Man of Honor (Battle Scars #3) - Diana Gardin Page 0,57
here have claimed to hear and see his ghost, still waiting for the woman he loves to come downstairs again.”
Beside me, Mea shivers. I pull her closer into my side.
“That’s a horrible story,” she says aloud. “Way too sad.”
Greta peeks out from under Grisham’s arm and agrees. “I want to cry.”
“Well,” says the tour guide with a knowing smile on his face. “Spirits are the best way to remedy that. Everyone head on over to the bar to grab a drink.”
The group settles around the bar, ordering drinks. Mea’s phone vibrates from where my hand rests on her hip. There’s a stubborn set to her jaw and a determined gleam in her eyes as she ignores it.
“What’s up?” Are you going to check your phone?” I keep my voice low, so that only she can hear my question. I’m more than a little curious at her reaction and the tension rolling off of her right now.
Shaking her head, she avoids my eyes. “Not now. I’ll check it later.”
I spin her around so that she’s facing me, searching her eyes. “Is everything okay? Remember what we did in my bed this afternoon? Me and you aren’t limited to spending time in the bedroom together. If something’s wrong, I want to know about it.”
Pulling the corner of her lip into her mouth, a war rages in her eyes as she debates whether or not to tell me something that’s clearly tearing her apart.
“Mea?”
Shaking her head quickly, her curls fly in a wild frenzy around her head. “Not here,” she whispers. “But…I do want to tell you, Drake. I want to tell you everything.”
The way she says “everything” feels like the word weighs a hundred pounds leaving her lips. She’s hefting the weight of it; I can almost see the heaviness of it on her shoulders as the toes of her boots scrape against the wooden planks of the bar floor.
I smooth my hands up from her shoulders to her face, cupping it between them like something precious. “I’m right here. We can talk later. You gonna be okay the rest of the party tonight?”
Blinking up at me, I can see the steel she uses to cover up whatever’s creating a storm of turmoil inside her. It’s like a coat of armor she wears to protect her heart; she’s so used to hiding behind it that it takes almost nothing for her to shutter herself in.
We turn to join the group, and I take her hand in mine as we walk toward them. I squeeze it just to remind her that I’m here and she’s safe with me, and she glances up at me with a small smile. It’s only a fraction of the normal Mea grin, but it tells me what I need to know. She’s strong, and she won’t let anything get in the way of her best friend’s happiness.
Even if it means she has to bury what makes her heart beat fast with fear. What makes her body heavy with sadness. What makes her expressive, chocolaty eyes glaze over with pain.
Fuck. How long has she been dealing with whatever this is on her own? She carries it on her shoulders, and from the looks of her, she’s close to breaking.
I make a vow to myself right then and there. Whatever her secret is, it’s going to be deep and dark. It terrifies her; it chases her in her dreams at night.
I’ll fight it for her. I’ll be the light in that darkness if it takes every last breath I have in order to do it.
18
Mea
I wait until I’m back at the rental house, alone in my bedroom with Drake, before I check my phone. Drake watches me while I pace the room like a wild animal trapped in a cage. My phone is caught between my hands, but I haven’t looked at it yet. I’m counting my steps, gathering every ounce of courage I have before I finally flip the phone over in my hands and read the screen.
Drake watches me, silent pleading in his eyes. But I haven’t told him about my father yet. I don’t know the right words to say or how to launch into a story that grotesque.
I have Daddy issues. You know, the first man who’s supposed to love you and protect you? The one who is supposed to fight the monsters away? Well, mine was the monster. And I’m the one who had to put him away.