Page 38 of Waggs

“Exactly, because that isn’t the case. I love you for you.”

“I know that, Willow. I’m not jealous of Aaron. God, I loved him too.”

“Your mom knows about us.”

She felt his arms tighten around her then relax. “She told you that?”

“Yeah. She said she was glad we found each other and wants us to be happy. She says she always knew there were feelings between us and that I have excellent taste in men.”

Aiden chuckled against her and it made her heart stutter. There would never be a time when this man didn’t make her body and heart jump when he walked in a room.

“Well, she’s not wrong there.”

“It felt good to get her approval. It wouldn’t have stopped my feelings for you if they didn’t, but Amy and Ben have been such a support to me with AJ.”

His fingers stroked her arm. “I should’ve been there.”

“No. It wasn’t our time then and you’ve built such a great life in Hereford.”

“I found something out tonight and I didn’t want to tell you, but I know I have to.”

Willow felt her heart stall in its beat and her tummy clench at his words. “What is it?”

“It’s about Aaron.”

Willow leaned up, leaving her hand over his heart, and feeling the beats accelerate under her hand. His face was a mask of pain and regret, and she hated for him to carry it alone. He’d carried far too much, and this was enough. “Tell me.”

Aiden pulled her back down into his embrace. “I found pictures of our Green Beret Commanding Officer in Jerry Edwards’ safe. It shows him engaging in sex acts with a minor, or at least she sure looked like a minor to me.”

“And?” Willow knew there was more, that was upsetting but not enough to have put that look on his face.

“There were also pictures of Green with the men who were there the day Aaron was killed.”

Willow drew in a breath as she processed his words. He’d told her a bit about that day and seeing men at the edge of the village smirking before it happened. “Green was involved, which means this wasn’t a random bombing, it was targeted at Aaron. But why?”

Aiden let out a giant sigh. “That’s the burning question. My best guess is Aaron found out about the trafficking, and that was why he met with Ralph. Somehow they found a way to silence Aaron that wouldn’t track back to them.”

“We have to stop them.”

“Oh, we will. They’ll all pay for what they took from us.”

Willow believed him. Aiden would avenge his brother if it were the last thing he did, and that frightened her to death. She was the one who’d opened this can of worms and dragged Aiden into danger. If she’d left things alone, they’d all be in happy ignorance but as she thought of the women she’d seen on TV rescued from sex rings, she knew she’d done the right thing. She just prayed it didn’t cost her another man she loved because she’d barely survived losing Aaron and losing Aiden would kill her.

Chapter 17

Waggs ruffled AJ’s head as the kid shoved toast cut into perfect triangles into his mouth. He hadn’t known how exhausting or rewarding it could be having a child around all the time and his admiration for Willow doing this alone for so long, and his shame for not being there, went up in equal measure. AJ was a good kid, the best in fact, and he was amazed at how fast he’d come to love him. It was hard to imagine his old, sterile life now without them in it.

“Mommy says I can’t have potato chips for breakfast.”

The sigh was so big and sad he would’ve thought the kid was talking about world peace and not what his breakfast choices were or were not. “Your mom is right. If you want to beat me at the assault course, chips for breakfast won’t work.”

AJ sat up straighter, the competitive side of him coming out to play. “Really?”

Waggs poured himself a coffee as he listened to Willow getting out of the shower. The doorbell rang and he knew it was Liam and Decker. Liam would go into the trucking yard later that day, so they were meeting here first to hash out a plan.

Liam and Decker strode through the door when he opened it, and AJ ran up to Liam high fiving him.

“Hey, little man, what you got there?”