Page 82 of Instinct & New Identity

Shit.Hewas right.Ihad told her we were a team and one person couldn’t make decisions and cut the other one out.

“Man, if being overseas taught us anything, it’s that life is short,”Wadeadded. “Don’tmake it worse by losing one of the best things that ever happened to you.”

I understood what he was saying.Ididn’t want to lose her, but ifIwas responsible for her getting hurt or even killed,Iwouldn’t be able to live with myself.

Archer, who had been more of the silent, supportive type so far, spoke up. “Takeit from someone who has loved and lost.Ifyou find it, hold onto it.”

Wade andIboth looked at him, a little shocked, becauseArcherhad never spoken about his past openly before.Notregarding his ex-wife at least.Archerhad been married briefly—as in,less than a monthbriefly.Itwas a whirlwindVegasmarriage to a woman he was madly in love with.

I still didn’t know what led to the divorce, but any timeItried to bring it up, he shut it down real fast.Itoccurred to me now after his comment that maybe it was because he was still hung up on her.Atthe timeIthought he was crazy for marrying a woman he barely knew, but my cousin had never gone back to dating since his divorce.

MaybeIwas wrong to cut her out.Icertainly didn’twantto.Iwanted to be with her more than anything, but her safety had been my priority.NowIbegan to rethink that.

MaybeIshould go talk to her again.

“No!” all three men shouted at me.

It hurt my brain when they did that.Whydid they all yell so loud?

“We’re not yelling.You’rejust drunk,”Wadesaid, grinning at me.

How did he know whatIwas thinking?

“Because you’re not thinking it,You’resaying it out loud,” my dad explained.

Ah, shit.

“I think it’s time for you to call it a night, son.”

“You good to drive them both home, or you need me to do it?”Wadeasked my dad.

“I got ’em,” he replied.

Archer andIboth climbed into my dad’s car.Theride back to my place was silent.Whenwe pulled up to the front,Archertold my dad to just head home.

“I’m gonna crash at his place tonight.Thanksfor the ride,UncleFrank.”

“Don’t let him call that girl until he sobers up.Don’tneed him making this even worse,” my dad toldArcher.

We walked up to my unit in silence.Whenwe finally got to my door, my key wasn’t working properly.Archertook it and had to have worked some weird voodoo magic, because he got it to work somehow.

“You want a drink?”Iasked as we walked into my kitchen.

“Yeah, butI’llget it.Yougo sit on the couch before you fall over.”

Whatever.Iwasn’t that bad.Thoughthe floor did seem to be uneven in a few spots thatIhadn’t noticed before.Imade it to the couch and fell back onto it.Ipropped my legs up in the ottoman and relaxed a bit.

Archer came in and handed me a bottle of water and some pills.

“Take those so you don’t feel like death in the morning.”

He sat next to me on the couch.Inoticed he had a drink too, but not water.Hisglass looked suspiciously like whiskey.

We sat next to each other in silence for a few moments beforeArcherspoke in a soft muffled voice. “Fourdays afterImarriedAce, a buddy of mine on the drug task force told me there was a hit out on her.Ahigh-dollar hit.”

Shocked at what he’d said,Ilooked over at him to see he was staring into his glass.Ihad never actually metAce.Archermet her, got married, then divorced, all whileIwas overseas.Buthe wrote about her in two of his emails he had sent me.He’dseemed to be happy about it, soI’dbeen happy for him.

“One of the casesIhad worked on,Ihad to testify for several days in court.WhatIdidn’t know was that the guy who was on trial had one of his soldiers follow me out of the courthouse and shadow me for a few days.Thelast night he shadowed me was the nightImarriedAceat that chapel.”

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