Page 59 of Sweet Sin

“I know we just met, Savannah, but—”

Savannah holds up a hand. “I’m his parole officer. It’s because of me that he’s in this mess. Those guys came to his place looking for me on orders from their superior. If it weren’t for Falcon, I’d be in their custody now. Being forced into marriage or crime or God knows what else.” She turns, facing me. “This is Falcon Bellamy. They called him Savage in prison. Did you know that?”

Leif looks down. “I don’t know anything about his time.”

I close the few steps between us. So much for ancient history. “That’s because you never visited me.”

“I wasn’t here, Falcon. I joined up. I followed through with our plans. Did you expect me not to?”

I stare at the concrete sidewalk. “No. I didn’t want to hold you back.”

“Then how can you blame me?”

I look up, meeting his gaze. “You could’ve written a fucking letter.”

“Maybe. I’m not sure I’ve ever written a letter in my life, but I suppose I could have. Then again, I didn’t have a lot of extra time on my hands either.”

He’s probably not yanking my chain. He joined the Navy. Officers training school and then SEAL training. We both did our research back in the day. We knew what we were in for. And it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Funny thing is, on the inside, you hold grudges. You have to. If you stop holding a grudge, you might not be watching your back—and it’ll get stabbed.

But Leif Ramsey would never stab me in the back.

I’ve got to let this ancient history go.

“I understand,” I finally grit out.

The words come more easily than I expected.

“And I want to understand you as well, Falcon. How can I when you won’t tell me?”

Savannah comes to my aid again, grabbing Leif’s arm. “You just have to believe in him. I believe in him.”

Leif meets my gaze. “I always did believe in you, Fal.”

My lip quivers slightly. “And I believed in you too, buddy. Nobody I’d rather be in a foxhole with.”

“Me either, and I was in foxholes with some of the best.” Leif comes forward and embraces me.

And it feels good.

Feels good to have my pal back.

18

SAVANNAH

I’m not sure what the story with Leif and Falcon is, and I may never know.

If Falcon doesn’t want to tell me, he won’t. He’s made that pretty clear.

But I’m no longer his parole officer.

That happened when I called Bridget this morning.

“Hey, Bridget. Savannah Gallo.”

“Where the hell are you? I’ve been leaving messages all morning.”

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