happy … with you. When she died …the guilt was crippling. I should have spent more time with her. I thought I had more time with her.”
“Instead you spent most of it with me.”
“It took me years to get over the guilt.” He held her eyes. “Claire wouldn’t have wanted me to put my life on hold for her. She wanted me to be happy, but for the longest time I wondered if I’d been on top of her situation, if I could have prevented that lung infection.” He blew out a breath. “After I joined the Army, after seeing my brothers blown up by IEDs despite being so careful, I realized just how little control we have over death.”
“Believe me, I know,” she mumbled.
He stared at her, still not able to wrap his mind around the woman she was now. “What made the young star of Dead Futures give that all up and become a homicide detective?”
“That’s a long story.” She smiled and glanced at the clock. “And we need to get moving.”
“Yeah.” He stood and gathered the dishes. There were many things left to be said, but those would have to wait. At least he could give her this. Closure for the harsh words he said to her that started the death spiral of their marriage. A marriage that only lasted seven months and left a tragic, mangled history. One part of his past was at peace, but there was more to the wreckage that followed.
“Claudette is in town,” she said suddenly as if reading his mind. “I’m sure I can get the lawyer to—”
Throwing that woman at him was getting old. “I don’t need to talk to Claudette.”
“But Dec, you need to discuss Theo. You missed—”
“Listen to me,” he growled. “I want to get to the bottom of this. Theo is a smart kid and he’ll soon realize I’m his father, but I’ll be damned if I let him think I slept with Claudette.”
“You did … at least before me, you did.”
Declan scowled at her. “That’s a low blow. Before we decided to see each other exclusively, I told you everything I did as a male escort and we agreed never to talk about it again.” The first thing he admitted was sleeping with her former stepmother. Gabby was able to get over it because it was at a time before Claudette married Peter. It did take Gabby a week to digest this information, and when she decided to take a chance on Declan, she also had to tell Peter. “Are you gonna throw that in my face now?”
She lowered her head and rubbed her brow. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”
“All I want is what’s good for Theo and to figure out what security is needed around him.”
“Understood.”
“Is your head hurting?”
“Not too bad.”
His phone buzzed with a text message.
“It’s about damned time,” he muttered when he recognized the sender.
“Who is it?” Gabby asked.
“Business.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Regarding Theo?”
“Could be. Listen, I may need Levi as well. Can you call Captain Mitchell and see if he can spare a uniform to watch over Theo?”
“No need. The Cap and Kelso are coming over to the Brentwood house.”
Declan frowned. “Do they have additional information on who the target was yesterday?”
“That’s what I’m about to find out.”
7
“We never finished our conversation yesterday,” Levi spoke beside him.
Declan was driving the Escalade through the steep and winding road that was Blue Heights Drive. The rendezvous point with Garrison was at the summit of Hollywood Hills.
“It’s obvious you and Gabby are not strangers,” his partner continued in a cautious tone. “And personally, it’s none of my business, but to do this job properly, you need to give me a heads up of what’s going on.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Figured.” A pause. “Noticed you and Nick Carter had some tension going on there as well. But seeing you and Theo side-by-side tells me there’s a story there.”
“Gabby and I married and divorced young.”
“No shit?” Levi appeared to digest this information and Declan stiffened as he felt the other man’s eyes take him in. “Theo takes after you. Clearly, he isn’t Woodward’s son.”
For a moment, Declan thought he was referring to Gabby. “How about you, Levi? What’s your story?” He decided to redirect the subject, unwilling to discuss his ex-wife since he was seeking answers himself.
“Nothing as complicated as yours,” Levi exhaled in resignation. “Kelly got tired of my shit and asked for a separation.”
“You have kids, right?” Declan cut a glance to his partner and caught his sad smile.
“Yeah. Two