Deacon (Unfinished Hero #4)(89)

He left the diner, got in his Suburban, and drove away.

* * * * *

For some f*cked up reason he didn’t get, the minute he got to a place that had Wi-Fi, he went out, bought an iTunes gift card, and downloaded “Let Her Go.”

He listened to it often, every word defining him in a way that was troubling, as if the man who wrote that song read the words carved into his soul.

It was torture.

But it was a break from the torture of playing Cassie’s song.

And he’d take that.

Because it was all he deserved.

* * * * *

Knight Sebring

Knight hit Raid’s contact and put the phone to his ear.

“Yo,” Raid answered.

“Yo, Hanna good?” Knight asked and heard Raid chuckle.

“Yeah, man, so am I, in case you’re wondering.”

Knight wasn’t in the mood.

“You hear from Deacon?” he asked.

The humor was gone and Raid’s voice was alert when he answered, “No.”

“Nothing?”

“Talk to me,” Raid bit out, now not just alert, but uneasy.

“Got word, coupla sources, he’s keepin’ bad company.”

“Name of the game, Knight.”

“Deacon had boundaries and we both know that. Now, it would seem he doesn’t.”

“Names,” Raid demanded, now curt.

Alarmed.

Knight gave him the names.

“Jesus,” Raid murmured.

Yeah. Jesus.

Bad company.

“You gonna find him and talk to his ass, or am I?” Knight asked.

“I gotta talk to Hanna then I’m on the road.”

That was good because Knight could afford the best and the best at finding people were Deacon and Raid and if either one of them didn’t want to be found, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of finding them.

Unless one was looking for the other.

“You need me, I’m there,” Knight told him.

“Gotcha. Later. And Knight?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Raid disconnected.

Knight threw his phone on his desk and got back to work.

But as he did it, he was uneasy.

* * * * *

Deacon

Deacon should have pulled his gun just to put the fear of God into him when he opened the door to his hotel room, but he didn’t. He didn’t, partly because Raid used his own vehicle because he wasn’t hiding shit and partly because it’d take a f*ckuva lot more than a gun trained on him to put the fear of God in Raid Miller.

He closed the door and Raid switched on the light by the chair he was sitting in.

“Fuck, seriously? Drama?” he growled.

“Hear you’re not keepin’ good company, Deacon,” Raid returned.

Deacon crossed his arms on his chest. “Was wonderin’ why you were here. Now I’m wonderin’ when you thought my shit was any business of yours.”

“You’re not messy,” Raid pointed out.

“Money’s better messy,” Deacon replied.

“Since when did you need money?” Raid asked.

“Since I decided to buy an island and move there with my favorite volleyball,” Deacon shot back, watched his friend’s lips twitch, ignored it, and moved into the room, shrugging off his coat and throwing it on the bed.

“You’re off the grid,” Raid said, his voice suddenly low. “Then, hear word you’re not off the grid, you’re f*ckin’ vapor. Weeks on end.”

His time with Cassie.

Deacon cut his eyes to him barely turning his head.

Raid knew why.

“What was her name?” he asked quietly.

Deacon looked away, shoving his hands into his pockets, tossing keys and change onto the bureau, saying, “None of your f*ckin’ business.”

He’d made a mistake years ago. He let Raid Miller in. He started liking him. He let the guy get to know him. He picked a guy who was not stupid and he got to know Deacon. Now Deacon knew he couldn’t hide shit from Raid Miller.

So he didn’t bother to try.

“What’s her name?” Raid pushed.

Deacon turned and leaned back against the bureau, stretching his legs in front of him, crossed at the ankles, arms crossed on his chest. He gave the man his eyes but said nothing.

“You keep her clean?” Raid asked.

“She’s clean.”

“No one knows about her?”

“No one.”

“She burn you or you burn her?”

“Are you not gettin’ I don’t wanna talk about this?” Deacon asked.

Raid studied him.

Then he remarked, “Man’s burned by a woman, he moves on. He burns a good woman, he kicks his own ass until he finds another woman and learns not to do that shit.”

There was no other woman for him.

Not one.

Deacon said nothing.

“The way you’re kickin’ your ass, Deacon, could get you dead.”

“And that matters how?”

The air in the room went static.

“Are you f*ckin’ serious?” Raid demanded to know.

Deacon decided on more silence.