The Dark Light of Day (The Dark Light of Day 1)

It was fucking funny.

“If you ever come near me or my daughter, I swear to God I will lay you out, and you will never even see it coming. Consider this my nice warning. You won’t get it again.”

“Abby,” he pleaded. His whine made me want to kill him even more. I had no sympathy for him whatsoever. In fact, there wasn’t a single place in my heart that felt the least bit of remorse for Owen Fletcher. “Please.”

In one quick motion, Owen grabbed the barrel of my gun. I pulled the trigger, shooting into the sand. The gun fell from my grip, and Owen put his hand over my mouth. “You can’t keep her from me,” he whispered in my ear. “Besides, I know you’d never shoot me.”

“But, I will.” The cocking of a hammer brought my attention to where Jake stood. Even in the lightest light of day his normally sapphire eyes were as dark as night. His black t-shirt and jeans looked like hell against the heaven of the white sand. Owen released me instantly, and I instinctively ran to Jake. He took my hand and pulled me behind him. Protected by a wall of Jake.

I liked the thought of that. And the feeling.

“You again,” Owen said. He looked pissed, but also very, very afraid.

“Me again,” Jake said.

“I’d heard you were back.”

Jake turned to me, the gun still aimed at Owen. “Your call, baby.” He was asking me if Owen should die, right then and there. As tempted as I was to say yes, there was too much at risk.

I had my daughter to think of.

“Not today.” It was my honest answer. I had dreamed about Jake taking Owen down for so long. I savored the sight of Owen quivering while he stared down the barrel of that gun.

Owen kept his hands in the air. “You two are sick,” he said, as if he could read my mind.

Jake laughed out loud. “It took you this long to figure that out? You’re fucking dumber than I thought.” Jake tucked his gun in the back of his jeans and put his arm around me. “If I see you near her again, you’re fucking dead – my choice, not hers. Simple as that.” We turned toward the road and started walking. Jake turned to face Owen again. “And if you even think about going near Georgia, I won’t just kill you. I’ll cut you into pieces and scatter your parts.”

We left Owen shaking in the sand. I may have just had a confrontation with my walking nightmare, but all I could concentrate on was the feeling of Jake’s arm around me and his lips in my hair when he kissed my head reassuringly.

When we got to his bike, he handed me his helmet as if we’d done that very same thing every day for the last four years. I got on behind him, hugging him tightly as we sped down the road. It felt good to touch him. It had been so long. The vibrations of the bike had a way of making me remember that I was still alive. Through the good and the bad, and between all the very blurred lines in between, Jake had always made me feel that way.

I knew we would never be able to make us work. That knowledge didn’t stop me from finally admitting that I was still madly in love with the killer in my grasp.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

INSTEAD OF DRIVING ME HOME Jake took me back to the clearing among the orange trees where he’d revealed his last secret to me, the place where he had buried both the body of his childhood friend and his stillborn daughter.

We didn’t speak when he parked the bike or when he led me through the narrow path to the clearing. When we got to the spot under the same tree where he made his darkest confessions to me years ago, he pulled me down onto his lap and buried his face in my neck. His heart was beating so quickly. His breath was short and came in spurts. After what seemed like a silent eternity, he finally spoke.

“Bee, what happened between you and Owen, and why the fuck were you trying to shoot him on the beach?”

That question held so much more than words.

“Pass,” I said, using the same rules of the game we used to play. I had a daughter to protect now. Jake knowing about Owen raping me would just make matters worse. “Why are you still here?” I asked him.

“What?” Jake asked. Confusion marring his beautiful face.

I thought the question was pretty obvious. “Why are you here with me? Why did you help me on the beach? Why are you even talking to me? I would hate me if I were you.”

He looked at me just the way he used to: past my eyes and into the broken soul beneath. He brushed some stray hairs from my face and cupped my cheek in his palm.

“Pass,” he said.

“Well,” I laughed. “Looks like we’re back to square one.”

