A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(89)

Brady wanted the rest of the team to be assembled in and around the room just in case something went wrong, but Garrett and Parker both agreed that would be a bad idea. Whoever it was didn’t want anyone to know who they were for a reason, and they didn’t want this person to get spooked. They had a feeling that this person was going to provide them with all of the information they were missing so they could figure out this mystery once and for all.

Brady, Austin, and Cole reluctantly agreed to stay away from Garrett and Parker’s villa, but they refused to just sit back and do nothing. They would keep their distance while still maintaining a visual on the villa just in case they were needed. They placed bugs in the room and one on both Garrett and Parker.

Garrett tried to get Parker to take a nap when they were done with the meeting, but she was too keyed up. Everything they’d been working for was coming to a head, and they'd finally get all of the answers about what Milo had been up to and how much of a stake Fernandez had in all of it. With this one meeting, they might also get the closure they needed so they could go back home with clear heads and open hearts.

Garrett sat at the end of the bed, his foot tapping nervously on the floor while he watched Parker pace back and forth in front of the door. At nine-thirty, three sharp raps against the wood made them both jump.

Garrett picked up his gun sitting on the bed next to him and stood up. He double checked the chamber, making sure a round was in place, and gave Parker a look silently asking her if she was ready.

She picked her own gun up from the nightstand and switched it back and forth between her sweaty hands as she alternated wiping each palm on the thighs of her jeans.

Parker gave a sharp nod to Garrett and moved to one side of the door while he went to the other and put his hand on the doorknob. They stared into each other’s eyes from either side of the doorway. Parker quickly leaned in and kissed Garrett’s lips, pulling away too soon and getting back into position.

“I love you,” Parker whispered with a smile.

“Love you too,” Garrett whispered back right before he turned the knob and opened the door.

Parker broke Garrett’s eye contact to turn and face their mystery guest, aiming her gun straight out in front of her.

The adrenaline coursing through her system while they waited for this moment and the feeling of content she felt from hearing Garrett tell her he loved her came to a screeching halt, and she immediately dropped her arms to her sides and stood frozen in place, staring though the open doorway.

In an old football team t-shirt, faded jeans with tennis shoes, and his hair a little longer than she was used to seeing, he leaned against the door jam with his hands in his pockets and a guilty smile on his face, looking nothing like Parker had remembered. The heavy five o’clock shadow was a new addition. As long as she remembered, he’d always been clean shaven. It had been so long since she’d last seen him, but he looked older than he should and the heavy bags under his eyes proved he hadn’t been sleeping well for quite a while. That thought almost made her smile in satisfaction considering all of the sleepless nights he forced on her.

But there was nothing about this moment that would make her smile. Standing in front of her was a ghost that had haunted her and made her second-guess everything. One that made her regret so many decisions and had turned her into someone she didn’t even recognize, forcing her to claw her way out of a life that would have destroyed her.

All this time, without a word, or a phone call…

The anger and hatred had been simmering below the surface for so long that just the sight of him standing in the doorway made it all boil over. All the things he should have done to protect her, all of the times he should have been there for her, every moment he betrayed her love flashed before her eyes in an instant.

“Hey, sweetie.”

Garrett reacted to his presence and the casual way he said spoke the endearment before Parker could. He gave up all rights to her a long time ago. The fact that he stood there in the doorway, like it was the most natural thing in the world, pushed Garrett over the edge.

“What the f*ck are you doing here?”





Chapter Nineteen



“What the f*ck are you doing here?”

Garrett had raised his gun as soon as he opened the door, but unlike Parker, he refused to lower his weapon. There was no conceivable reason why Garrett should trust anyone that came to their door , least of all him.

“I know it must be a shock to see me now after all this time. Especially here,” he said as he took a step towards Parker.

She instinctively took a step backwards and his face fell. He knew she wouldn’t welcome him with open arms, but it still stung to see the distrust and fear on her face. He never wanted her to fear him.

He stopped with one foot in the doorway, not wanting her to retreat any further away from him. That was the closest he’d been to her in ages, and he just wanted to take all of her in. If it was possible, she’d grown even more beautiful than the last time he saw her. A wave of guilt washed through him when he thought about all of the time he'd lost with her.

“McCarthy, could you please put the gun down? I’m not armed,” he said as he put both of his palms in the air in an act of surrender and to prove he didn’t come here to hurt anyone.

Parker finally snapped out of her daze and reached up to lay a hand on Garrett’s arm.