Page 27 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

She held onto the thinnest thread of hope that one day Jason would change and see how he was missing out on his own son’s life. But if he didn’t change, then Liyah didn’t want him anywhere near Keenan. Her boy would be better off without him.

She made a mistake, and her youngest son didn’t need to pay for it.

With a single nod, she moved to sit down and was surprised when Nox did the gentlemanly thing and moved her chair into place once she did so.

The man had manners. It was possible he only dusted them off when he wanted something.

And what he wanted from her was information.

ChapterSix

Aaliyah waiteduntil he rounded the table and retook his seat before saying, “I’ll consider giving you what you want but only if this is an actual conversation. Not just you lobbing questions at me, expecting answers and not giving me anything in return.” When he didn’t respond, she asked, “Does the thought of that scare you?”

“No.”

Maybe scared wasn’t quite the right adjective. The more she dealt with him, the more she realized, like her, he probably didn’t scare easily, either. “Make you uncomfortable?”

Again, he didn’t answer.

“You lied to get me here. Because of that, I have no problem making you squirm a little. Get you out of your comfort zone.”

Holy shit, the man was like a blank wall. So hard to read.

But then, she’d been right where he was. Not wanting to go on. Thinking life wasn’t worth living anymore. Thinking all the hopes and dreams she and Mark made together would never come to fruition.

Devyn had been her reason not to give up. Not to bury herself under the covers and pretend the world didn’t exist.

In truth, Devyn had become her world. Her world was only a little smaller without Mark in it.

With every step, every breath, every heartbeat, it got easier.

She didn’t have to forget Mark to move forward, she only needed to learn how to live without him.

The man across from her needed to learn how to do the same.

“I will tell you what you want to know, but only if you do the same. Don’t mistake this as a negotiation. Since you lured me here by telling me you needed to talk, that’s what we’re going to do. But like I said, this won’t be one-sided. If I give you what you want, then you’ll give me what I want. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”

His lips thinning proved he didn’t like that deal.

Too bad.

“We’ll start off with a simple question…” She was making an assumption with her next question, but she was pretty confident that her guess was correct. Because every time she looked at him, it was like looking at herself in the mirror sixteen years ago. The only loss he could be this devastated over was a child or a soulmate. And because he came to the group alone, she narrowed it down. “What was her name?”

His heart was tryingto knock a hole in his chest. If it succeeded, nothing would be left but a big, gaping wound.

A wound he couldn’t close.

“We’re not doing this.”

“Does it bother you to say her name?”

“We’re not doing this,” he repeated, his eyesight narrowing when it darkened around the edges. The walls of the Above the Ground starting to box him in.

He wasn’t ripping himself open in a fucking coffee shop.Fuck that.Especially with a woman he’d met only three times.

He hadn’t even shared the details with his therapist.

His only stipulation was to go to a counselor and the grief support group of their choosing. He was doing that.

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