Page 38 of Haunted
“Good boy. Now speak,” she quips with a challenge in her eye as she bites her lip to keep from laughing.
“I’m not a damn dog,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“Seriously, what are you thinking about?” she asks, and I can tell she’s worried about me. Other than my daughter, I can’t remember that happening since … Since before I went missing, and Latch and Annie decided … I shake those thoughts aside.
“That right there is something you aren’t allowed. Let me in on those thoughts,” she says, proving she’s intuitive and scary at knowing what’s going on with me.
“I think you get that I like you a lot, Cory.”
“We’re on kiss number four hundred tonight. So, I’m getting an inkling.”
“Are you counting?” I challenge, knowing she’s exaggerating, but I’m not sure it’s by much. I can’t get enough of her.
“Nah, just categorizing them. I’m an accountant. You had to know it would happen.”
“It’s nothing heavy. I was just thinking I haven’t felt this drawn to someone in years. Probably since my military days.”
“You mean Latch.”
I nod.
“Not even Annie? Something had to draw you to her to begin with, Sabre. Despite the pain of the past, you need to appreciate what you had before.”
“I loved her. She was sweet, innocent, naïve and it fed my damn ego.”
“A man with an ego,” she sighs, kissing my chest. “Imagine that.”
“It wasn’t as deep as I loved Latch, but it was there. Latch and I had history. We fought side by side. We were brothers and I knew he loved me the same.”
“That’s beautiful and kind of sad. I mean, I imagine if you could have found satisfaction in each other’s arms things would have turned out differently for you both.”
“I’ve thought about that a lot over the years. Sometimes I even resented Annie. If I hadn’t met her though, I wouldn’t have Drew, Daphne or Cammie. Plus, Annie needed saving. So, I wouldn’t take anything back.”
“Then, why is it so heavy on your mind now?”
“If I tell you, it might make you run and that’s the last thing I want.”
“I’m too old to run, Sabre. I have a bad hip you’re safe.”
“I had an accident. I was missing for a while. Most everyone presumed I was dead—including Latch and Annie.”
“Okay …,” she says.
“When I got back home, I thought everything would go back to normal.”
“It didn’t?”
“Latch and Annie confessed that they loved one another. Annie said she didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with me, when it was only Latch that she wanted. I can remember I was hurt, but not bad. I just kept looking at Latch and asked him how he felt. He wouldn’t look me in the eye and fuck, that hurt. He told me he loved Annie and if she didn’t want us all three to be together anymore, that’s what he wanted to.”
“It felt like betrayal.”
“Because it was,” she says at once, but I shake my head.
“No. We were a unit the three of us. Neither of them brought in someone to replace me, they just didn’t want me anymore.”
“That’s not it and you know it.”
“What do you mean?”
