Free Poison by Leanne Davis Page A

it hit the North Jetty that trailed into the ocean for two miles.
    Tim was enthralled with the place. He climbed onto the small chain link fence that couldn’t be but four feet tall, nearly giving Cassie a heart attack as he pretended he was the captain of a ship heading out to sea.
    “This is considered one of the windiest spots in the United States.”
    Startled, Cassie turned from her slow perusal of the view toward John. His sudden appearance and the friendly fact he threw out surprised her more than the view. Why had John walked all the way over and started a conversation with her? All day he’d been sure to tag along talking with Luke and Tim while being even more surly than usual toward her. Once in a while she glanced his way and caught him scowling at her. She wondered what she’d done today to inflame his general anger at her.
    “It feels like it could be the edge of the world.”
    “You should see it in a storm. It’s said the howling of the wind drove one lighthouse keeper’s wife to fling herself off the cliffs.”
    “Are you hoping I will too?”
    “Just making conversation.”
    “Why?”
    He shrugged.
    She turned and looked back over the view. “Why do you know so much about this place?”
    John leaned over, resting his forearms on the fence and looking out toward sea. She turned her head and found him nearly eye level with her.
    “Sarah actually. She loves this place. She loves Seaclusion, she works on different web sites to attract tourists, and bring in people for the annual Kite Festival. She’s always spouting off stories and history of the area. She’s like a walking encyclopedia about it. Luke and I both picked up on quite a bit of it.”
    “That surprises me,” Cassie said, her tone snide. She regretted it instantly. For some reason John was being nice, and she’d just sent them back to insults.
    “Sarah’s not stupid. She plays up the flighty thing, and usually gets what she wants because people underestimate her.”
    “Oh.” Was this John’s way of telling her there was more to Sarah then meets the eye? Why would John care that she know that?
    “Why are you talking to me?” she asked, after a loaded silence of them standing side by side, their gazes glued toward the horizon.
    He let out a deep breath. “I’ve been trying to figure out why you were going on a date with my brother.”
    “What? Why would you say such a thing? I’ve been locked up in your house for weeks now. Do you have any idea whatsoever what Tim and I do for all those hours you’re working, and at Sarah’s? We sit in your house. Walking the beach only takes up so many hours. The rest of it I’m waiting. I don’t even know what I’m waiting for. So Luke asks to get me out of the house, and you think I agreed as some sort of come on? Is that why you came? To chaperone us? Make sure I don’t try to seduce your brother while my six-year-old son plays captain not twenty feet away?”
    John glanced her way. “No that’s not why I came. Tim asked. How could I refuse him? It’s just that Luke is pretty vulnerable right now.”
    “I get that. His pregnant wife died. Can you give me a little bit of credit for understanding that? I wouldn’t hurt him or hit on him. Come off it, you know that much about me.”
    “Sometimes I don’t think rational when it comes to you.”
    “No. You don’t think at all when it comes to me.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong; I think way too much when it comes to you. You see, you hold a place in my life no other woman has.”
    She closed her eyes and turned away, knowing exactly what that place was. She waited for him to continue, for John to tell her what he thought of her, and what she’d done to him a decade ago. Instead silence met her. She finally looked at him. He stared off into the horizon, his expression blank.
    “Does anyone know?” he asked finally.
    “About what happened between us? No.”
    “Keep it that way. You owe me that much.”
    Then he turned