I get three more swallows from the bottle before the knock comes from the direction of my door.
“Fuck,” I mutter, looking down at my boots and rubbing the tension out of my neck with my free hand. I glance at the bottle of Jack, almost going for another drink, but then I hear him.
“You open this door right this darn tootin’ second, mister!” he calls through the barrier.
Despite the situation, I can’t help but feel a little ease at that.
Same old Sway.
I place the bottle back on the counter and move toward the front door. One hand wrapping around the cool metal knob and the other unlocking the bolt. When I pull the door open, I wasn’t prepared to be hit full force. Sway gasps, does a little jump, and wraps his arms around my neck. His hug is so tight, I feel the air in my lungs protesting. I wrap my arms around him and give him a hug of my own, one that I know he feels with the impact of every year I was gone in. Just as I do.
He’s a short guy, so I imagine we look hilarious with him hanging in the air as we hug. I notice as he pulls away that his blond wig is missing. His hair is also completely gone, the mocha skin shining bright under the lighting.
I step back from the threshold and usher him in. He’s still wearing those damn heels and they click as he walks into the living area. The whole time, he’s looking around.
“Guess this is as close to heaven as a dead man can get, hmm, sugar britches?” he states when the door clicks shut.
I snort, but follow him into the living room. I glance around, seeing the opulence around me, and admit he isn’t wrong. Even colorless, it’s stunning. “How’d you find me?”
His hand goes to his chest, covered tightly in a dark maroon v-neck shirt. “My heavens above, richer with time, but that voice is still all you.”
I don’t speak. Uncomfortable.
His head tips as he studies me, tears falling down his cheeks.
The silence and that goddamn clock’s tick continue around us.
I dig my fists into my eyes when I feel the wetness collecting in my lids, taking a second to compose myself.
“You tell anyone?”
He looks offended in a second, but thank God the tears stop. “I’m not stupid, Zeke Cooper. I know damn well you had to have a big reason for what you did the second I saw you strut that fine ass into the lobby of this building.”
I frown. “When did you see me?”
“Walked right past me, honey pie. I’m in town for a hair show, and a friend of mine lives on the first floor. Right on past Sway and there I was with my jaw on the floor like I had just seen, well … a ghost. You didn’t have eyes for me. Not with that stunning creature at your side and that precious little angel in your arms. Had it not been for that sleepy little baby, I would probably have brushed it off as a coincidence. But you held that little angel just like you used to cart Cohen and Nate around. I knew right then and there you were my Cooper.”
“Name’s Andrew now, Sway. Or Drew. But don’t use that name. That’s not me anymore.”
His hand comes out and grabs mine. I look down, his dark skin slightly wrinkled with age holding the heavily tattooed one of mine. I feel the emotion of the life I left bubbling up, but I swallow thickly.
“You’ll always be my Coop.”
“Not me anymore, Sway.”
I hold his gaze while he studies whatever the fuck he sees in my eyes. It doesn’t take long for him to nod.
“Want to tell me how you got into my house?”
He tosses his head back and laughs. “I’ve been watching those fine-ass men walk around for way too long, darlin’. I know how to pick a lock, disarm a system, avoid cameras, you name it. Which, now I know why you weren’t the install man because your system is hands down to the ground garbage.”
“Best there is,” I lament.
“No, darlin’ man, you just forgot your roots.”
Damn. I don’t say anything. He isn’t wrong. It’s the best system there is, but I hardly use all the features. What’s the point? I was a ghost, and nothing I owned mattered to me.
“Been a long time, my friend. Help me understand why you led everyone to believe you were dead.”
A humorless sound comes out of my mouth.
“Don’t you dare think you can keep it from me. I know you’re alive, Co—Drew. I know. Now, you want me to keep this from them, I’m going to need more than that.”
“You have to keep it from them, Sway.”
“Then help me understand.”
I lean back against the chair and look at him. He’s relaxed, his purse on the table between us. Legs crossed proper as fuck. One red high as fuck heeled booted foot bouncing in the air. His face calm, and his eyes full of confusion and love. Even in this situation, he practically radiates happiness.
Same damn Sway.
Same. Damn. Sway.
“Made a lot of enemies over the years, Sway. I was in some shit that there was just no going back from because I was so irresponsible in my quest to find some meaning in my life. I put everyone back home in the crosshairs. With me gone, you were all safe. It wasn’t even a question.”
He hums, nods his head, but continues his silence.
“I spent the first five years trying to hunt down everyone that knew who I had been. Changed the way I looked, got a team, survived in the shadows and took out as many of those threats as I could. It was another five years when I realized I would never rid the world of all the people and organizations that could harm my family. It took another eight for me to come to terms with that, still trying to get all of the motherfuckers. The rest of that time, I’ve resigned myself to this life. I do what’s needed of me and I stay away and hidden. I make sure the family I left doesn’t feel any pain from the shitstorms I had created.”
“You didn’t trust them to keep you safe during this?”
I suck in a breath.
“I know damn well what you all are in to. I know you also were badass hunks running around doing badass stuff when you were all enlisted. I know, just as you know damn well, you should have given them the choice.”
“Not that easy, man.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Do you know what kind of men these were? The kind that peddle flesh, hand out drugs and guns to kids, have no trouble raping a woman in broad daylight. They were everywhere. There was no fucking way that they could have been kept safe when the enemies after me were larger than anything we had ever seen. And Sway, that includes our time fighting for our goddamn lives in war. Not enough eyes in the world could have watched all the angles these fucks would have attacked. You think I didn’t think this through?”
“I know you did. That’s the problem.”
“Explain.”
He leans back, picks up his hand and checks his polish. “You didn’t give them a chance to know you were still breathing because you assumed the only way to protect was to disappear and never say so much as boo. You, by the way, might still be a fine-ass hunk of love but you make a terrible ghost, darlin’. Did you ever think that you could have had both? The shadows and the connection to your old life?”
“Do you not think, if there was a chance, I wouldn’t have taken it!” I stand from my seat and start pacing. “I almost reached out, but that was when I discovered everyone was being watched, fucking stalked, and as good as my guys were, they didn’t even see it. From the shadows, where filth lives, they watched and waited. They weren’t stupid. In the underbelly of the world, faking a death isn’t uncommon. Seventeen years they watched. I know because the man I had on everyone reported that back to me. He stayed there in Hope Town, getting regular cuts at your salon, and had one job—watch and protect. He knew who was getting close and when. I knew of no fewer than three men who were on each person I left behind—including you!”