Page 48 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
Red smiled. “Okay, I forgive her, then.”
He poured the beers, and they took bar stools near the end so they could talk without anyone hearing.
“Don’t do your cop shit here,” Sawyer said.
“No cop shit, just sitting,” Dan said, looking around the room.
“You’re checking out who’s in here in case of trouble,” Brody added.
One of the Bandits motorcycle gang was here, but alone, so Dan didn’t think there would be any problems there. He saw the Keller brothers and a few others who could be wild when drinking. But right then all was calm in the Rollaway.
“So Leah,” Brody said after a long pull of beer. “Spill.”
“Can’t we just have a drink?” Dan said.
“He’s always been the hardest to get information out of, and that’s only got worse since he became a cop,” Ryder added.
Dan had spent years locking away thoughts of Leah Reynolds—never speaking her name, never touching the memory. She was gone, and nothing could change what had happened. But today they’d made love.
He could still feel the glide of his hand over her warm skin, taste the faint salt from the sheen of sweat on her body. She’d always gotten to him, and now, after what they’d just shared, she’d be even harder to forget.
Dan took a mouthful of beer.
“Come on, little bro. You’ve talked with us as we went through shit with our women. Let us be there for you,” Brody said.
“I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Sawyer pounced. “So, there is an it?”
He’d talk about what happened when Leah left, but not about today. That was for them alone to know.
“Cone of silence,” Dan said, looking at his brothers.
“Now?” Sawyer looked pissed.
“Right here in the Rollaway?” Brody added.
Dan mimed zipping his lips shut.
His brothers sighed and then put on their invisible cones. Red did the same from behind the bar because he’d be listening.
“Talk before Zoe finds us because you know she always does,” Brody said.
“Leah blames me for what went down all those years ago,” Dan said. “I didn’t talk about what happened because it wasn’t anyone’s business.”
“But clearly Uncle Asher knew?” Brody said.
“He did,” Dan agreed. “But not all of it, and it wasn’t his story to tell.”
“That man.” Sawyer shook his head. “He has more of our secrets locked inside him than anyone else in this family.”
They all raised their drinks to that.
“Did you arrest her father? It was never clear to us if that was you or Uncle Asher,”
Brody said.
“Me. I went into the house and cuffed him,” Dan said, unsure why he was bringing this up now, here, surrounded by people. But it felt right. He felt like he needed to get the words out and make sense of the turmoil that was going on inside him.
