Free Summer Lovin': A Wounded Hearts Novella by Jacquie Biggar

thought of losing the right to call her his wife ripped a hole in his gut.
    “You comin’?” Jack asked.
    Mitch shrugged off the black mood and nodded. “Where we headed?”
    “That was Sid, my deputy. He has a lead on the location of our perp. Thought I’d take a drive and check it out.”
    Anticipation zipped through Mitch’s veins. Damn right he wanted to catch up to the creeps. “I’m in, let’s go.” He started toward the front of the store where his truck was parked.
    “Hey, Mitch,” Jack called.
    Mitch turned, impatient to get a move on and maybe release some of his inner tension on a face or two.
    “Look, about before,” Jack said. “You know, with April.” He glanced down, then looked Mitch square in the eye. “It’s been a long time, man. Let’s put it behind us, agreed?”
    Mitch hesitated. If he kept his mouth shut, the whole episode could be put to rest. Forgiven if not forgotten. It wasn’t enough though. He needed to clean the slate. Until April pulled her little stunt, the men had been as close as those two brothers they’d just placed in the ambulance. It was long past due that they cleared the air between them.
    “April Montgomery was a beautiful woman,” he started, then hurried on when Jack stiffened. “But, she was your woman, Jack. I know you figured we had something going on, and hell, I wouldn’t put it past her to foster that impression, but I swear to you we didn’t.”
    He kicked a rock and listened to it ping off the garbage dumpster. “Listen, I know you loved her and all, but there was something seriously wrong with her. She thrived on making you jealous. You have to see that, right?”
    Jack stood as though frozen in time, and maybe he was. April had single-handedly destroyed not only their friendship, but also two promising careers. Not to mention abandoning a child. She would never rate for any mother of the year awards, that’s for damn sure.
    “So all this time, while I’ve been wondering if Tina was mine,” Jack growled, but before he could finish what he was going to say they heard a gasping cry from behind.
    Tina stood near the open back door, hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her white face.
    “Tina,” Jack croaked.
    She turned and blindly stumbled toward the door.
    “Honey, wait.”
    But, it was too late. She was gone.

Chapter Sixteen
    P ete woke up to the strident ringing of the telephone. His face was plastered to the floor and it felt like a ten-piece band was rehearsing in his skull. Ugh . His mouth tasted like somethin’ crawled up and died in there. It took him two tries to lift his head and focus bleary eyes on Davey passed out at the kitchen table, a half-full glass of rotgut still in his hand.
    Sunlight seeped through the gaps around the front door and fought with the dirty windowpanes to stream into the room and push away the gloom. He’d told that fricken kid to keep them curtains closed, dammit. A surge of bile rose and he forced himself to his feet, barely managing to bounce off the hall walls and make it to the can in time. Grimacing, he bent under the tap and rinsed with lukewarm water, then sluiced it over his head, hoping for some clarity. The red-rimmed gaze that met him in the veined mirror wasn’t encouraging.
    It was those kids’ fucking fault. If they hadn’t stressed him out… He ignored the fact that he’d been drinking like this long before they came on the scene. What the hell did he know about kids? Why his sister named him their guardian, he’d never know. The only good thing to come out of this mess was the money. April had done good for herself—a fuck of a lot better than she had in this shithole. If not for the accident, she’d promised to take care of him, maybe even bring him out there to L.A. to live with her and that high-falutin’ dentist husband of hers. Now that dream was gone.
    But not the money.
    As the only living relative, he’d been appointed trustee of the kids’ inheritance. It