He all but stumbled through the door once Maggie had opened it wider, the warmth of her home a stark contrast to the storm raging outside. Rhys shook his wet jacket from his shoulders, bunching it into his fist as he paced back and forth for a silent moment. He could feel her eyes on him, watching his every movement, waiting for an answer from him. But his mind was still scrambled, still trying to wrap his head around what he had heard, and what it could mean. He wasn't sure if it would change everything, or nothing at all...
"I think my father may have been murdered." Rhys blurted out, rather breathlessly as if he had been holding the words in. Truthfully, he didn't feel much better once he had confessed, his eyes wide and seeking hers for some kind of solution. "Have you got any alcohol?" of course she did, he could see a half empty bottle in the kitchen from the corner of his eye. But he needed Maggie to offer for him to stay, for them to drink and talk, and drink. Fuck, Rhys needed a drink.
Maggie watched as he moved further into her beach house, silence filling the air except for the sound of his shoes squeaking on the hardwood floors beneath him. She could tell from the moment that she opened the door that something was off, but this was beginning to scare her. The way he moved and gripped his dripping coat between his hands, lest her feeling as if he was unable to hold his composure. This wasn't a social call by any means, something was seriously wrong. "Rhys," she said his name, voice soft, before asking him again, "What is going on?" But the words that came from his lips were far from what she was expecting. Her eyes widened, but she remained silent. What was she supposed to say to that? There was no way. Or, maybe there was. In this town, anything was possible. His next statement gave way for her to assist in some way. Her feet quickly carried her toward her liquor cabinet, ignoring the wine bottle on her counter. They would need something much stronger than that for this situation. She pulled open the cabinet, well stocked and barely touched, and fingers wrapped around the neck of a bottle of bourbon. She pulled it from the cabinet and grabbed two glasses, placing them both on the island in her kitchen. Two glasses were poured and she slid one over to him, offering him not only a drink but the space to talk. "Tell me why you think that. What happened? Did someone give you some sort of information? Did you see something?"
















