Page 48 of Avery's Hero

He nods again.

I groan, “Fucking hell.”

“Language,” he mutters around a mouthful of toast.

I just shake my head. “So, now you’re just going to be sitting around the house all day and night. Suspended. On lockdown. With no phone. I sure hope you’re learning a lesson. Hope that whatever bullshit you got into was worth it.”

He raises his eyes to mine, and there’s anger burning hot in those familiar green irises. “It is.”

The rest of the meal is eaten in silence. He watches me eat. I watch him eat. Both of us locked in angry silence.

My phone dings with a text from Reeves. New lab reports are back from the arson case. The ladder truck needs a new front tire, they found a metal shard in it. The sprinkler in the lounge went off, soakingthe microwave, causing it to short circuit. He’s taking Avery shopping for a new one.

Great. Just fucking great. The last thing I want to think about is Reeves using his Texas charms on Avery. I grunt and shove my phone in my pocket, when I really want to smash it on the floor.

“Let me guess. They need you at work?” Linc sneers.

“A lot going on. And much of it falls on my shoulders.”

Voice full of sarcasm, he says, “I thought you didn’t want to be Chief.”

“I didn’t. But the county needed me to do it. If there had been more time, maybe they could have found someone.”

He stabs the tall stack of pancakes that the waitress just delivered and says, “What about you? What about having a life again like you said you would?” He makes air quotes, “One day.”

“I do have a life.”

He mutters, “Yeah. You’ve got a life. And I’ve got a life.”

“Not anymore, you don’t.” I grit out. “You threw yours away last night.”

“Like you threw your marriage away by working all the time?”

For a stunned second, I just stare at him. Then my collar starts to burn as heat works its way up my neck. “I was working to take care ofyouand your mother.”

“In Afghanistan?”

“Yeah. In Afghanistan and about a half dozen other countries.”

“Pretty hard to take care of me and mom when you’re across the world.”

Low. Fucking. Blow.

It slices me like a dull, rusty blade.

I know I deserve his anger on many levels. There were a ton of things I missed.

“I know that I was gone too much. But there’s something bigger than just home. I wasn’t just taking care of you two, I was also taking care of my unit so they could do their job. And the other men and women who serve. And the people who live in war torn countries. I was helping keep our country safe. But yeah, I was working a lot. All the time. I was gone too much. I know it. And I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

We stare at each other. The hard truth hanging between us like barbed wire. But I feel like we’re finally getting to the bottom of something. Linc is mad about me working back then and now. Hell, maybe he’s mad about the divorce.

Feeling the full effect of my hurt and frustration unfurling again in my gut, I say, “Your mother and I had a lot of problems. Not just that I was gone a lot.”

He glances away. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Is this why you’re acting out?”

“Acting out? Because I do all the shit you used to do, you can’t call it acting out, Brock.” He says my name in a low, angry hiss.

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