Thrown Down (Made in Jersey #2)(30)

“Spit it out.”

He threw his friend a look, wondering why being bullied appeared to be the only way talking came easy. “I wish I had more right to feel proud.”

“You’ll get there,” Duke rumbled.

Vaughn leaned back against the bureau, finally setting his gun down and easing it away. “I told Riv I’m staying, that I want to be a real father. But it doesn’t seem right unless I’m River’s husband, too. I’m supposed to be her husband.” He cleared the emotion out of his throat, then threw Duke a look brimming with annoyance. “Why aren’t you uncomfortable talking about this?”

Duke’s low laugh filled the room. “Man, I’ve got four sisters at home. They all got married and divorced while we were serving. All of them.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “They always were competitive, but without me here to intercede, it got out of control. Now I’ve got sisters coming out of my f*cking ears. Are you hearing me? My life is non-stop emotion. Non-stop. Listening to your shit is a cake walk, compared to what I have to deal with.”

By the time Duke finished talking, Vaughn’s sides were aching with suppressed laughter. “Sounds like maybe you’re the one who needs to talk about his shit.”

“I need to be distracted from it,” Duke clarified. “What do you think I’m doing in this Miami Vice-themed junk hole at eight in the damn morning?”

Vaughn held up both hands. “All right, Crawford. I’ll distract y—” He broke off when a thought occurred. “Any of those sisters of yours babysit?”

Duke dropped his head into his waiting hands. “Yes. Please give them something to do. Just get them out of the house for one night so I can watch SportsCenter in my boxers.”

“I’ll talk to River,” Vaughn said. “Actually, that’s the whole point. I need to explain what happened before I left.” Or try anyway. “The talk with her father. What happened overseas. All of it. I just need to get her somewhere we’ll actually talk and not—”

“Bang like bunnies on spring break. I hear you.” A darker kind of light entered Duke’s eyes as he stood. “That’s the other reason I’m here. Colonel Moriarty called me again last night. Looking for you.”

Discomfort balled in Vaughn’s stomach. “What did you tell him?”

Duke’s extended silence said it all, but he explained anyway. “I told him you were in Hook for the duration. You deserve the damn honor they want to give you, man.” He had to speak over Vaughn’s grated expletives. “Why do you insist on pretending that night never happened? The army has the right to acknowledge—”

“I don’t want to be acknowledged,” Vaughn shouted. “I don’t want some medal and a pat on the back for doing what I signed up for.” Pain ticked in his temple, an ache he remembered from that first year back on U.S. soil. “Look—”

Vaughn’s cell phone rang on the bedside table, and he bypassed a stone-faced Duke to go answer it. River. Her name came up now, since he’d programmed in her number. Just seeing those five strung-together letters eased his headache. “Hiya, doll,” he answered.

“Hey.” She sounded distracted, or maybe worried, putting Vaughn on alert. “There’s a man at the house here to see you. A Colonel Moriarty? I told him you were staying nearby, so he’s having coffee on the back porch…waiting.” Silence. “Do you have any idea what he wants?”

“I’ll be over in five minutes,” Vaughn managed, before hanging up and turning to Duke, anger bubbling in his veins. “You gave him River’s address?”

“No, I did not.” Duke headed for the door. “But if he asked anyone in Hook where to find you, they all would have directed him there, if for no other reason than to f*ck with you.”

Vaughn snatched up his car keys. “I hate this town.”

“No, you don’t.” Duke preceded him to the parking lot, sauntering toward his own pickup truck, obviously without a care in the world. “I’ll send my sisters over later. Good talk.”





Chapter Thirteen


River frowned down at the phone in her hand, replaying the brief exchange with Vaughn. Whoever this Colonel Moriarty was, Vaughn didn’t seem to be thrilled about having to meet with him. Why?

She leaned into the living room to check on Marcy, finding her wrapped up in a blanket, singing the lyrics from a Disney movie song into a static-ridden karaoke machine. Curiosity eating away at her, River decided not to waste another minute in figuring out what the man on her porch needed. Once Vaughn showed up, she might not get the chance. Even at their closest, secrets had swirled around Vaughn, and somehow River suspected it would be impossible to gain insight if she waited for him to open up. At least about his time with the military. Time she knew nothing about because Vaughn had left Hook the same day he returned.

River slipped out onto the porch, leaving the door ajar so she could hear if Marcy called. Colonel Moriarty watched her through intelligent eyes over the rim of his coffee mug. “Did you get in touch with De Matteo?”

“I did. He’s on the way.” River cupped her elbows. “Listen, it’s probably none of my business, but did Vaughn do something…wrong?”

“Wrong? No.” The colonel stood, setting his steaming mug down on the porch railing, the movement very precise. “I’ve been sitting here wondering why I didn’t check for De Matteo at your residence more than once, after my initial search. You were listed as his only next of kin in his file, after all. He would have made his way back eventually.”