Holden's Resurrection (Gemini Group Book 6)

truth.
For years, he’d remained silent about a lot of things. Too many things. The reason why he’d left her was at the top of the list. Paul cheating on Charleigh was a half-click down. Something Holden never understood was why, after Paul finally got what he wanted, did he defile it in the worst way? The fuck of it was, Paul hadn’t been careful. It seemed that anytime the asshole had shown up where Holden was, he’d made a whole production out of picking up a woman. For the life of him, he could never figure out his play.
Why would a man deliberately try to sabotage his marriage? Unless he wanted Holden to tell Charleigh so Paul could deny it, accuse Holden of lying, and drive the wedge in deeper. It had been unnecessary, Holden had done that all by himself. There wasn’t a wedge between him and Charleigh, there was an abyss of pain between them.
A chasm that Holden had dug with one incredibly bad decision.
How had his life spiraled so far out of control?
The vibrating stopped only to start again, and with a petulant sigh, he yanked his phone out and saw Nixon’s name on the display.
“Yeah?” Holden rudely snapped.
“I’m not even gonna bother asking what’s crawled up your bunghole because I’m fairly certain you’re finally coming to terms with the multitude of ways you fucked up, which would mean that stick that’s been up your ass is being twisted.”
“Is there a reason you called?” he asked as he crossed the intersection.
“Jonny’s here.”
“Know that. I’m looking at his truck.”
Holden continued to scan the street and saw Chasin’s Charger and Weston’s Jeep parked in front of the office.
“We’ll wait for you to brief.” Nixon hung up and Holden slowed his pace, needing all the extra time he could get before he faced his friends.
By the time Holden entered the office, his thoughts were no less heavy.
He’d screwed up again. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. There was no winning this battle and his best course of action was to stay away from Charleigh. He’d caused enough turmoil and pain.
“Conference room,” Nixon unnecessarily called out.
Holden shoved all thoughts of Charleigh to the back of his mind and locked them up where they belonged—in a box marked, do not open. Unfortunately, the padlocks were weak, the catches too flimsy to keep him from accessing the memories anytime he wanted. Which was daily. He had an unhealthy fixation on his past. It had been the only time in his life he’d truly been happy. It was hard not to lie in his bed and remember all the reasons why he’d fallen for Charleigh. And when the pain of losing her inevitably came, he used it to punish himself for being such a bastard.
“What’s going on?” Holden asked when he entered the room.
Everyone was there: Weston, Jameson, Chasin, Nix, Alec, Jonny, even Micky was sitting at the large table with her laptop open in front of her.
“Jonny’s got a case he needs to work through,” Nix answered.
This wasn’t unusual. Gemini Group had worked with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department many times.
“This is technically Vaughn’s case but something’s not sitting right,” Jonny started.
Vaughn Holbrook had been on Alec Hall’s team when they’d served in the Navy. They’d been stationed in San Diego so Holden had never crossed paths with the man. But Nixon had when he’d gone to California for training. Vaughn had separated from the Navy before any of them had and spent years wandering around until Alec had reached out and pulled him into the fold. Nixon offered the former SEAL a job at Gemini Group but he’d declined and joined the sheriff’s department.
One could say Vaughn wasn’t open to connections. The man made Jameson look friendly and in comparison made Holden seem well-adjusted. However, by all accounts, Vaughn was a good deputy who simply enjoyed solitude and isolation. Holden could understand the need for both. That was one reason he lived alone in his Airstream.
“Does this have to do with the two girls from a few weeks ago?” Holden inquired.
They’d found the girls, unharmed but freaked the fuck out. They’d been no help identifying the man who’d taken them.
Jonny scrubbed his hands over his face, and when he looked up, regret was clearly visible. “We’re missing something. The pieces are all here.”
“What’s your gut telling you?” Jameson inquired.
“Not sure. But something is not right.”
Jonny slid a file folder to the middle of the table. “This is from a year ago. A report was filed by the parents of a seventeen-year-old girl. They waited until she was two hours late for curfew, then they started calling her friends. An hour later, they called the KCSD to file a missing person report. She was found a few hours later sleeping in her car.”
“Out drinking and didn’t want to go home and get busted by her parents?” Weston tossed out.
“If her shirt hadn’t been torn, two fingernails hadn’t been broken, and pure terror wasn’t in her eyes, I’d say yes. But that was the story she gave to us and her parents.”
“Her parents didn’t question how her shirt was torn?” Nixon asked as he picked up the file and opened it.
“They did. She told them she was at a party with some girlfriends and they were jacking around and she accidentally ripped her shirt. The parents were overcome with relief that their daughter was safe, they didn’t question whether or not she was actually unharmed.”
Holden glanced at the report Nix had pulled from the file and waited for Jonny to continue.
“Next one, missing person report filed by parents when their sixteen-year-old was three hours late coming home. She showed up when the deputies were there taking the report. Unfortunately, both officers were in the house so they didn’t see the car that dropped her off. Her story was, she had a boyfriend who lived in Delaware, they’d lost track of time. However, the deputy noted her makeup was smeared and it looked