Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
I drain my drink and set it down hard enough for it to ring against the table. “Are we done?”
“We’re done.”
I slide out of the booth and pull on my jacket, zipping it against the cold I can already feel pressing into my bones. Sawyer stays seated, thumbing through the folder again, probably memorizing every detail because that’s what he does.
Files things away. Builds cases. Waits until he has something he can use against you. I’m walking away, but I stop when he calls my name. “Kade, be careful.”
I don’t know if he means with the Lowry job, or with Allie, or with the ticking bomb that is my relationship with our father. Maybe all three. Doesn’t really matter. A warning to be careful won’t change whatever will happen. A bomb is still a bomb, no matter how you try to defuse it.
“Always am,” I lie, then push through the door and out into the cold.
The night air hits me hard, waking my senses. I stand there for a second, breath fogging in front of me, staring at the mountains cutting black shapes against the sky. Somewhere on the other side of those ridgelines, Allie wears another man’s ring and pretends it doesn’t feel like a shackle. I wish I could change it, but I can’t. That ship has sailed, along with my heart.
I trek across the parking lot to my truck, but something makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I pause immediately, scanning the vehicles. The parking lot has filled in more since I sat down with Sawyer. Nothing seems to stick out, but I can’t shake the tingling at the back of my neck. Then I see it. I spot a familiar car parked across the lot, and the sight of it makes the air in my lungs deflate.
Allie.
Chapter 3
Allie
The parking lot of The Rusty Nail is damn near full. Not surprising when it’s the only decent bar in town—well, the only bar. I park and kill the engine. Am I really going through with this? Anxiety tightens my belly as I survey the lot. Maybe he’s not here, and I can save myself the misery. Fat chance. Then I spot his massive dust-covered Chevy with mud splattered on the fenders, and I know I’m fucking stuck.
Karma is a real bitch. Even if I don’t want to face him, I have to.
At worst, he’ll tell me to fuck off and send me on my way. Not that I would blame him.
I know when I ended things between us a year ago, I hurt him. That doesn’t matter now. What matters is finding Saint.
When I discovered Saint was missing, my first thought was to go to him. I knew about Saint and Calder’s little truck convo. Saint didn’t go many places besides the church and its functions. That meant it had to be someone she knew, someone she met. Calder was the only one I could think of who might have something to do with her disappearance, and if anyone would know whether Saint was with Calder, it would be Kade.
I curse myself for not going to him sooner. I chose to go to the police first, hoping they would help find her faster since they have more resources. Little good that did me since I’m now sitting outside The Rusty Nail waiting for Kade to show his face anyway.
I don’t like to think about Kade or the time we shared. Sometimes I tell myself it was a fever dream and never happened, but my heart always reminds me it was real. Even if we didn’t label ourselves as anything, what we shared had meaning.
Our families being enemies didn’t concern us. Neither of us cared for the reasoning behind it. In fact, that’s what we connected over at the start. A connection that only grew over time. Being with Kade, even if it was only for six months, was the freest I’d ever been in my life. He let me be myself. He didn’t care about my last name or family obligations. We were just two people falling for each other.
That is, until reality crashed into us.
His fingers dig into my shoulders, his jaw set tight. “We don’t have to do this. You’re going to Seattle, not fucking France.”
I try to push him away because when he touches me, my brain short-circuits, and I can’t think straight. He has no idea how much I ache to tell him the truth. That my mother is arranging for me to marry some random asshole.
“We can’t keep doing this, Kade.” The words feel like acid on my tongue. “I mean, we both knew this was coming, right? Our families are enemies. My mother would never allow me to be with you and your father…”
“I don’t give a fuck about what they want or don’t want. You aren’t my enemy, Allie. I’ll fight for us. What we have.” The plea in his voice is unmistakable.