Firefly Lane (Briar County 1)

He plucked the phone off the nightstand and climbed out of bed naked, so as not to wake Vince. The number on the screen wasn’t familiar. He frowned. “Hello?” He closed the bedroom door behind him.

Nothing.

“Hello?” he said again. He heard breathing…a slight intake of breath…a soft sigh that made his chest clinch. “Marilee?” It might have been eight years since he’d seen his sister, but he knew to the marrow of his bones that it was her. “Mari? Is that you? Are you okay?” His heart was pounding so hard, it hurt, and he rubbed a hand over his chest to ease the ache.

He walked out on his balcony and sat in a chair, not giving a shit that he was naked. The walls were high enough that no one out on theirs could see.

“Mari…it’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay.” Because it was. She was his sister, and he loved her. If she wanted back in his life, Holden would take her.

She started to cry, loud, weeping sounds that ripped at his insides and tore up his heart. He shushed her, told her whatever it was, he would help, that she just had to talk to him. It was a few minutes before she calmed down enough to speak.

“After all this time, your first instinct is still to try and take care of me…to help. Jesus, Holdy. You’re the best big brother in the world. It makes me hate myself even more.”

He hadn’t been called Holdy since the last time they’d spoken. “It’s just…I love him, Holdy. I have to try and make this work. We have Sean, and the two of you don’t get along… I’m sorry.”

He shook away that memory. “Don’t hate yourself. You don’t deserve that. But I’m not going to argue on me being the best. Why deny it when we both know it’s true?”

She chuckled softy like he’d hoped she would.

“God, I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you too. What’s going on? Did he hurt you?” Holden would kill the motherfucker if he’d laid a hand on his sister.

“I don’t want to talk about it all right now. I can’t. I just… How in the hell did I let him take over my life the way I did? Why did I give him power over me? Why did I stay? I always swore I’d never be like Mom, and I let him talk me into walking away from my favorite person in the world. I’ll never forgive him or myself for that. How could I walk away from you?”

Holden had asked himself the same questions over the years. And it had…fuck, it had wrecked him to lose Marilee, and to not really know Sean, but he kept that to himself. “You’re calling now, and whatever happened isn’t your fault. Predators have a way of getting what they want, getting in people’s heads, breaking them down, knowing the right things to say.”

The silence stretched between them, so long, it almost felt loud in Holden’s head. Finally, she said, “He’s gone. He’s finally gone. It’s what’s best for Sean. I can’t let him suffer the way we did.”

Pain sliced through Holden’s jaw, he’d tensed so tight. Motherfucker, he really was going to kill Adam. He didn’t know all the details, but he didn’t need to. “Where are you?”

“Harmony. A town in North Carolina, not too far from Asheville. I’m staying in a cabin on this guy’s property. Adam stole all the money from the bank—hadn’t been paying the bills and racked up debt they’re coming after me for. We got evicted.”

“Fuck,” he cursed softly. “Why don’t you and Sean come stay with me in Atlanta?”

“I can’t do that. Sean’s already hurt…angry because he doesn’t know what was going on. Adam was good at hiding it, and I wanted to keep it that way. All Sean knows is his dad is gone and I made him go away. I can’t uproot him from the kids he’s gone to school with for years, move him to the city when he’s spent his whole life living in the country.”

Holden cursed again. Sighed. Understood. He didn’t want Sean to lose any more than he’d already lost either. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay? I need to figure out some shit at work. Is this a good number for you? I can call you back on it?”

“Yeah, it’s my cell, but I can’t…I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t ask, and you know I’m coming, little sister. There’s no way you can talk me out of it.”

She started crying again, thanking him over and over, apologizing, telling him she loved him. All Holden could think of was how much he’d let her down, even introducing her to his old friend, bringing Adam into their lives and letting her slip away.