Page 24 of Starting Over

“I’m fine.”

“You aren’t fine. It could be broken,” Beck argued.

“It’s not broken; it went through the sheetrock.”

“Why are you punching walls?”

The sheriff looked down at his daughter. “Would you rather I punched him?” he asked, pointing at Justin.

Beck turned a glare on Justin. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Justin quickly piped up at the same time the sheriff answered, “He was born.”

“This is not Justin’s fault,” I yelled.

Beck spun around to me and asked, “Why are you calling him Justin? His name is Micah, or Blade.”

“I’m sorry. I knew him as Justin. It will take some getting used to.”

“Wait, you know Micah?”

I looked at Jus—Micah and waited for him to explain.

“Yea, babe. Maureen knew me when I was a baby. She was friends with my mom.”

“So you’re—”

“Yes, I was with the Mob. I’m widowed and left Boston.”

“Until Sal fucking finds you.”

I glared at the sheriff. Before I could retort, my phone rang.

“Shit, Kristy,” I said, looking at King.

“Go ahead and answer. Apologize and blame me. Tell her we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Where the fuck are you going?” the sheriff barked.

“She has an appointment to look at the house she bought,” King answered for me, while I answered my phone.

“Hi, Kristy, I’m so sorry. My car broke down last night, and King found me on the road. He offered to let me stay at the clubhouse, and we lost track of time.”

“I bet you did. I would love to lose track of time with King.”

“It’s not like that,” I said, looking at the sheriff. His cold, hard eyes narrowed at me while his nostrils flared, like he knew what Kristy had insinuated. “We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

“No problem. See you soon.”

She disconnected the call, and I sighed.

Chapter Six

Declan

“I’ll take her to meet Kristy,” I offered, apparently having no control over my mouth.

I told myself I wanted to get her alone, so I could convince her to leave.