Page 98 of Deacon

I watch the sunrise while the men get ready. They come downstairs in their good shirts. Apparently, Aiden has a hotshot lawyer now, someone from the city. Ryland gives me a slow stare as I wipe down the countertops and load the dishwasher, but he doesn’tspeak. Everyone but Aiden goes outside. He’s upstairs, his boots moving back and forth.

The kitchen is spotless. I take off my apron and hang it up.

Aiden’s boots come down the stairs. He pauses in the doorway, his coat over his arm.

“We’ll be back by dinner,” he says. “We’ll have the McClaines with us, and Mitch Silvers, the man from city government, so make sure you can feed them all.”

I nod, not meeting his eyes.

He clears his throat. “You’ve been going somewhere.”

I freeze, staring down at my hands on the countertop. They’re worn, a scar on the back from catching myself on a nail as a child. I shake my head.

“You’re not going to Tracy’s,” he says, voice curling.

My teeth cut into the tip of my tongue.

He takes a step into the kitchen, leaning in the doorway. “Just know if you drag your ass back here pregnant, you’re out,” he says. “You’re lucky I let you stay here now.”

My cheeks burn. “I pay rent,” I whisper.

I should have stayed quiet. I know better, but my tongue got the best of me. His boots come closer until he’s right beside me. I glance up and freeze.

My body wants to shut down. My brain knows what he’s like and it’s trying to protect me. Aiden’s first wife was his high school sweetheart. She had three babies by him before she turned twenty. Then, she tried to divorce him, and he put a gun to her head and told her to leave the boys and run.

So, she ran. I hope she’s so happy now. I hope she found someone who loves her, who only speaks softly.

My mother did the same thing, but she had the disadvantage of being very young while Aiden was older. He knew she’d developed a drug problem. There was no chance in hell she could take his children. So, she left too.

Bittern saw her obituary in the paper a few months later. She couldn’t keep the needle out of her arm after all the mental abuseAiden put her through. When I was nine, Bittern told me. I don’t remember crying because I’d never had hope she’d come back. I never had hope that someone would step in and save me.

Until now.

My mind goes back to when I ran into the woods, when I wished the rain and the forest would carry my words all the way to Deacon. Maybe Aiden’s first wife had a man like that waiting on the other side.

Maybe I should trust that Deacon could be that man.

“I know your type,” he says, voice low. “I married your type. Twice.”

My breath catches. My pulse is racing.

“But you wouldn’t know,” he says, voice caged between his teeth. “Because she left you. Not just me. She left you too.”

Anger flows through me, clear like water. My fingers dig into the counter and my mouth is dust dry.

“She left you.”

The words force themselves out before I can clench my jaw. I glance up at him and freeze. His dark eyes fix on me without expression. His mouth is set. The longer I look, the more I realize I can read a single emotion on the edges of his face—triumph.

He wants me to talk back, wants an excuse.

I hunker down. He lifts his hand and flicks me, across the cheekbone to my earlobe. It’s not hard enough to do damage, but it’s enough to sting. I wince, my hand going to my face. It’s been a while since he’s done that.

“You’re lucky you have Bittern,” he says softly. “Because I would throw you out tonight if he wasn’t pleading your goddamn case.”

My eyes flutter shut. If he touches me again, I don’t want to see it. Into my mind’s eyes comes the memory of being a little girl. Bittern knew Aiden didn’t like me. He’s not brave enough for full defiance, but he was kind to me when we were alone. He’d knock on the barn door while I was cleaning out the chicken coop, tears overflowing my eyes from whatever Aiden said to me earlier.

“Hey, Frey,” he’d say. “I found you one of them beetles you like.”

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