Page 58 of Sweet Sin

All this time I was worried about Savannah killing a man. I didn’t realize I was the one who had done so.

All those years… Eight fucking years I gave for a life I didn’t take, only to turn out to be a killer after all. I force myself to stay calm.

“I’m sorry, Falcon,” Savannah says again, gulping. “I never thought…”

“Sorry?” I get a grip, washing the thoughts from my mind. “I acted in self-defense, and he was a motherfucker.”

Leif stands there, listening. I haven’t told him enough of the story for him to understand what’s going on.

“Apparently he had a history of concussions,” Savannah continues. “This isn’t your fault.”

Savannah so clearly believed that her victim was dead. But my victim? I never thought I caused significant damage. You know how many guys I knocked down in the slammer? Not with a pistol, of course, but with my fists.

None of them ever bit the big one.

“I suppose this means there will be more questioning for me,” I say.

“I don’t know that there will be,” Savannah says. “You were clearly acting in self-defense. And you have a witness. Me.”

“Yeah, but I’m an ex-con.”

The irony of all of it isn’t lost on me. I went to prison under the guise of killing a man that I didn’t kill.

I’ve been out for mere days, and I’ve actually killed one.

A criminal who wasn’t worth his own flesh and bones, but that doesn’t really matter in the eyes of the law.

“Falcon, they’re not going to come after you,” Leif says.

“How the hell do you know that?”

“It’s like your friend here says. You didn’t break any laws.”

“They made an example out of me the first time. And I wasn’t even fucking guilty that time.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Leif says.

“That’s what you heard because you never came to get the truth from me.” I poke him in the chest, and not gently. “You only know that I copped to a plea. I pleaded guilty to manslaughter. But I was innocent.”

He grabs my hand. “Then why the fuck did you cop to it?”

I whisk my hand away. I don’t reply.

“He won’t tell you,” Savannah says. “Believe me. I’ve asked.”

“I’ve known you since we were in diapers,” Leif says. “But I’m a different man than I was back then. Back when you got put away. I made friends. Fellow SEALs. We have each other’s backs, and not all of us came home, Falcon. One thing I learned is that any relationship, romantic or friendly, must have trust. Trust between you and your men in the field. Without trust, we’d all be dead. When the fuck did you stop trusting me?”

I could throw my baggage in his face. I could toss out something like, “When you didn’t visit me in prison.

But that all seems like ancient history because it is. I say simply, “I can’t tell you.”

“Then I can’t help you.” Leif turns and walks away.

“Fuck him anyway,” I say.

Savannah rises from the bench and trots after him. “Hey.” She touches his arm.

I follow them so I can hear their conversation.

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