Mine Until Morning Read Free

It 12
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    seemed like an eternity before he found a pulse. Kern opened his eyes and spoke as if the moment hadn’t happened. “Promise me you’ll take care of her.”
    “Of course.” Though Mac knew Dani wouldn’t need it. She was strong. Kern clutched his hand, squeezing with more vigor than Mac would have thought possible.
    “Don’t tell her I’m saying any of this, okay? She’ll kill me if she knew.” Kern laughed, then lapsed into a choking cough, his throat rattling. He sucked on the straw Mac held out, his lips dry and cracked despite the Vaseline Mac had rubbed in only a short time ago.
    “Joke’s on me, I guess.” Kern drew in a deep breath. “Where’s my cell phone?”
    “Right here, buddy.” On the bedside table along with Kern’s watch, wallet, and keys. As if one of these days he was going to get up out of the hospital bed hospice had brought to the house for him.
    “Take it, man. After I’m gone, let her get settled a bit, then call the first number on speed dial.”
    “Sure. What’ll I say?”
    “Just say you’re my brother, and that you want to help Dani.”
    “I will.” Mac agreed to everything to ease his brother’s worry.
    “She’s gonna hate it when she knows I told you. But don’t let that stop you, okay?”
    “I won’t.” Though Kern hadn’t told him a damn thing. Mac still didn’t know why Kern thought he’d fucked up, what he believed Mac could do for Dani by calling a number, or how the hell long he was supposed to wait to let her “get settled.”
    That night, Kern lapsed into a coma. He never came out of it. Two days later, he was gone. Dani never asked where his cell phone was. Sitting in the bar’s parking lot, the neon sign flashing on, off, Mac experienced the rush of revelation.
    He didn’t know where she was going tonight or who the guy driving the car was, but he knew one thing. She’d loved Kern. She’d gone through eighteen months of hell, spent hours at his bedside, soothed his brow, cleaned him, held the tissues as he coughed up phlegm, and so much more. She wouldn’t have cheated on him. There had to be another explanation. Something to do with the 13
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    phone number Kern had wanted Mac to use.
    It was time to make that call.
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    2

    KERN’S PHONE WAS BURNING A HOLE IN HIS POCKET. MAC HAD BEEN torn, feeling uncomfortable poking around in something he didn’t understand, especially when Kern said Dani would hate it. Now, though, between his promise to Kern and Dani’s odd behavior, he didn’t have a choice. Or maybe that was justification for satisfying his curiosity.
    Pulling Kern’s phone from his suit jacket, Mac flipped it on. Hitting the first speed dial, the caller ID read Isabel. Jesus. It couldn’t have been Kern having the affair. But wait . . . Isabel. She’d attended Kern’s memorial. A good-looking blonde. Dani’d hugged her, but didn’t introduce her to Mac, and she hadn’t come to the house afterward along with everyone else. He didn’t have time for further analysis as he connected.
    “Dani, what are you doing using Kern’s phone?” The voice husky, sexy, the woman obviously knew the number on the caller ID.
    “This isn’t Dani.”
    She gasped. “Kern? Oh my God. Kern.”
    His stomach twisted. “No, Kern’s dead. You were at his memorial. This is his brother, McKinley Dawson.”
    “Oh.” She paused. “You scared me.” She puffed out a breath. “I thought it was one of those phone calls from the hereafter.”
    “You’ve gotten calls from the hereafter before?” Damn. Was she some sort of psychic scam artist that Dani and Kern had gotten involved with?
    “No, I’ve never received a call. But it’s always within the realm of possibility.”
    She breathed out a long sigh, as if she were trying to get her heart rate under control. “You sound like him, you know.”
    Mac had never really thought about that. “Look, Kern gave me his cell phone and said to