Fall Into Temptation (Blue Moon Book #2)(84)

Franklin squeezed her hand again. “It sounds to me like he’s hurting. The Beckett Pierce that I know is a rational, loyal, kind man. Usually the only thing that can turn men like that into raving lunatics is love. You must really matter to him to have him act like such an idiot.”

Gia gave her father half a smile. “Thanks, Dad.”

“He’s a good man, honey. Give him a little time to realize how stupid he was and I promise everything will work out.”

She heaved a mighty sigh. “Thanks for letting me barge into your quiet evening like this. Both of you,” she said.

“I’m glad that we’re close enough for barging in. I’ve missed you and your sisters. Missed being needed.”

Gia crawled over and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’ll never not be needed, Daddy.”



Franklin and Phoebe waved a stronger, steadier Gia off from the porch. Phoebe was already dialing her phone as Gia eased away from the curb.

“Now, who are you calling at this hour?” Franklin asked, sliding an arm around her waist.

“I’m calling in the reserves,” Phoebe said. “My sons have a diabolical stubborn streak that doesn’t usually right itself. Beckett’s going to need a pretty good push.”





31





Beckett refused to look at his phone when he got out of bed the next morning. He had no desire to see any apology texts or voicemails from Gianna. And then — when he finally broke down at lunch and checked — he was even more pissed to find there were none.

It was only a matter of time before the whole town knew they were through. Ellery had certainly gotten the message loud and clear that morning when he’d told her not to worry about finishing Evan’s guardianship papers before slamming his office door.

She’d communicated with him via email for the rest of the morning.

He felt bad about being a dick to the one woman he could always count on and offered to buy her lunch. He gave her extra cash and ordered a smoothie from OJ’s just to keep her out of the office a little longer so he could fester in peace.

He couldn’t believe Gianna would do this to him. Just as he’d been thinking about the future …

Thinking about their future got him knocked on the ass by her past. Her present, he corrected himself. Paul was back. And no matter what Gianna’s argument was, Beckett wasn’t going to step between a man and his family. Not one that had the opportunity to be reunited.

He closed his eyes and brought his father’s face to mind. The sharp gray eyes, the lines carved by time and sun. A mouth that always looked as if it was smiling at some inside joke. Beckett could almost hear the sound of his laugh, a raspy chuckle. He would have laughed last night at his boys cruising the town square, razzing each other and reminiscing. John Pierce would have been there with them, riding shotgun in his worn flannel.

He would have been there if he could. But Beckett’s family wasn’t one that could be put back together.

However, Gianna’s could.

By mid-afternoon, Beckett’s curiosity got the best of him. He put aside deposition transcripts that he’d been staring at without seeing for an hour and logged into Facebook. The news had surely gotten out by now. Maybe someone had posted a picture of how Gianna was coping.

Not that he cared.

He frowned at his screen. The link was always there on the left, but it was missing now. He tried the mobile app with the same results. Dismissing it as a glitch, Beckett retreated back to his dark mood and work.

It was another thirty minutes before he gave up entirely.

He wasn’t accomplishing anything moping in his office.

Like a coward, he emailed Ellery from behind closed doors and told her he was calling it a day. He headed upstairs and changed into running clothes and headed out at a hard run toward the trail that snaked through woods and fields.

By mile three, his pace had him gasping for breath. He slowed just enough to not have a heart attack. He heard footsteps on the trail behind him, light and quick. He knew the tread.

“Hey, Beckett,” Taneisha breathed as she loped alongside him, her long legs eating up the gravel with ease.

“Hey.” His greeting sounded like someone was strangling the breath right out of him.

“Sorry to hear about you and Gia,” she said, conversationally.

Beckett stumbled, but recovered quickly. “You heard, huh?”

She shot him an “are you stupid” look. “Yeah, I heard. It’s too bad, but that Paul’s a hell of a guy.”

Beckett swiveled his head on his neck so fast he heard a snap. “Paul? You met him?”

“Yeah, he was in the lunch yoga class today. He’s incredibly limber.”

Beckett grunted. Of course he was. Dick.

“You can tell there’s a long history there,” Taneisha continued, oblivious to Beckett’s internal conflict. “Anyway, I better pick up the pace.” She winked and shoved her earbuds back in her ears.

“Break a leg,” Beckett muttered.

“What was that?” Taneisha slowed up her pace and pulled out an earbud.

“Uh, I said good luck.”

She waved and took off, her antelope strides leaving him behind to stew in his funk.



It happened everywhere. Everyone wanted to talk about Paul. And no one seemed interested in the fact that Beckett was devastated and furious over the breakup. No, Fran at the gym wanted to tell him all about Paul’s superior squat clean and how he knew one of her drummer friends.