“We can just play again then,” Jake said. “Four years adds a lot of new secrets, don’t you think?” That was an understatement. “We’ll start small.” He reached for the pendant on my neck and ran his fingers over the ornate metal that held his initials hidden within the design. “Why do you still wear this?”

That was one I could answer easily. “I’ve tried to take it off. Several times. I even went a whole day without it once, but when I got home I went right for the dresser and put it back on, I didn’t even stop to think about it. I haven’t taken it off since.” Jake lifted it and pressed his lips to my skin underneath. My breath hitched at the feeling of his warm soft lips on my chest. “My turn.” He nodded and pulled his lips from me, creating an empty feeling. “Why were you at the beach today?”

“I was looking for you.” It was a simple statement, and he didn’t explain any further. He was just looking for me, and he seemed satisfied with that answer. “See? We’re doing good already.” He nudged my shoulder and smiled up at me. I rested my head on his shoulder.

He had destroyed what I believed then was the greatest thing that ever happened to me in just a few short words four years ago. He must have hated me still for what he believed to be my betrayal. I couldn’t just bring him into my life, even if he wanted to be a part of it. I didn’t want to be hurt anymore. And I didn’t want to hurt him. We’d almost healed each other once, and the pain of being almost healed is worse than the pain of being broken to begin with. And Georgia needed a mom who wasn’t an emotional mess. She also didn’t need someone in her life who would eventually resent her very being. That girl deserved the world, and I fully intended to give it to her. “What are we doing, Jake?”

He kissed my collarbone and blew out a long held breath onto my skin.

“Pass.”

***

I slept in the next morning. Even after the confrontation with Owen, my time with Jake had lifted some of the thickness that had hung around since he’d left. Just his presence seemed to make things lighter. It was funny to think that someone so emotionally heavy on my heart could actually make things lighter.

Georgia must have slept in, too, because it was already seven–thirty, and she hadn’t come into my room to ask for her usual Saturday morning pancakes. When I went to wake up the sleepy head, she wasn’t in her bed. I started to panic but when I got to the kitchen there was a fresh pot of coffee on the counter and a sticky note on the pot written in adult handwriting in crayon: We’re out back. With a smiley face drawn under it.

Tess had a key to the house. Maybe, she came over before her shift.

I’d called Bethany the night before to let her know that if she wanted a shot at knowing Georgia she’d better keep Owen on a leash. He hadn’t bothered me in years, and I expected her to help keep it that way.

I left out the part about putting a gun to his head.

She told me she would handle it. That’s all I needed to know.

I’d poured my coffee and almost choked on the first sip when I saw what was happening outside my window. Jake was sitting on the seawall with my daughter, laughing and helping her bait her hook on a little pink fishing pole. He was still wearing his signature black, but was dressed down in a wife-beater and black board shorts that stopped right below his knees. There was a tattoo I had never seen before peeking out from the underside of his bicep. He was too far away for me to make out the design. His blonde hair was pulled back in a small bun at the nape of his neck. He was even wearing black flip flops instead of his usual boots.

I was going to need a lot more coffee.

Jake spotted me first. Then, Georgia followed his gaze. “Mama, Mama!” She put her little pink pole on the ground and ran to me. Jake stood and walked behind her. “Da—I mean Jake, made me pancakes and showed me how to catch blue crab off the seawall. He’s taking us fishing today!” She jumped in the air and clapped. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have sworn she was hopped up on caffeine.

Jake approached us cautiously. “Georgia, what did I tell you has to happen first?” he asked her.

She looked down at her feet. “Mama has to say yes.”

“That’s right: Mama has to say yes.” He winked at me then dropped his gaze to where my tank top clung to my breasts. I wasn’t wearing a bra. He looked again to the tattoos down my arm, and his smile turned into a smirk. “So Mama?” he asked. “What’ll it be? You down for some fishing?”

I knew what he was doing. I couldn’t say no to Georgia, especially when he’d already gotten her hopes up. “I don’t know,” I teased Georgia as she looked up at me, a hopeful glimmer in her eyes. “I suppose we can go.” She jumped and squealed. “But first, I need to know something.” She held her breath. “Are there any pancakes left?”