Page 23 of Declan's Hope

She loosened the grip on her phone. "What does that mean?"

"It means I have no idea," he groused. "He won’t answer anyone’s calls and the bast… I mean, he refuses to come to the door no matter how hard I bang on it. All I get from him is a yelled, 'Leave me the hell alone' from the other side of the door." Silence followed for several seconds while Hope stared out her windshield. "The only time I’ve managed to catch glimpses of him has been on camera after the fact. Damned guy times his grocery and food deliveries for when I’m not here."

"What," she said on a short laugh. "Are you staking out his house?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Hearing that from anyone else would probably surprise her. Coming from Garrett? No, she could absolutely see it. Tim came into view and she followed his progress across the parking lot to his car. It had been months and he still wouldn’t look at her.

"So, how long until you can get here?"

The day had been unusually cold and the inside of her car remained chilly, so she started it up and turned the heat on low to give it a chance to warm up. The next car she got was coming with seat warmers. "Look, Garrett, Declan wants nothing to do with me. He made that fact clear the last time I saw him."

Stating it out loud for the first time hurt. It made it more real. She hadn’t even said it that way to Haven or Destiny. She’d only told them she wasn’t going back and that they should drop the subject. They hadn’t been happy about it, but her friends had respected her wishes. A slight tremor ran through her, and she couldn’t say for sure it had anything to do with the cool air coming from her vents. "I thought he might have mentioned that to you at some point."

"No… He didn’t. I wasn’t sure…" Garrett remained quiet before finally muttering, "Stupid son of a bitch."

"So, I—"

"Do you still care about him?"

His question took her off guard. Did she? The answer would have to be a resounding yes. Of course she wasn’t telling Garrett that. "I don’t see how that matters."

"It matters because he’s cut himself off from everyone—the team, his family. Although Mercy has managed to talk to him at times." He snorted. "She’s not an easy person to ignore." A sigh filled her ear. "But that’s not the biggest problem. He hasn’t followed up with any of his doctors’s appointments." That had her sitting up in her seat. "He’s even blown off the guy who created his prosthesis."

"That’s not good."

"No, it isn’t."

"Garrett, I understand you’re worried."

"Hope—"

"No. Let me finish. Even if I did go up and just knock on his door, he’s not going to let me in any more than he would anyone else."

"That’s why you’re not going to knock."

"Excuse me?"

"Just meet me at this address." He rattled off numbers and a street name she had to have him repeat once she found something to write on. "I’ll explain everything when you get here."

She stared at the address. She’d never been to Declan’s house and had no idea where this was. She could GPS it, she supposed, but why should she—

"Please."

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him a flat out no, but she couldn’t. And not because he’d said please, but because of the way he’d said it in an almost desperate tone. And truth be told, she wanted the chance to see Declan face to face again. Not because she thought he might welcome her with open arms. It was a given he wouldn’t. But she needed a question answered. Something that might at least set her mind at ease and let her move on. And that question was…

Why?

"I’ll be there as soon as I can."

* * *

Close to thirty minutes later—with ten minutes of that time spent convincing Destiny she was doing the right thing and one wrong turn due to a glitch in her GPS later—Hope sat across from Garrett inside the EPA team’s nondescript mobile unit three lots down from Declan’s house. She wasn’t big on coincidences, so she’d had to wonder on the drive over if Garrett had her under some kind of surveillance, taking into account the timing of his call. Which was crazy, of course. But then again, maybe not, since she kind of knew how these people operated.

"You realize he has to know you’re here, right?" she asked, watching the screen zoomed in on the rustic, sprawling, cabin-like rancher sitting in the middle of what looked like about six acres of land.

"Oh, he knows," Garrett said, nodding. Then he shrugged. "Hell, he probably knows you’re here too."

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