Harley Read online

  His eyebrow lifted. “He’s around here somewhere. He doesn’t usually come on for another hour or so.”

  “Still likes night shift, does he?”

  “Yeah, he does.” The guy behind the counter studied Harley carefully. “You know him?”

  “Yeah, we went to school together.” Harley nodded.

  “That’s been a while ago.”

  “It has, indeed. But, if he’s around, tell him Harley’s here, will ya?”

  “I think he’s in the back. I’ll see when I go get your burger.”

  “Good enough.” Harley picked up the beer and took a long drink. It was cold and refreshing. He wiped the foam off his mouth with the back of his hand and smiled because it was an actual movement he and Daniel had worked on and had perfected when they were in high school. Not that they should have been drinking back then, but, when your buddy was part of a bar, you got away with a little more than you should have.

  Of course Harley had hoped his foster family hadn’t noticed, but, knowing their direct lines into the gossip around this town, they probably had. Maybe that had further contributed to him not being desirable. Then he was somebody without connections, so he just wasn’t desirable regardless. Made him sad to think about how, as a child, he’d been so harshly judged and found wanting. But he had certainly learned his lesson here.

  And he’d also learned to keep his mouth shut and to keep his head down, as needed, which was pretty much 100 percent of the time. He’d grown up to be somebody who watched what was going on around him, took action when needed, but otherwise sidestepped a lot of trouble that could have come his way.

  He enjoyed his beer, looking around, feeling old memories wash through him, but—with time and distance—they were mostly good memories. When the kitchen door opened again, and a huge monster of a man stepped out, his gaze scanning the front bar, he went past Harley and then zoomed back again.

  The two men stared at each other for a long moment.

  And then Daniel’s face broke into a huge grin. He walked over and slapped Harley on the shoulder, who bounced to his feet and hugged the big man. “Damn, it’s good to see you.” Daniel studied Harley. “You’re almost as big as me but not quite.”

  “Don’t you look fine.” Harley laughed. “Nobody’s as big as you out here, except maybe your dad and your brother.”

  “Yep, they came pretty darn close, but I topped them both.”

  And there was just enough smugness to his tone that it made Harley laugh again. “Well, I’m glad to see that you beat them both out, since that was your goal.”

  “Yeah, that was me, he of high and lofty goals.” He gave a hearty laugh. “Damn, it’s good to see you. What the hell are you doing here?”

  Just then the bartender returned with a burger. Daniel looked at it. “Just a plain burger, huh?”

  “I didn’t ask for a menu. This is the one that always brought back the memories.”

  “I forgot you didn’t like pickles and all the rest of that stuff on your burger.”

  “Nope, I’m pure when it comes to my burgers—just meat and bun.”

  “I figured by now that surely you would have gotten a little more adventurous.”

  “Oh, I have,” he agreed, “but this is the one thing that brings back the memories.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.” He took the stool beside him. “What the hell are you doing here? I didn’t think you’d ever come back.”

  “I wasn’t planning on coming back either, but something came up, and I volunteered.” His lips kicked up in the corners. “Surprised me too.”

  “Ha.” Daniel snorted. “That family of yours, if they know you’re here, they’ll run you off.”

  “Why is that?” he asked, with a frown.

  At that, Daniel stared at him, his eyebrow raised. “Because of your kid of course.”

  Harley froze. “What are you talking about?”

  “What do you mean?” Daniel asked. “Don’t … Surely you remember Jasmine?”

  “Of course I remember Jasmine. Did she get pregnant?”

  He stopped, looked at him. “It’s yours, isn’t it?”

  “No, we never got to that stage. I wouldn’t do that to her because I loved her. I wouldn’t do that to her, what with her family. It’s one of the reasons why I left as soon as I could because I knew I couldn’t stop myself otherwise.”

  “Well, somebody else wasn’t quite so willing to stop.”

  Harley stared at Daniel in shock. “And everyone thought it was mine?”

