Troubled Waters (The Lake Trilogy, Book 2) by AnnaLisa Grant

not a question, but a matter of fact. A man like Furtick doesn’t let injustice stand.
    “No,” he says, echoing the firmness of my statement. “I followed him for three days before the perfect moment was given to me. I beat the – well, he spent a week in the hospital on life support before they pulled the plug and he died.”
    “Why were you arrested? Isn’t what you did considered defense of a third party?” I allow a moment of pride as I recall a legal conversation with Luke last year. He let me ask him whatever came to mind and then gave me the legality of it. It was actually a pretty fun game and I’m a little surprised that I remember this term because there were so many. I’m impressed that anyone passes the Bar exam.
    “Yes and no. The problem was that I followed him for three days. The argument was that it was premeditated. The beating was, but him dying wasn’t necessarily part of the plan. Had I caught him in the act and killed him it would have been an act of passion in defense of a third party.”
    “I don’t understand where Gregory Meyer comes in. Wouldn’t you be tried in a military court?”
    “Not necessarily. If the guy had been military, yeah. They have their own legal system and it can be kind of hairy. So I had a friend who suggested I seek some outside counsel since the guy was civilian. When you Google ‘most successful attorneys in North Carolina’ Gregory Meyer’s name is front and center. After I told him my story, he said he’d take care of it. It took two weeks and my case was expedited and I was honorably discharged.”
    “And that’s when Mr. Meyer told you his fee.”
    “Yes. When I had to explain to Heather why I wasn’t working a normal job, she was furious with me. She convinced Anna that I was some thug and she hasn’t spoken to me since.”
    I can’t imagine. He goes after the guy who attacks his daughter and the mom turns against him? But it’s all clear to me now why he took this job of protecting me. He’s making up with me what he couldn’t do for Anna.
    “Thank you, Furtick.”
    “Wes.” My quizzical look asks him the question that he answers. “My name is Wes. I want you to know that I’m more than a cold ex-marine.”
    “I don’t think you’re cold at all. I think you have one of the biggest hearts of anyone I’ve ever known. I know why Luke trusts you. It’s because you’re like him. You would do anything to protect the ones you love most.” Furtick gives me just the smallest smile, but it’s still the biggest one he’s given me. I understand him better now and this makes me want him to stay forever.
    I know it was difficult for him to tell me something so heart wrenching. I remember how I felt the night I told Will every detail of my parents’ death, and about the months and years that followed. It’s funny. When all you want to do is move on and forget, life brings you someone with whom you can entrust all of your secrets, everything you thought you wanted to leave behind. That person ends up holding those secrets with you, because you really can’t leave everything behind. There are things that we must carry with us because they are a very important part of our life story. Without them, we don’t make sense.
    I don’t know how many people know Wes Furtick’s story, but I am honored to help him carry it.
    *****
    I can’t sleep. You’d think that with Will being here, being alive, that the past month would have brought me my sweetest dreams, but for some reason I’ve not been sleeping well. Maybe it’s the fear of Gregory Meyer finding out that he was duped, but more of what he’ll do if that happens. Now that I know Will and his mother are alive, I don’t like them being out of my site. They live in a great apartment eight and a half minutes from here, which is eight minutes too far for my liking. I haven’t been there yet because Will is here every morning to pick me up for class, and every moment after that until Claire