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 fuckuva 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 fuckin’ 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 fuckin’ 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.