Page 41 of Rival Hearts

I was done listening to Grady, and I peeled away from the curb, desperate for some distance. He hadn’t denied my comment—not once. His reply merely made it seem like I was being irrational. My blood hummed with rage and an overwhelming desire to either rip Grady’s clothes off or beat him to a pulp. He was one of the few people who could inspire such drastic feelings. When I was younger, I’d found that magnetism exhilarating. Being around Grady made me feel alive in a way no one else did. Now, I wasn’t sure I wanted that feeling. Far, far too volatile and out of control.

Iwasbeing irrational, and I hated him for noticing and for being the cause of it. Had anyone else stolen my signs, I wouldhave given them a stern talking-to and threatened legal action, but I wouldn’t have done it.

Outside the police station, I put my SUV in park and stared at the steering wheel. Remembering Emily’s advice about deep breathing, I sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.

This wasn’t right. Turning Sabrina into Mike, even if she only got a slap on the wrist, wasn’t just. Whether she was a good mother or not, those kids didn’t deserve to have her arrested for this. A foolish, dumb prank. Grady inspired foolish behavior. I knew that better than most.

It was already 9:30 a.m. I was half an hour late to open the pharmacy, and I was lucky none of my customers had called me yet to complain. Putting the car in reverse, I steered toward my storefront and tried to clear Grady from my mind. Tyler would get the signs. I could forget about the whole thing.

If only it was that simple.

Chapter Sixteen

Grady

The one emotion I couldn’t stomach was guilt. I spent years running from it, dodging it, playing it off, wishing it would disappear in a puff of smoke. Watching Maggie peel away from the curb of my house, guilt latched onto my gut and wouldn’t let go. I went into the house and flicked on the coffee maker, trying to figure out how to calm my unease.

The guilt wasn’t about the signs; I could care less whether Sabrina had taken them. Was it misguided? Yeah. But that was the story of her life. I’d contributed to her series of bad choices last night when I’d caved and let her stay over. We hadn’t had sex, but I’m not sure I was clear about where I stood.

I was going to have to tell her last night wasn’t a prelude, it was the grand finale. When she showed up here, I almost fell back into long-dead habits. Hanging out with her was easy; we had a rhythm, even after all these years. But after the third beer, I’d realized sliding back into a relationship with her wouldn’t be progress, and she wouldn’t solve the ache in my chest every time I looked at Maggie.

Christ, that fucking ache.

It dogged me, made me want to do things I knew I shouldn’t. Desiring her increased my guilt. I was one wrong move away from fucking everything up. If I kissed Maggie, I knew I’d be a goner. There’d be no going back. I’d gladly ride to hell latched to her, savoring all the feelings she inspired. The thought of her was a kind of addiction, worse than any drug I’d ever tried. Being with her would corrupt me, make me throw everything and everyone else aside.

Coupled with that knowledge was the way Maggie had looked at me at the shed. Disgust. Disappointment. Not that I didn’t deserve those. I’d let Sabrina in during a fit of weakness, and then we’d drank enough that she couldn’t drive home. For a minute, any warm body was better than lying in bed thinking about the one I couldn’t have.

The last two weeks, while I sought people for the Small Town Saviors show, Maggie been right there at the forefront of my mind. Explaining that to her was impossible. She might feel the same ache I did, but it wasn’t enough to make her tell me the truth, to bury the past. We’d been around each other enough I was beginning to believe the truth would never surface. Coated over, layer upon layer, and if we couldn’t uncover the past, we had no chance of anything now.

Of course, I’d have to tell Trent the truth if she confessed her part. So many things we’d all left unsaid. These suspended connections were my punishment. I’d been a shitty brother, and I was doomed to the fringes of Trent’s life, and by extension, hers too.

I chugged my coffee and set the cup beside the sink. Maybe I’d go see Trent today. I’d promised Mom I’d try to repair the rift between us, that I wouldn’t let it continue. So far, I’d done little to fulfill my promise. She wasn’t the kind to peer over my shoulder. She’d always had more faith in me and Trent than we’d probably deserved.

Grabbing my keys from the kitchen counter, I pointed to the dog beds so Hite and Zeus knew they weren’t invited. I had the address on my phone, courtesy of Mom. All I needed was gas and a bit of time, and I could start to set things right.

At the gas station, I filled my truck and looked around at the shops which had changed hands or sprung up since I’d last lived here. In some ways, the town was stagnant, and in others, the changes were quite striking. Big-box stores. More houses. Run-down buildings. At least this gas station hadn’t changed. Ed Krakow had owned it for years, but I’d heard Ed had sold it recently. The end of an era.

Opening the convenience store door, my pulse skyrocketed at the sight of the man tending cash. Dan Ramouli. I stared at him for a long time while Dan served the only other customer in the store. Why would he come back to Little Falls? He’d left in a blaze of betrayal. I nodded to the other customer as he left but didn’t move any closer to the counter.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Grady Castillo. I heard you were back in town. Small-town hero coming home. Such a heart-warmer.” His gaze bored into me. “I bought this place off Ed the other week. How you doing? It’s been a while.” Dan leaned across the counter, a smug smile turning up the corners of his lips.

Not long enough. “I’m surprised Ed would sell it to you. I didn’t think you’d come back here.”

“This is my home, you know. Besides, Trent lives in Utica. What does he care if I’m here?”

“I care that you’re here.”

“It’s all water under the bridge. I never told Trent what you did. You should thank me.”

“WhatIdid? All I did was let you into my house to ‘get something for Trent.’ Then suddenly Trent is arrested, and you’re a key witness in his trial? The only ‘proof’ they had ofTrent’s operation came from you and from whatever you stole that night.”

After the morning I’d had, and the realization I’d probably never be with Maggie in any real way, my anger was lit. There was a good chance if this escalated, I might resort to violence. I wasn’t like Trent. Words, not fists, were my weapons. The coiled tension in me needed a release, and I wasn’t sure words would be enough this time.

I’d never confessed to Trent how Dan had gotten the evidence. By the time I’d put the sequence of events together, it had been too late to do anything. Probably from the minute Dan set foot in our house it had been too late. Letting him into Trent’s room ate at me. Each piece of ‘recovered’ evidence had driven into me like spikes to a stake. I’d let my brother down in so many ways.

“I got caught. I made a deal. Trent was a bigger fish. Anyone in my place would have done the same. Six years in prison, man. I wasn’t doing that.”

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