Easy Nights (Boudreaux #6)

I walk into the house and freeze at the scene before me.

Eli is sitting on the couch, and every single photo that Lance gave me is spread out before him on the coffee table. I laid them out last night, as a reminder to myself of why I had to be strong and trust that Lieutenant Jacobs would take care of things in the right way.

But I certainly didn’t intend for my brother to see them.

“Hello,” he finally says. I turn to close the door, but instead find Declan, Beau, and Ben walking up my steps. I whirl around to look at Eli and he just nods. “Yeah, I called them.”

“Great,” I mutter and walk into the room. I haven’t figured out how to explain this yet. I was taking it one minute at a time.

And now I have four angry men in my living room. Ben won’t even look me in the face, but he’s looking at the photos. They all are.

“Savannah,” Declan says, his voice full of pain as he looks over at me.

“How long?” Eli asks before I can say a word. “How long has this been going on?”

“First, I need to tell you that it’s over,” I reply and stand firmly, my hands on my hips. “As of about five minutes ago when Lieutenant Jacobs called me.”

“So you do answer your phone,” Beau mutters and holds the photo of Mallory closing her shop after dark.

“It was a throw-away phone. My cell was tapped.”

“What the fuck is going on, Savannah?” Eli demands, his voice deceptively quiet.

“Don’t you dare swear at me,” I reply. “Put the photos down. They don’t matter anymore.”

They do as I ask, and then they all just stare at me, except Ben, who still hasn’t said a word and won’t look at me.

I’ve lost him.

“It seems Lance didn’t take kindly to me moving on with someone else,” I begin. It takes me a while to tell the whole story again, as I don’t want to leave anything out. When I finish telling them about the call I received this afternoon, the room is quiet.

“You didn’t have to do this alone,” Declan says.

“You shouldn’t have done this alone,” Eli agrees. “Van, why did you keep this from us?”

“Because you would have tried to fix it.”

“Of course we would have,” Beau says. “That’s what family does, Van.”

“No.” I shake my head and sigh in frustration. “I spent the majority of my adult life living in fear because I thought I was protecting you. All of you. And damn it, I was protecting you now, but not out of fear. Not this time.

“I didn’t need you to fix this for me. I fixed it. I knew what to do. He scared me at first, I’m not going to lie. But nothing I did after I left the prison was out of fear. It was strategic, and it kept us all safe while the police did their jobs.”

“Jesus,” Beau whispers and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I want to throttle you and hug you, all at once.”

“Daddy said the same thing,” I reply and smile when they all look at me in shock. “I dream of him sometimes. He said that to me the other night.”

I swallow hard and then look them all in the eyes. Especially Ben. “I’m sorry for the worry and now the fear that I caused you. I love you all so much. I know that you feel like you need to protect me, and I wouldn’t have you any other way.

“But I’m a strong person. Stronger now than I ever was before, and I need you to trust in me. I need you to know that I would never do anything to betray you, or hurt you. And damn it, if there’s a threat against my family, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.

“He threatened to hurt you. To hurt the babies.” I let a tear fall. “I can’t have that, and I’ll be fucking damned if that evil piece of shit is ever going to think he can do that to me again. He underestimated me, and he lost.”

“You’re incredible,” Declan says and takes my hand in his, giving it a squeeze. “I also want to throttle you, but I get it. We all get it.”

Eli and Beau nod, and Ben has walked to the window. His hands are in his pockets, and he’s staring outside. He hasn’t said a word.

“I’m going to have to go through another trial, and it’s going to suck, but that’s okay.”

“And for that, we’ll be with you,” Eli insists and pulls me in for a strong hug. “No more lies, Van.”

“No more lies,” I agree. “I’m not good at it anyway.”

After a few more hugs, my brothers leave. Ben’s still at the window and silence screams around us.

I sit in a chair and wait, watching his muscles twitch under his black T-shirt. Finally, he turns around and locks his eyes onto mine.

“I’m so fucking pissed off,” he says. His voice is steel, matching every tight muscle in his body.

“I’m sorry.”

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I mean, yes, I’m not happy with you, and we’re going to talk about that, but this rage is directed at him. All over again.”

“I took care of it,” I insist.

“He sat in a room with you and showed you all of the ways he wanted to destroy you and your family,” he says, making me swallow hard. I hadn’t thought of it like that. “He sent out people to terrorize you.”

“And you,” I reply. I shuffle through the photos until I find the one of the sniper. “He bought the house across from yours and had a man there with a rifle ready to kill you. Ben, he’s the reason you got sick, and your brakes were cut. He made it clear that the longer I stayed with you, the more he would make sure you suffered.”

“Being away from you was more suffering than he ever could have inflicted on me,” he says, stunning me. “You let him come between us.”

“Only until they were arrested,” I insist. “But if I’ve screwed this up so badly that you’re done, I understand.”

“I feel…betrayed,” he says and lets his hands fall to his sides. “You did this on your own, and I thought we were partners. You didn’t let me save you.”

“Ben.” I finally walk to him and cup his face. “You already saved me. It was time I saved myself.”

He crushes me to him, his strong arms locked around me. His face is buried in my neck, and it feels like he’ll never let me go.

“Don’t ever let me go,” I whisper.

“God, Angel, you destroyed me.”

“I’m so sorry,” I reply and kiss his cheek, his chin. “I had to play along, or else he would have done something horrible. And if anything were to happen to you, Ben, I don’t think I’d survive it.”

“Baby.” He kisses me now, long and sweet, as if he’s relearning every inch of my mouth.

I catch a whiff of the perfume that Lance insisted that I wear, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

“Ben?”

“Yes, baby.”

“I have to take a shower. I’ve been wearing his perfume, and every time I smell it, it makes me sick. I need to purge this house.”

“Let’s do it.” He takes my hand and leads me to the kitchen and fetches a plastic bag. “Lead the way.”