta have things on lock, and I’m better at busting heads, anyway.”

“I told you to stay out of trouble.”

Gage’s chuckle was deep and sexy.“Since when do I listen to you?”

The mocking light in his eyes hit a nerve, so I fixed my gaze on the way his hair stuck up in wet spikes instead.Water droplets rolled down his temple and clung to the edge of his jaw.I swallowed hard, trying to ease the tightness in my throat, and said harshly, “You’re asking for trouble.Vanderhoff’s itching for a reason to throw you behind bars.If you start cracking skulls at the Dead End, he’ll slap you with charges so fast it’ll make your head spin.”

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