I started to tell him there was no need, that I had the feeling I’d never forget, but the only sound that spilled from my lips was a sigh and then his name. “James.”
For the rest of the summer, Jamie showed me the way all right.
To his heart. And to mine.
Present
IT HAD BEEN TWO DAYS since I left Bee in tears at the country club. Two days, and somehow, I could still taste her. Getting Barbette to lower her guards hadn’t exactly been a chore. I’d learned early on how to best catch flies, but I never thought to use my charm against her.
Now that I knew she was nothing but a gold-digger, all bets were off.
The only good thing that had come out of learning the truth was the clear path I now had to getting what I wanted. Barbette needed a cash cow and I needed…her—in my bed, under my thumb, and eventually crushed beneath my heel. I’d make Elliot an offer, marry Barbette, and fill her with the heirs my family required. Then, when my work was done, I’d sit back and watch my thorny rose wilt for the rest of her days.
My only obstacle was the conviction I seemed to lack. Frustration had caused me to explode that day in the country club. My mission had been simple: expose her secrets and revel in her downfall.
Then why hadn’t I gone through with it?
The only time I couldn’t seem to give in to her was when she pushed me away. Go fucking figure.
It’s not your hate that kills me but the love I see shining through.
You kiss me with your cruel words and caress me with your pain.
I’d glimpsed those words in her journal and just as she predicted, I broke like a dam and swept her away. And just before she could drown in my hate, I pulled her back out again. It seemed I couldn’t hate Barbette without loving her twice as hard.
In desperate need of a distraction, I’d driven to the city with Lou riding shotgun, hoping that it would put enough distance between us. The few hours away had kept me from going to Barbette, but it hadn’t kept me from thinking about her… or picturing my hand around her lovely neck.
“Bee’s right,” Lou mumbled when “Kiss it Better” began to play. “You listen to Rihanna way too much, bro.”
Grinning, I turned up the volume just as Lou’s phone began to ring.
Leaning forward, she snatched it from the dash. “What?” she snapped, drawing my gaze from the road. She was now curled up in a ball as if suddenly feeling the need to protect herself. “Where am I?” Scoffing, she added, “You’d know that if you weren’t too busy lying to me.” She was silent for a few seconds as she listened to whatever the caller was saying. “Ugh.” It was the only warning Lou gave before hanging up.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“I am paradise, and Wren is going to learn that really soon when I leave his ass.”
I didn’t get the chance to respond to that before my phone rang. Already knowing who was calling, I didn’t bother looking at the screen before picking up. “Untwist your panties, Harlan. I got her.”
“What the hell are you guys doing?”
Wren was seething. I’m talking fire-breathing dragon mad. I could practically hear the steam blowing from his nose and ears, and I snickered.
Of course, I just had to poke the sleeping bear.
“Not much right now. She’s just riding me.”
“What the fuck did you say?” he shouted, damn near blowing out my eardrums.
“I said she’s riding with me.” Taking a page from Lou’s book, I hung up on him. Lou snorted, so I turned my head to meet her gaze. “You know he’s going to kick our asses for that, right?”
Sinking lower in her seat, she lifted her legging-clad legs and crossed her sneakered feet on my dash. “Yours, maybe. I’ve got immunity because I’m adorable, and he loves me too much.”
Scoffing, I shook my head. I was beginning to think I’d never figure girls out no matter how many I screwed. “If you believe that, why are you giving him the cold shoulder?”
I glanced over in time to see her lips curl. “Because he’s gone most of the day and when he’s home, he’s in his head and barely sleeps at night. I do not tolerate secrets or meeting up with old flames behind my back.”
“Kendra?”
“Kendra.”
“You don’t think that maybe he’s just hunting Fox?” I didn’t know Wren all that well yet, but I was willing to bet that he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being a sitting duck. No, he was a predator and always would be.
“I know he is.”
I waited for her to elaborate, but she was too engrossed in her phone. Wren had been blowing it up with text after text. When I finally pulled into her driveway, I grew frustrated when I didn’t see Wren’s car. It had been two weeks since their bootleg dinner party, and I was too fucked up then over the way Bee fled that night to get the answers I’d come for. At least now, I had the ones that had plagued me for five years. Shutting off the car, I opened the middle console and dug out the smokes I stashed inside.
“You couldn’t wait until I was out of the car?” Lou bitched.
“We need to talk.”
“Then, you need to put that out.”
“Nope.” Taking a drag, I blew the smoke in her face and laughed when she coughed and frantically waved the smoke away. “That night we rescued your not-so-prince-charming, we had help…”
“Yeah? And?” Her tone was defiant, but I noticed she had a hard time meeting my gaze.
“Who was the shooter?”
“Does it matter? You’re still breathing, aren’t you?” She then gave my cigarette a pointed look. “Maybe not for long,” she added, rolling her eyes.
Releasing smoke through my nose, I chose to ignore that. My body, my business.
My father died from lung cancer, but so what? He could have just as easily been taken out by a bus. I ignored the pain in my heart at the reminder that my father was gone forever and chose to focus on something I could change.
“Who was the shooter, Lou?”
“A friend.”
It was the same answer she’d given that night when she met up with someone. Twice.
Ever and I had been reluctant to let her out of our sight, but we’d learned that night just how stubborn Lou could be. And while Wren was being rescued, Ever and I had been ordered to wait at the edge of the woods where it was safe like some chumps. Before leaving us there, however, she’d pressed a memory card into Ever’s palm and said we’d know what to do if she didn’t come back.
Lou had indeed returned, though, empty-handed. The only explanation she’d given was that Wren was alive and that he was safe.
“Does this friend happen to be Sean Kelly?”
She paused, but then just as quickly recovered. “Who?”
It was all the confirmation I needed. “Tell me how you know him and for how long,” I pressed.
“Sean Kelly is dead.”
My gaze narrowed at the confidence in her claim when only seconds ago she’d pretended not to know him. “How the hell do you even know that?”
“His mother told me so at Thanksgiving. I was there, remember? Nice woman that Claire.”