Gage (Men of Honor 1)

I walked holes in the flooring pacing back and forth at all hours because my thoughts wouldn’t let me sleep. That day I had been so close. Had that person not pulled into the driveway I’m sure I would’ve made it into the house.

She’s alone and pregnant, which means she’s weak and no match for me who have at least thirty pounds and five inches on her. The more I thought of it the more I convinced myself that next time I’d be better prepared.

I have all the bases covered. I have someone, namely the bartender who was willing to give me a call if she showed up at the country club and I know pretty much all the places she likes to frequent in town. And though she’s been laying low these past few weeks I’m sure that’s not going to last. She’s probably fighting sickness stemming from her pregnancy and that’s why she’s been holed up at home like she has been.

By day three I was ready to pull my hair out from inaction. It was eating me up inside that he was with her still, that none of my efforts have paid off. What started as a harmless attraction had fast become something more, so much more.

It’s as if the more he resisted me, the longer I went without getting what I want, the more I want him. I no longer see her as a person, she’s long stopped being anything I need to consider in my mind. Instead she’s just another inconsequential obstacle in my way. Nothing more than unwanted trash to be taken out and thrown away.

I made up my mind when I woke up this morning that I was going to confront her today. She hadn’t taken any of my past warnings seriously and now she’d gone and got herself pregnant; no doubt to hang onto him once she realized I was her competition. But I’m not about to let that stop me.

No one can convince me that a man like Gage is truly happy with a woman like her. Sure he might want her by his side for appearances sake… My mind suddenly went to the scene I’d spied on a few days ago and I felt my gorge rise. The last thing I want to do is remember the two of them together, sharing such intimacy.

* * *

GAGE

* * *

It’s been the longest three days of my life give or take. First, waiting for Brad’s call while steadily on the lookout for a reappearance from the widow and then after getting his report, struggling over what to do with the information.

Things have taken an unexpected turn and I fought against my natural instinct to handle her myself or hand her over to the law. It boggles my mind that someone with as much skeletons in her closet as she has would stick their neck out like that.

Maybe she wasn’t expecting me or anyone else to look beyond the surface. Too bad she’d chosen me and mine to mess with. She’d bitten off more than she can chew and now I’m just waiting to bring her down once and for all.

Thankfully Holly never got wind of her latest escapade and have been spending her days carefree and happy as any woman in her condition should be. Mom had taken to coming over every day with Lucille who’d cut the vacation she was taking in between jobs at my request short.

I’d taken the first two days off and had been working from home but I knew that wasn’t a long term solution, not unless I wanted to alert my wife to the danger. Now I sat behind my desk at the office looking over the report Brad had put together, still not certain why this woman hadn’t left well enough alone.

From the pattern I’d been able to follow since picking up her trail from the little town where she’d been born she’d made it. No one had caught on to her game and probably wouldn’t have had she not fucked up and stumbled into my path.

Either the police hadn’t looked or no one had led them in the right direction but there was definitely something off about the deaths of her aunt and uncle. There was some maneuvering with their finances as well before the two of them mysteriously died months apart. The general consensus was old age but the aunt at least wasn’t old enough for that, while the uncle was thought to have given in to a recurring heart condition.

Brad had gone the extra mile and connected the dots to show something else entirely. Things that when seen on their own didn’t add up to much, but when put together the way he’d done, painted a different picture.

Whether we were on the right track or not, I have no qualms about turning it over to the law and letting them deal with it. Either way it should get her the hell out of my hair. I doubt anyone could look at what I was holding and not see what I saw though, so there’s a good bet the widow will be facing serious jail time.