Kihyun's Vow - Liam Kingsley Page 0,1

It would certainly be enough to keep me busy while I considered my options.

“Yes, sir. Nothing pulling me back to Seattle now you’ve got my best friend locked down here. I worked in a bomb squad as an explosives specialist for most of my military career, so I’m good with my hands. I can take things apart carefully and put anything back together again. It would be an honor to help you out, sir.”

“Hey, enough of that ‘sir’ shit. I’m practically your brother-in-law.”

I grinned as I heard Shayne playing in the background with their teen daughter, Charlotte, and their newborn baby, Sebastian, who was nearly a month old now. I’d heard of Timberwood Cove from a former military buddy, Nash Parsons, but I wouldn’t have known how wonderful the town was if it wasn’t for Shayne’s fate leading him here to find the love of his life, Vince. And wherever Shayne went, I went.

“I trust you can do what you say you can do, and I could really use the help.” Vince paused, and I held my breath. I don’t think I’d ever waited for anyone to say something so much in my life.

“The place is still new, but I’m busy, and I need someone around to do the engine work. The job’s yours if you want it.”

“Yes!” Shayne shouted in the background and made me smile.

Vince chuckled and went on. “I’ve got a new client coming through in a couple of days with a classic car that needs a full engine tune-up along with the bodywork I’m doing to it. Pop around then, alright?”

“Hell yes. I’ll see you then. Thanks, sir—uh, man. Get back to family time, I know it’s important to you all.”

Call ended, I smiled at myself in the mirror and fixed my high quiff of red hair before taking a long sip of beer, all while wondering what else fate had in store for me in this magical little town. Okay, Timberwood Cove. Show me what you’ve got.

Buzzing from the small victory, I stepped back out into the main bar room and was hit with two things at once. First, a wall of sound from the jukebox and the revelry near the dartboard, and second, a sense that someone was watching me. I scanned the room and found a few of the drunk darts players looking me over, but nothing dangerous stood out. Maybe I needed to talk to some other ex-service guys to find out how normal this habit of mine was, and when it might go away. Perhaps it would be a good idea to drop in on Nash as soon as I got a minute.

I pulled up a stool and took another drink of my beer as I forced my body to relax. But the moment I let my guard down, my mind flicked back to Toby…

Rubbing my cheek, I stared at the tattered coaster under my beer bottle and questioned if I’d ever get my fallen comrade off my mind for more than a half an hour. We were best friends during our time in the military, but not like Shayne and I were best friends. My feelings for Toby went way beyond platonic, though he never returned them. It still stung a little, but not as much as losing him.

I took another long drink and dedicated it to him as I wondered if he was there with me, lurking in the shadows, haunting me like he’d always joked he would if he died before I did.

“I’ll never leave you alone. I’ll be bothering you day and night, full poltergeist style. You’ll never be able to forget me, even if you tried.”

I’d laughed then, back when his morbid sense of humor hadn’t seemed like such a prophecy and he delivered those kinds of lines with a cheeky smirk. Now, I’d give anything to have his ghost smash a glass against the wall, upend the jukebox, or throw darts around the room—anything to know he was still here, that he hadn’t left me. All I knew was there was a hole in my heart where he used to live, and I had no way of filling it.

Draining the last of my beer, the feeling that I was being watched hit me again. I chuckled to myself that maybe that was the only way Toby could communicate with me, by putting my nervous system on edge, but then I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I met the gaze of a