Chapter 5

Ledger

I'm sitting at Devereaux's house as Greer gets brunch ready in her older brother's kitchen. Chloe and Dev don't want to travel with the baby yet, so Sunday brunch has shifted from Greer's house to theirs.

I stare at my twin brother, Roman. "You love her, admit it," I tell him, glancing over at Greer.

The one thing about having a twin is you can sometimes read their mind. I think it's because we're so close. So in tune with each other.

And I know he's lying right now as he tries to deny loving Dev's little sister. "I don't," he says, and I laugh.

"Bullshit," I say. Roman's been in love with Greer for as long as I can remember.

Finally, he admits the truth. "Fine, I love her. But she deserves so much better."

"Then be the better man. Go fucking find yourself or whatever shit you need to do but be that man she deserves."

Dev walks in right at the moment my phone chimes in my pocket. I retrieve it and glance down at a message from Posey.

I remembered something about the night I was attacked. Can we meet?

My heart skips a beat as the thought of meeting with Posey takes root, blossoming into something more.

I'm busted by Roman and Dev as they ask me about who texted, and I pocket my phone, trying my best to pretend it's nothing. It turns into another five minutes of them teasing me, until Greer, Chloe, and little baby Devvie Jr. get in on the action.

I take the baby from Chloe's arms, telling him that everyone else in the room is crazy. Because they are.

There's nothing going on with Posey, but I can't seem to not be excited at the thought of seeing her again.

I tell her I can meet her at Danbury Park later today, and she says she'll meet me there at five. After I leave Dev's place, I head to the park and wait for Posey.

I'm a nervous wreck, and I don't know why. It's not like I haven't spent time with her. However, every time I'm around her, I want to touch her in an inappropriate way. Honestly, every way with her is inappropriate because she's engaged. Something I won't let myself forget.

I sit on a bench, overlooking a gazebo in the distance. There's a large group of people, and as I watch them mingle, I let the cool air hit my face.

The sun shines down on me, and I smile as I spot Posey off in the distance. She's really so pretty. She's perfectly dressed for the occasion. She's wearing a flowy sundress with small purple flowers all over the material. She's got on a pair of white sneakers, and her long hair flows down her back in soft waves.

Again, I can't help but take notice of how beautiful she is.

Her long legs bring her closer to me, and I stand when she approaches.

"Hey," she says, nearly a whisper.

"I'm glad you called. What did you remember?" I say, getting right to business, because if I don't, I might stand here gawking at her all day.

She settles onto the bench, and I sit next to her.

"It's silly," she says.

"What is?" I ask, turning my body to see her.

"The thing I remember, or I should say, the smell I remember."

I place my hand over hers, and then regret my decision. I swiftly remove my hand and run it over my beard. "Start at the beginning."

She sucks in a deep breath. "Well, I remember sitting there, waiting. And then I distinctly remember smelling a cigar that had an orange flavor to it. Is that weird?"

"You smelled the cigar right before the attack?" I ask.

She nods. "I remember I could barely even register that I smelled it at all before I was being attacked from behind."

"I'm so sorry you were attacked under my watch."

She blinks up at me. "I don't blame you. There was nothing you could do."

I glance out at the river. "I still feel horrible. This should have never happened while I was there."

We sit in silence for a few minutes before she shifts closer to me.

"I used to come fishing here when I was a young girl. My father and I would go out to the camping grounds, past the gazebo, and he'd sit with me for hours trying to catch fish."

"Did you catch a lot?"

"Some days we did. Other days my father would drink and drink, and I'd play in the dirt."

"Show me," I hear myself saying, before I've really even thought about it.

"It's a ways down that dirt path."

"I've got time, do you?" I stand from the bench.

She stands as well. "Follow me."

Together we walk past the gazebo, out toward the camping area of the park. We turn onto a hiking trail, but I'm not dressed for it. I've got my Burberry leather Derby shoes on.

"Does Bane take you fishing here?" He's probably got a lake on his property full of fish just for her.

She shakes her head. "Bane doesn't really know that I like to fish."

"How can he not know?" I've known her for barely any time at all, and this is the man she's marrying.

"Just never came up." She gives me a soft smile, and I don't want to read too much into the fact he doesn't know.

Maybe it never came up because they're too busy doing other things. Physical things.

I'm getting pissed off here, thinking about all the things Bane gets to do to her that I'll never get to do.

"Are you okay?" she asks when I pick up my pace.

I slow back down and gaze at her. "How could it never come up?" I ask, even though I know the answer will probably slay me.

"Let's just say Bane likes to talk about what Bane likes to talk about."

"And what's that?"

She shrugs. "Bane things."

I don't ask her what that means, because I'm not sure I even want to keep her focus on Bane. We walk closer to the fishing area, and she stops to perch on a rock.

"This is where we'd sit for hours," she says, shielding her face from the sun. A small beach area stretches out before her, and she points at it. "That's where I'd play for hours. My mother would be so pissed because I'd come home burnt to a crisp." Posey smiles up at me.

"Where's your mother now?"

Posey glances down. "She skipped town when I was young. It's been just me and my father ever since."

I nod, remembering Devereaux losing his mother when he was a teenager. Both Dev and Greer had a hard time navigating through life after losing their mother, and it makes me wonder how Posey handled those rough times. "I'm so sorry," I tell her.

"Enough about me. What about your mother?"

I gaze at her, not sure if I want to get into the details of my mother. "She's in a home. She's got dementia," I say, and don't offer her any more than that.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know which is worse, losing your parents, or having your parents not remember who you are."

I nod in understanding. "She has good days and bad days. Lately, it seems she's having more bad days than good."

"How often do you visit her?"

I cringe. "Not as much as I should," I tell her honestly.

She picks at the rock, running her hand over the smoothness. "I'm sorry you don't get to see her too much."

"You shouldn't be sorry for me."

She glances up at me, the sun making her blue eyes sparkle. "You're not like other men."

"How so?" I think about the men Posey probably deals with on a daily basis. I'm not like the Made Men she knows. That much is true.

"You're kind." She lowers her head, focusing her attention back on the rock.

"I'm not that kind," I say, not letting her know exactly how mean I can get. Last year I broke Vlad Chekov's nose. That wasn't very nice. But he deserved it. I'd never be mean to anyone who didn't deserve it.

"Well, you're nice to me."

I twist my face, studying her. "Are there a lot of men who aren't?" I think about her words, wondering who is mean to her.

Is it Bane?

She laughs. "Nobody is mean. But they aren't nice either. Does that make sense? I guess I'm invisible in Bane's world."

"I'm sure he sees you."

She gazes up at me again. "He does, but no one else does."

I smile. "I guess he orders his men not to look at you. I can understand that." I laugh lightly.

"Maybe." She hops up from the rock and dusts off her dress. "I should get going. I always visit my father every Sunday."

"Thank you for the info about your attacker. I'm going to see if our shop sells an orange-flavored cigar and see if anyone bought one the night you were attacked. It's a start."

She nods. "Thank you."

"Have fun at your dad's." I walk her back to her car and watch her drive off into the distance. There's just something about this woman that makes me want to know more.