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“But he’s dug his feet in, and my brother can be pretty damned stubborn.”
“I’m not giving up and walking away. My family invented stubborn.”
My young waitress bounced up. “What can I get started for you?” she asked Lucas, complete with batting eyelashes.
“Coffee, black.” Curt as always.
She added more wattage to her smile and bounced again. “Need more time with the menus?”
Lucas shook his head, ignoring her jiggling breasts.
“Thank you,” I added as she left.
Lucas looked me in the eye with an intensity I wasn’t used to. “I’m on your side. I think you’re good for him.”
“Thank you. I’m going to go see him, but he wouldn’t open up to me before. And I don’t know how to battle a problem Idon’t understand.” If anybody had the key to understanding Duke, it had to be Lucas.
He took a deep breath. “Has he told you about Marilyn?”
I nodded. “He had a nightmare and said her name. He told me she died, but I didn’t push for more. Was she an ex-girlfriend?”
“Has he told you about Freddy?”
“His SEAL friend?”
Miss Bouncy reappeared with a mug for Lucas. “Here ya go,” she tried again. She’d undone a button on her blouse.
Lucas gave her a minimal smile and pulled a sugar packet. When she left, he continued, “Not just a friend. His best friend, buddy, and teammate. They were inseparable. Freddy died in helo holding Duke’s hand, and let me tell you, that takes something out of you that can never be replaced.”
I nodded along, though I couldn’t comprehend the depth of that hurt.
Lucas stirred his coffee. “Marilyn was Freddy’s wife.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t guessed that connection. Duke clearly hadn’t been honest with me about her.
“She dated Duke first. Duke introduced them.” Lucas sipped from his mug.
I waited for more.
“She committed suicide after hearing of Freddy’s death. Duke was the one who found her.”
I cringed. “That’s terrible.”
“That’s the threat you represent.”
“You think I’m a suicide risk?” My voice went from angry to shrill. “You think I’m weak?”
He leaned forward. “Calm down.”
“Yeah, right. Calm down? You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
He gestured for me to lower my voice. “I don’t think you’re weak. No way, but he’s not being rational. It’s fear making him act this way. This business we’re in is dangerous at times. He doesn’t want to cause that kind of grief again.”
“But I’m no weak wallflower. You, of all people, should know that.”
“You’re the only one who can convince him of that. Have you told him about your…experience?” he asked. “How hard it was?”
Did he suspect what had happened to me during that time? I shook my head. “Not all of it. I haven’t been able to talk about it with anybody.”
