“Do you love her?” Jubilee asked suddenly.
He didn’t need to ask who she meant. “Yes. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters. Have you told her how you feel? Because she feels the same.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know?”
“You know, when you’ve been kept in a bubble your entire life, you tend to pay attention to other people. You don’t have any interesting stories about yourself, so you have to discover someone else’s.” Her smile was bittersweet. “Point being, I saw the way she looked at you at the party last night. It was obvious to anyone with working eyeballs.”
That made him groan. He dropped his face into his hands. “I’ve fucked it all up, Jubi.”
“Come on, tell me. I’ve seen Harrison, Caleb, and Mark all screw up with their soulmates and look at them now. They figured it out.”
That doesn’t mean I will.
He told her about Sergeant Loyd’s offer, about how last night had made him sure it was the right decision. He told her about his fight with Rose, how things had fallen apart. He didn’t tell her about Johnny, although the thought of what Rose had gone through—and the fact that he’d added to her burden—only made him feel worse.
He needed to talk to her. He couldn’t be the right guy for her, but he’d made her a promise to keep her safe.
“Love sucks,” Jubilee said, “but it also makes you a better person. I’ve seen how you are around Rose. We all have. It’s like you’ve come back to yourself.”
“I’ve always been myself.”
She shook her head. “When you came back last year…you weren’t the older brother I’d known. I knew you wouldn’t be—it’d been so long since you’d really been home. But sometimes I couldn’t find that person in you still. Does that make sense?”
“You’re not the little girl I left behind, either.”
“I hope not. I haven’t been a little girl in a long time.”
Looking at Jubilee, he knew she spoke the truth. He’d returned to Fair Haven a shell of a man, but Rose? Rose had awoken a purpose within him, and she’d loved him despite everything he’d done. He swallowed, a lump in his throat.
Maybe I can make a life here. Maybe I can be the man Rose thinks I am.
It was a heady thought, and one he wanted to make happen more than he’d ever wanted anything.
“You’ll find a way. Just tell Rose you’re sorry.”
He smiled. “How do you know it’s my fault?”
“It’s always the guy’s fault.”
He challenged that, and they bickered like siblings until they were both laughing.
“How do you know so much about love?” Seth couldn’t help but ask. He watched Jubilee’s cheeks turn red. “Is there somebody you like?”
“I’m not telling you that.”
“Hey, that’s not fair. I told you everything.”
Jubilee opened her mouth to reply when someone banged on the front door. They both jumped at the sound.
“Seth! Open up! It’s Heath! Rose is missing.”
Seth wrenched open the door to see a red-faced, panting Heath, his eyes wild with panic.
“It’s Rose,” he said again. “She’s not answering her phone, she isn’t home, and she sent me this text.” He showed Seth his phone, which had a single text from Rose: I’m at Sanditon Pass.
“Why the fuck would she go there…?”
The two men both stared at each other when they realized the exact reason why. The blood drained from Seth’s face.
“Johnny.”
“What is it? What’s happened?” Jubilee took in their faces and turned pale. “You guys are scaring me.”
“Jubi, call Caleb. Tell him I need him to get a team to go up to Sanditon Pass.”
She frowned, but at his determined expression, she didn’t balk. And Seth didn’t have time to explain.
Rose was in danger. Had Johnny taken her? His mind whirled, but his soldier’s training kept him calm. After he gathered his gun and enough bullets for an hours-long gunfight, he headed out.
“Wait!” Heath grabbed his arm. “I’m coming with you.”
“Stay here. Find Caleb, and take Jubi with you. She can help.”
Heath looked like he wanted to protest, but sensing he would lose that battle, he nodded tightly.
“Go get my sister, Thornton,” he said, his eyes flashing. “Otherwise I’ll find you and shoot you myself.”
“If I don’t find her, I’ll be begging you to shoot me.”
Chapter Nineteen
After Johnny left her, Rose took in the room, looking for any means of escape. There was no furniture, nothing to use as a weapon to get the zip ties loose. Rose struggled for a while, until she realized all she was doing was hurting herself in the process.
She forced herself to stay calm. She’d texted Heath her location, and she knew her brother would move heaven and earth to find her. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, in and out.
What would Seth do? Sitting in this prison cell, tied up and terrified, she felt all of her feelings of anger and grief toward Seth melt away. She wanted to see him one last time because no matter what, she loved him. What if she never got to tell him how much she loved him again?
She choked back a sob at that thought. She couldn’t devolve into panic, or she would never get out of this alive.
Johnny had used zip ties on her wrists and her ankles, tying each ankle to the chair itself. Years ago, she’d taken a brief self-defense class, and she forced herself to remember what they’d learned about getting out of zip ties. Her mind was so dizzy with fear, though, that it took her some time to calm herself enough to think clearly.
Think. Don’t let him win like this, Rose.
She remembered practicing, how it had taken her a bunch of tries, but she’d finally broken free of the zip-ties during the class. Thinking back to that experience, she leaned down and took the free end of the zip tie and bit down to tighten it as much as she could around her wrists.
Then she lifted her hands up and brought them down quickly against her stomach.
Nothing. The zip tie hadn’t budged.
She tightened it again with her teeth and when she brought her hands down, she did it with more force, to the point that she almost tipped herself over. She was able to steady herself, but it had been a close call.
“One more try. You can do this,” she muttered to herself.
Tighten; lift your arms; bring them down and flare your shoulders to break the zip tie.
With a gasp, she felt the zip tie break. It fell into her lap, and within moments, she had gotten herself free from the chair.
She wished Seth could see her. She smiled, thinking about how he’d react when she told him how she’d gotten free.
She didn’t move toward the window just yet. Listening, she could hear Johnny talking to somebody further inside the cabin, and she heard booted footsteps.
If she waited too long, he would find her and she’d never escape.
The window, to her relief, was easily pushed open. She had to rip through the screen, which took longer than she would’ve anticipated. Her palms became sweaty when she finally had a hole big enough to climb through.