  “Let’s just say the timing was right.”

  He slowly shook his head. “It’s not mine. That I know for sure.”

  “You’re the only one who does.” Daniel continued to stare him down. “I have to tell you that you probably shouldn’t stick around town because both the townsfolk and the family’s really got it in for you. Not that there’s much family left.”

  “The child’s not mine,” he repeated in all seriousness.

  Daniel looked him in the eye for a long moment. “Well, I believe you, I guess, because I got no reason not to trust you, but you know they won’t believe you.”

  “Hell no, they won’t.” Harley’s shoulders drooped, still stunned at this turn of events. “She said it was mine?”

  Daniel’s eyebrows shot up. “You know what? I’m not so sure that she did.” Daniel considered that. “Not sure that anything she said would have been listened to because everybody jumped on the fact that you were the one who had left, and everybody knew the two of you had been sweet on each other.”

  “Sure, but that didn’t mean that I’d have done that to her.”

  “Everybody thought the worst of you anyway. I mean, your son …” Then Daniel stopped and corrected himself. “Her son is eleven years old now. We’re pretty darn sure she was pregnant when you left. If not then, it was within a week or two.”

  “And like I said,” he murmured, “no way it’s mine.” Inside, he reeled from the shock. Had she been two-timing him the whole time? He’d been there, denying himself, doing everything he could to spare her, and instead she had been stepping out with somebody else? “I don’t even know how to feel about that. Damn, it was killing me, but I was being so good.”

  “At least you have a clear conscience.”

  “And yet nobody here, of course, believes it.” Harley shook his head. “Jesus.”

  “Regardless of that,” Daniel added, “and we didn’t expect you to come back. Why are you here?”

  Harley snorted and filled him in.

  “War Dogs.” Daniel shook his head. “Not exactly sure I understand what all that’s about.”

  “It was adopted in town and then sold to be a security dog.”

  “That’s not too bad though, is it?”

  “For a drug outfit.”

  At that, Daniel winced. “Well, we do have some bad drug-running that moved into town. … Well, not really into town. Just out of town. I’ve had a run-in with a couple of the guys myself a time or two.”

  “And they lived?” Harley asked in surprise. His friend’s temper was legendary. As was his massive size.

  “So far, and I have no wish to spend any time in jail myself,” he noted, “but, if they keep pushing it, they’ll get a little more than they asked for.”

  “I’m surprised they’re causing trouble.” Harley frowned. “That’s not normal. Usually they want to keep a low profile.”

  “It’s a couple assholes in the group.” Daniel gave a one-arm shrug. “You know how it is. They think they’re better than everybody and have to tell the world who they are.”

  “Only proving that, of course, they aren’t even close.” He nodded.

  “You do understand guys like that.”

  “I spent twelve years in the navy. It’s just amazing how different some people are.”

  “Are you sorry you went in?”

  “Hell no. It was great. I learned a lot, changed a lot, became a man all on my own. The accident kind o
f screwed me over, but that wasn’t their fault.”

  “No, and you were always a little bit more hell for leather anyway, so if you got injured on the job, that was probably you being a little too gung ho.”

  Harley burst out laughing. “How’d you know?” He smiled.

  “Well, it’s definitely who you are.”

  “It’s who I was. I don’t know about now.”

  “Good point.” Daniel frowned. “Seriously, that’s not your child?”

  He looked at him and nodded. “Absolutely. It’s not my child. And I have to tell you that it makes me feel pretty odd to think that that she was pregnant when I left because I had no idea.”

  “And you never had sex with her?”

  “Nope, that was my agreement with her parents,” he explained quietly. “And that’s one promise I didn’t break.”

  “And I think that’s why they hate you so much.”

  “Does the son look anything like me?” he asked quietly.

  Daniel shook his head. “No, he doesn’t. Looks a lot like his mom though.”

