Easy Nights (Boudreaux #6)

“If he forgives me,” I reply and feel my eyes well with tears. “He might not.”

“You haven’t done or said anything unforgivable,” Daddy replies and pats my knee again. “You’ll work this out and be better for it.”

“You’ve always had so much more confidence in me than I have in myself,” I reply.

“Because I can see you, Daughter. I see you the way you should see yourself. And you’re beginning to.”

“I wish you hadn’t gone away,” I whisper. “Dreams aren’t enough.”

“We want it all, don’t we?” He nods and adjusts his hat again. “I’m here. And your brothers love you. You’re surrounded with people that you can lean on and ask for help when you need it.”

“None of them are my daddy.”

“True.” He smiles. “It has been the pleasure of my life to be your father. Now, you go take care of your business.”

“Will I see you again?”

“I’ll come visit now and again.” He picks up his pole. “Let’s get us some dinner.”



The sun is already up and shining in my bedroom when I waken. I didn’t think I’d sleep at all, yet it seems that I slept for about nine hours, which is good because I’m going to need the rest.

It’s going to be a busy day.

***

“Good morning,” Declan says as he pulls his front door open. “You could have called to let me know you were on your way over. I would have made breakfast.”

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” I reply. I can’t call because my phone is tapped. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” He backs up so I can come into the house and closes the door behind me. “Van’s here!” he yells out to Callie.

“I hope I didn’t wake you guys up.”

“We didn’t work last night,” he replies as he leads me back to the kitchen where Callie is making a cup of coffee.

“Hi, Van,” she says with a smile.

“Hey.” I love Callie. She’s perfect for my brother. But right now, I need to talk to just him. I glance over at Declan and he immediately knows.

“Hey, Cal, can you give us a few minutes?”

“Sure.” She finishes pouring the cream in her coffee and kisses Declan as she walks out of the room. “I’ll be upstairs.”

“Thank you,” Dec says, watching me closely. “What’s going on?”

“Why do you think something’s going on?” I ask, evading the question. “I could use a cup of coffee.”

“In a minute. First, tell me what’s on your mind.”

I don’t want to tell him. I probably shouldn’t have come here, but I needed to see my twin brother. “Well, I broke it off with Ben.”

He stares at me for several long seconds as if I just told him that I sold my share of the company. “Why?”

I shrug. It’s killing me to lie, but I have to keep up the fa?ade. If I don’t, Larry could hurt someone.

“It was always a bad idea,” I say at last. “It was best to end it before it made things really bad between our families.”

“Bullshit,” he says and crosses his arms over his chest. “Try again.”

“I’m serious,” I reply. “Not to mention, things were moving really fast. Too fast. We want different things.”

“Still not buying it.”

“Do or don’t, it doesn’t change it. Ben isn’t the one for me.”

I pull a piece of paper out of my handbag and pass it to him, holding my finger over my lips so he doesn’t read it aloud.

I have this under control. Trust me. Please don’t interfere.

His eyes whip up to meet mine and he cocks his head to the side, scowling. I shake my head, keeping him from speaking.

“So, I think I’m going to take a day or two off of work and get my shit together. If you need me, text me, okay?”

“Okay.” He’s searching my face, worry written all over him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m actually doing just fine. I’m going to be great.”

That, at least, is true.

“Call me if you need me,” he says, and I can hear what he’s not saying. Call me when you can tell me what the fuck is going on.

“I will.” I give him a brief hug and walk to the front door. “Tell Callie I said I’ll see her soon.”

And with that, I shut the door behind me. I need my family to know that something is up with me, but I can’t tell them exactly what. Not yet. Not until I have this all figured out, and I know without a doubt that no one can hurt them. Declan is the one who can read me the best, and I can trust that he’ll wait for me to reach out to him. The others would push me aside and try to slay my dragons for me.

I don’t need that.

I toss my cell phone in my handbag, fully intending to ignore it for the next few days, and pull out a throw away phone that I bought this morning. I pull away from Dec’s house and keep an eye on my rear view.

Someone is following me. They followed me here from my house. I don’t know how much they can hear, or what they might have wire tapped, so I bought this disposable phone.

I dial the number that I haven’t had to call in almost two years, but one I’ll never forget.

“New Orleans Police Department, Lieutenant Jacobs’ office.”

“Hi, this is Savannah Boudreaux. I need to talk to Lieutenant Jacobs, please.”

“Savannah, we haven’t heard from you in a while,” Lieutenant Jacobs’ assistant says. “I’ll put you right through.”

“Thank you.”

The line is silent and then he’s on the line, his voice low and firm. “Savannah?”

“Hi. I need your help.”

“How quickly can you be here?”

“I’m headed there now. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

He ends the call and I take the long way to the precinct. I get on the freeway and speed up, weaving in and out of every lane to lose the tail. To my utter shock, it works, and I take the next exit, then double back to the police department. I park and hurry inside, straight to Lieutenant Jacobs’ office.

“It’s been a minute since I’ve seen you,” he says as he holds his door open for me. “No calls while I’m in this meeting.”

“Of course,” his assistant replies.

He closes the door behind us, and rather than sit behind his desk, he sits in the chair next to mine. He was always good at making me feel comfortable with him, and aside from my dad, there’s no one else I’d trust more to help me. Lieutenant Jacobs has to be nearing sixty. He has salt and pepper hair and brown eyes that have seen more than their share of horrible things.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

“A lot. You might want to record this.”

His eyes narrow, but he reaches for his phone, opens the app, and sets in on the desk in front of me. “Okay, we’re ready.”

I nod, take a deep breath, and spend the next hour telling him everything that’s happened over the past few weeks, beginning with Ben and I deciding to start seeing each other. I recount Ben being poisoned, the car accident, Ben getting beat up, and every other thing I can think of, including the accidental mix up in Ben’s mom’s medication.

Then I show him all of the photos.

He doesn’t say anything until I’m done with the story.

“Larry took you, against your will, to the prison?”

“Yes.”

He nods and then sits back and looks over at me with hard brown eyes.