Buried in Secrets (Carly Moore #4) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,3
It stank of week-old fish, but I hadn’t had the heart to destroy Jerry’s happiness by saying Bart Drummond might be using him. Nearly three months had passed, and I hadn’t caught wind that they were using him for anything nefarious. Then again, Bart Drummond loved to play the long game.
A little after seven, Wyatt Drummond walked through the door. He was Max’s older brother and my former, sort-of boyfriend. If you could call seeing someone off and on for three weeks a boyfriend. I knew he preferred that term, and if he had his way, I’d be calling him that still. But Wyatt was the kind of man who collected secrets and wasn’t generous in doling them out. Even though he knew the truth of who I was—who I’d been—I knew next to nothing about him, and he wasn’t inclined to share. Worse, he’d pretended differently to keep me on the hook. In the beginning, he’d convinced me we could work together to take down our corrupt fathers. I was working alone now, but I fully intended to make both men pay their comeuppance. Because Bart Drummond knew who I was too, and he’d threatened my landlord Hank, which made this very personal.
Wyatt often worked the bar with Max on the weekends, but he rarely came in on a weeknight unless Max needed the night off for a rare date, or we were busier than usual. We weren’t crazy busy, so I had no idea why he was here.
He made a beeline to the bar, straight for his brother. They talked for a few seconds, then Max glanced around the room and the two men headed for Max’s office.
“What was that about?” Ruth asked, sounding more perplexed than upset that Max had left the bar unmanned.
“I have no idea. Are you good on drinks?” I asked. “My section’s caught up if you want me to fill any orders.”
“I’m good.” She headed off to one of her tables, and I studied the entrance to the back. In the seven months I’d been around, I’d only seen the two of them hole up in Max’s office twice. The first time was when Max was hiding Lula, their half sister, and it had happened again when Wyatt was about to be arrested for murder after his ex’s body was found. Whatever they were discussing wasn’t good news.
I considered going back and trying to eavesdrop, but a couple of customers walked in and sat at one of my tables.
About five minutes later, Wyatt walked out and headed for the front door. When he saw me, he gave me a long, unreadable look before he left.
“And what was that about?” Ruth asked behind me.
Max walked out of the backroom next with a haunted look in his eyes.
“I don’t have a clue.” But I intended to find out.
Chapter Two
I woke up the next morning, stretching in my bed and wishing for the umpteenth time that Drum had a gym. While I tried to make healthy meals for Hank and me, my hours at the tavern weren’t conducive to exercise. Marco and I sometimes ran together, but I hadn’t seen him in nearly a week…which was starting to worry me. We’d had a discussion that hadn’t ended well, and now I wondered if he was giving himself space to figure out where to go from here.
Marco had been my best friend for most of the seven months I’d spent in this town, but a couple of months ago, I’d begun to realize I had more than friendly feelings for him. He’d made it obvious he had feelings for me too, but we both knew I had major trust issues.
Finding out your fiancé wanted to have you murdered tended to do that to a woman, and I’d followed up that disaster by dating Wyatt, whose secrets had nearly gotten me killed. After all of that, I’d resigned myself to possibly entering a nunnery.
So Marco and I both pretended we were just friends. Still, after our last conversation, it was clear our pretending wasn’t going to work much longer.
I suspected he was already tired of our dance.
A soft mewl caught my attention, and I smiled as my nearly four-month-old gray kitten pawed at my hair.
“Hey, Letty. Good morning to you too.” Maybe it was strange to name a cat after a person, but my kitten Violet was feisty and fearless and liked to do things on her own terms, just like my friend who had lost her life