  “Interesting,” he murmured. He thought about it for a long time. “And I have no clue who the father would be either.”

  “Well, once the town finds out, you can bet there’ll be an awful lot of speculation.”

  “Of course there will be. And there’ll be a large group of them who won’t believe what I’m saying no matter what.”

  “Probably not. I didn’t know what to believe, having heard the rumors all these years, but honestly, I thought it was yours too.”

  “Of course you did, but then we were young smart-ass kids back then.”

  “And dying to get into every pair of pants we could.” Daniel grinned.

  “Well, you were certainly on that mission. I was just heading for the navy. I figured I’d get laid enough once I got in there.”

  At that, Daniel burst out laughing. “Isn’t that the truth? I, on the other hand, was a good guy, and I got married.”

  “Wow. Who did you marry? Do I know her?”

  “You sure do. I ended up marrying Diane.”

  He stopped and stared. “Pimply-faced, huge glasses, brainiac Diane?”

  Again Daniel burst out laughing. “Absolutely. But you should see her now. She finally grew up, grew out of that awkward stage, and blossomed.”

  “I’m really glad for you, … particularly if you’re happy.”

  “Yep, we’re very happy, and we got two boys.” Daniel looked over at Harley. “You never did get married?”

  “No, sure didn’t.” He paused. “Thought about it a time or two but never really could reconcile that relationship with how I felt about Jasmine.”

  “Still carrying a torch for her?”

  “I was wondering about looking her up when I got here. Now I just feel really weird about it all because that means she was stepping out on me back then. Not something I wanted to hear.”

  “Sorry about that, dude. She’s not the kind who I would have thought would do that either.”

  “No. So I’m not sure what happened.” When Harley grew quiet, Daniel looked at him speculatively. Harley shook his head. “I mean it. I made a promise to the foster parents, and I never went against it. She was only sixteen. I made a promise to myself.”

  “Well, for what it’s worth, I believe you. At least now I do.”

  “Now I have to wonder if I want to see her at all.” Harley frowned. “You just dropped a bombshell on me.”

  “Well, you dropped one on me too.” Daniel snorted. “On the other hand I’m still really glad to see you. Don’t know about this War Dog stuff though. That sounds mighty upsetting, not how to treat a veteran, whether man or dog.”

  Daniel had always been a big baby when it came to animals. His family used to pick up all kinds of rescues. “Have you heard anything about a big shepherd-Malinois cross?”

  “I have. One that was supposed to be quite dangerous. I know that they found a dead dog on that supposed drug compound not too long ago. So I imagine that’s caused a fair bit of talk.”

  “Absolutely. I can’t imagine anything worse than for a man to abuse, much less kill a War Dog.” Anger spiked in Harley’s voice.

  “I don’t like people hurting animals, as you well know, but when they hurt an animal like that in such a ruthless way, it’s just bad news.”

  “Once I get a place to sleep for the night, I’ll take a drive out there and look at what I’m up against.”

  “Don’t do that,” Daniel said in alarm. “When I say that place is bad news, that means it’s bad news. You let the authorities handle that one.”

  He snorted. “Well, the sheriff won’t do a whole lot about this War Dog. That’s why I’m here.”

  At that, his friend stared at him. “So what kind of work did you do in the navy?”

  He gave a side tilt of his lips. “Stuff that handles these kinds of guys.”

  “Man, I don’t like the idea of you going off and facing them,” he said, frowning. “Especially not alone.”

  “I’ll only take a look and check out the lay of the land first.” He continued. “Per the parties, the dog may have been sold ‘free and clear,’ but it’s still up to me to make sure it’s taken care of properly. Particularly as this last sale was a breach of the government contract. If the animal is happy and well looked after, then fine, we won’t interfere, until the next welfare check. However, if the dog’s in anything but wonderful condition, that’s not something I will tolerate.”

  “That’s a whole different story. You know perfectly well that there can be food, and yet the animal’s abused.”

