Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(97)

All I knew was he had a dragon tattoo behind his left ear, his namesake, and he was the one supplying Drew with drugs.

Drew wasn’t just using, he’d started peddling, and that’s what made Winnie so mad and desperate to clean up his mess. And scared.

When I think back to that last night at the bar, those tears weren’t just nerves or sadness. She was afraid he’d already gotten in too deep.

I spend the next few hours going over everything that happened back then.

I don’t want to remember some.

Like how I’d come within inches of killing a man before he’d told me who Dragon was, and how I considered it even after he talked.

How we found Dad one night, and Winnie’s body was found the next day.

How the Feds claimed they’d been searching for the Dragon, had a real neat case file and everything, but nothing ever happened. Her death was just another number, another unsolved mystery that’d never get closed because it didn’t bring enough glory to whatever fuck wanted his name on books next for busting famous cases.

How Angie hated me for being more focused on that than our family. Our loss.

Fury churns inside me when the camera alarm goes off on my phone.

Lovely timing.

I pull up the app and click on the camera that’s flashing, then watch a car coming up the driveway.

A newer, red SUV I don’t recognize.

I leave the pole shed, where I hadn’t been doing much of anything besides hiding from Bella while sifting through memories.

She’s near the porch, doing something with the flowerbeds again. Or that’s where I’d last seen her when I go running over again.

“Hey! I was wondering where you were,” she says, standing up.

“A car just pulled in.”

She takes off her gloves and tosses them on the porch.

Something about her grin makes me cautious, worried. “You expecting company?”

“Yes, we are.”

“We?” I bite it off, in no mood for games right now.

She nods and looks toward the driveway, where the SUV pulls in past the barn.

The hair on my neck stands up as I turn, watching the vehicle drift closer.

Fuck.

Fuck. Angie’s driving it, two familiar silhouettes of little heads bobbing in the back seat.

I turn to Bella. My jaw is so tight, it burns as I say, “You called her.”

She nods, fear flashing in her eyes. Maybe she realizes how bad she screwed up before the words are out of her mouth.

“You...you have to settle things between the two of you. It’s gone on long enough. Angie asked if she could come by and –”

“You don’t know shit about it,” I snarl, so harsh it hurts me.

This is the last thing I need. My estranged sister on my doorstep, those kids with their big doe eyes, having to relive a past that’s destroying my present.

Bella looks at me cautiously, her green eyes flashing. “I know enough, Drake. And I know how much better I feel since talking with my Dad. If you’d just trust me–”

“That’s not even close to the same thing.”

“Yes, it is.” She shoots me a nasty glare. “They’ve come a long way. You’d better not be grumpy to them.”

Fuck me. I’m well past grumpy. I’m about to slam my fist through the nearest hard surface I can find.

She walks to the SUV.

I stand there, frozen and don’t move.

Not even when Angie steps out of the driver’s door.

She looks the same. Tall, slender, long dark hair, eyes a shade lighter than mine. A lot like our ma, who died when we were kids.

Then Terry climbs out of one back door, while Sherry totters out the other. They’d been six the last time I saw them. Ten now.

Twins. They still look alike, yet different in their own unique ways. His features are sharper, hers softer.

As pissed off as I am, I can’t help but fight a smile when I see ’em. They’re cute as ever, and the guilt that I’ve stayed away for so long boils in my stomach.

Standing near the SUV, Terry gives me a tentative wave.

I wave back. “Hey, sport.”

He grins. “Hi, Uncle Drake.”

No denying it’s good to see them again. It’s just...now’s a really piss-poor time for a family reunion.

The fact that the timing’s been taken out of my hands still pisses me off.

“Uncle Draaaaake!” Sherry belts out, running forward.

My insides take a tumble as I say, “Hi, Sherry-Berry.”

I kneel down on one knee. They both shoot across the lawn, into my arms.

I hug them real firm, one in each arm, close against me.

Christ. I didn’t even know how much I’d missed these kids till now.

Then there’s her. Angie stands behind them, watching as I let them go.

I get up and hold open my arms to her. Fuck it. Maybe Bella might be more right than she knows, even if I’m in no mood to tell her to her face.

Deep down, I’ve missed Angie, too.

She was my lifeline home while I’d been in the Army.

Every man in my unit loved the packages she’d send on a monthly basis, and I’d never worried about things back home because I knew she had it all under control. I smile, remembering how my buddy, Gabe, used to hound me night and day for more of that 'awesome ass cajun jerky' she’d send, as he called it.