Free For the Longest Time by Kendra Leigh Castle

be caught by anything around here. You know what the Tavern looks like on Friday nights. Same old. Maybe I should have moved to Boston.”
    Jake shook his head as they rounded a bend in the path, listening to his friend’s labored breathing. “Shane, go home. I don’t want to be responsible for you having a massive heart attack.”
    Not that Jake didn’t have some sympathy for him. Right now Shane was paying every due Jim Sullivan thought he ought to for the privilege of being his firstborn son and chosen successor, the eventual inheritor of Sullivan Associates. Shane never really complained, but he never seemed very enthusiastic, either. A lot of the happiness seemed to have gone out of him since the days when he’d been the life of every party, and Jake often wondered if maybe Shane really
should
have gone to Boston and gotten away. The Cove could be a haven, if you wanted it. But like any small town, it could also be quicksand.
    He knew that was how Sam felt about it. And she’dmade it clear that the move home wouldn’t be permanent, if she had any say in the matter. On some level it was hard to blame her. On another, it was irritating that her mind was made up about the Cove before she’d even gotten started.
    Shane’s deceptively mellow baritone pulled Jake out of his thoughts. “So Angie thought your mystery hook-up was local, but that can’t be right. Said Cass knew her. From college, maybe?”
    â€œShe wasn’t a hook-up, and she’s very local,” Jake replied. “You remember Sam Henry?”
    Shane’s burst of disbelieving laughter wasn’t exactly unexpected, but it put him on the defensive in a way he wasn’t used to.
    â€œSam Henry? Freak show?
No
. No
way
. Wasn’t she into animal sacrifice or something? I remember lots of black eyeliner, black lipstick, hair in the face . . . I mean, she was cute if you could get past the weird, I guess, but . . .” He trailed off, frowning as he continued to jog along, then snapped and pointed at Jake, eyes lighting up. “Hey, remember when she had a crush on you? I almost forgot about that. Man, that was sad. You telling me she actually managed to grow up hot?”
    Jake flexed his hands, stunned by the flash of temper that nearly overrode his self-control. He had an overwhelming urge to punch the delighted grin off of Shane’s face. Why did it figure he’d remember the one day Jake really wanted to forget? Maybe he’d been stupid for not expecting this. Sam had been gone a long time. She was going to be preceded by her reputation, fair or not, until people sized her up again.
    It would be fine, he told himself. She didn’t need him to defend her.
    â€œShe grew up. Aren’t we supposed to be past all this shit? It was ten years ago,” Jake said. He turned his head to glare incredulously at Shane. “Animal sacrifice? Seriously? She was
artsy
, not a psychopath.”
    Okay, so she might not need the defense, but he couldn’t quite help giving it anyway.
    Shane’s brows shot up at the snap in his voice. “Jake, granted, I didn’t pay a ton of attention to her class—I mean, apart from the hot girls and the guys we played sports with—but Sam kind of stuck out, and not in a good way. Don’t get all bent out of shape. You just surprised me. It’s not like you were all about her back then. Actually, I have this distinct memory of her pegging you in the head with some crumpled-up paper when you finally told her to take off.”
    â€œYeah. I remember.” He said it quietly, his temper subsiding as quickly as it had risen, and his shoulders slumped a little.
    After making a noncommittal sound, Shane lapsed into silence, though he kept running alongside Jake as the evening deepened around them. There was no sound but their breathing, the jingle of Tucker’s collar, and the pounding of their sneakers on