  “I know, so I won’t make any decisions until I see it.”

  “Still don’t like anything about this.” Daniel stared at his buddy, with a grim knowing look.

  “Neither do I, but it was also an opportunity to come back here and stop in and visit.”

  “You could have done that without the dog rescue.”

  Harley grinned, lifted his glass, finished his beer, and called for another one. “You still rent rooms upstairs?”

  “I do, but we’re pretty full up. Let me see if there’s a space.” And, with that, Daniel got off the barstool and headed into the back.

  Harley hoped there was a room available. He didn’t need much, just a place to crash. It seemed so strange to think that Daniel had a wife and two kids. But, hey, he was happy. The big man had put on a lot of weight too, so his life was content, as he’d say.

  Harley shied away from thinking about Jasmine having a child because that was just so wrong. For everybody to have thought it was his meant she’d had a relationship very fast, either before he left or right after. And that just made his stomach wrench open up into a deep pit. And wasn’t that something after all these years, thinking his love for her had survived over a decade—and that hers had too. Boy, was I wrong. And it hurt.

  Harley should have asked Daniel what she was doing for a living nowadays too and if the foster family was still around locally. He sat here, sipping his second beer, as he looked around. A couple people he thought he recognized, but he had hardly been a popular kid back then, so he wasn’t exactly sure who people were. Just enough years had passed that it was hard to recognize anybody for sure.

  When Daniel returned, he nodded. “I got one room for you, but it’s not fancy. It’s not usually rented out.”

  “Does it have a bathroom?”

  “It does. It’s at the very back of the pub and small and barely furnished though.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll take it.”

  Daniel nodded. “I’d give you a room in the house with us, but, with the boys, there aren’t any spare bedrooms.”

  “What will you do when child number three comes?” he asked.

  At that, Daniel started to chuckle. “Well, number three is on its way”—he puffed up proudly—“so I’m not really sure what the answer to that question is.”

  “Wow. They’re coming on hard and fast for you.”


  “Once you get into that family mode, it’s easier just to have them right after each other, while you’re still doing diaper duty.”

  “Diapers.” He shook his head at that. “I just can’t imagine you with diapers.”

  “None of that bothers me much. You know me. I was always up for getting dirty.”

  At that, Harley burst out laughing. That was positive evidence of marital bliss, even after all these years, and that Daniel was happy—when changing diapers was no big deal. Still grinning, Harley looked around at the place. “So much of this just looks like it hasn’t been touched in all these years that I’ve been gone.”

  “It hasn’t been. Dad’s gone now though.” Daniel gave his friend a sad smile. “Mom’s okay, but she’s sure showing her age too.”

  “I think it happens to all of us,” Harley noted.

  “It does, indeed.” He tapped the bar. “Now that you had dinner, are you sticking around for the evening?”

  “I’ll take a drive through town.” He shared a knowing look with his buddy. “Reacquaint myself with the layout.”

  “And stop in to see your ex?”

  “Well, she’s hardly my ex apparently,” he noted quietly. “Where is she living now?”

  “She’s still at home.” Then Daniel shook his head. “Of course you don’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  “Her dad was killed in a car accident, and her mom has dementia.”

  “Her mom’s not very old.”

  “No, and it happened very quickly after the father’s accident. I don’t know if stress can bring on something like that but maybe.”

  “Ouch, that’s a hard one for her.”

  “She’s her mom’s caregiver, so she’s still at home.”

  “And that’s not that easy either,” he murmured. He nodded at his buddy, as he stood. “I’ll stop by there later, when I’ve done my trip around town.”

  “You do that. Don’t go to that drug compound though.” He pointed a finger at him. “Certainly not in the dark.”

  “Why is that?” he asked curiously.

  “I know they got electronic security, and they got dogs, but these are not dogs that you necessarily want to hang around with,” he replied. “And then there’s the armed security guards.”