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“Probably,” I said. “They won’t be very nice, though.”

“That’s fine, you’re damn near a hard rock band as it is,” he said. “But I think I can play this to our advantage if I can get you out of here for a bit. Really churn this idea that you are an outlaw to the highest order. But I need you not in jail when we go on the road in a few weeks.”

“I give my blessing to this,” Luke said. “You’re a hothead, Jesse. It’d be good to have you out of town while I work this out with the Andersons.”

“I’m a hothead?” I shot back. “Who was it that got into a fistfight at one ofmyshows?”

“Fair,” Luke said. “But who was it that just socked an Anderson while he was standing inside the jail? Not the smartest place to assault someone, Jess.”

“Fine, you win,” I said. “I’m a hothead. But I have to go now. I have something I have to do.”

“What in the world could be more important than your career, Jesse?”

I glanced at Luke, who nodded. I didn’t know how he knew, but I got the feeling he did. Maybe Amber had told him. Of course, I had no idea how Amber found out, so I was still lost. But somehow, some way, Luke seemed to know.

“I’ll be back,” I said. “I’ll call you, Flynn.”

I hopped in the car before he could protest any further and headed over to the Millers’. Getting out, I could see Flynn and Luke in the truck, heading away to wherever Flynn’s car might be parked, or wherever Luke had picked him up.

I knocked on the door and waited until Mrs. Miller answered. Behind her, Amber was sitting on the couch, Tamara right beside her.

“Hey, Mrs. Miller,” I said.

“Jesse, hi,” she said, smiling brightly. “Come on in. We’re about to have lunch.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” I lied as my stomach grumbled at the idea of some of Mrs. Miller’s homemade cooking. “I’m just here to see Charlotte. Is she not here?”

“No,” Mrs. Miller said, looking back to Amber and Tamara for confirmation. “I thought she was with you.”

“Me too,” Tamara said. “She said she was going to go see you this morning, and I haven’t heard from her since.”

“She came to find me?” I asked. “That’s weird, no one told me I had a visitor.”

“You had a visitor?” Mrs. Miller asked. “Where?”

“At the… never mind. It doesn’t matter. If you see Charlotte, will you tell her I came by?”

“Of course,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling out my phone.

Where the hell was she? And where had she gone when she tried to come find me?

Chapter Twenty

Charlotte

The cool breeze was a welcome change to the oppressive heat that August had brought, and on the wind, a hint of the coming fall’s slightly cooler weather. Granted, Texas didn’t really experience fall the way most of the country did. Even Oklahoma had a mild fall and winter, but it was better than Texas. I often wondered if I would be happier somewhere north, where I could actually experience all four seasons instead of four different variations of Hell’s front porch.

Sitting on a bench in the park hadn’t been a plan; it was just where I ended up. I needed somewhere to think and calm down. I vaguely recalled the plans for a park being built in this area that used to just be a collection of trees and dirt, and sure enough, in the time I’d been away, it had been turned into something functional. Swing sets and a playground in the front, a couple baseball fields in the back, and a walking trail through a few trees was what constituted the Louisa County Park. The bench sat at the very front, overlooking it all, and I’d been sitting there for quite a while.

Lost in my thoughts, I suddenly realized I hadn’t checked my phone for some time . I had a terrible habit of silencing it and then forgetting to turn that off. As usual, when I pulled out my phone, I saw that I’d done it again and had over a dozen notifications.

Some were missed calls, either from Tamara or Jesse, which surprised me. A text from Jesse, from just minutes before, askedwhere I was. I decided to call him back rather than text, just so I could hear his voice.

“Jesse?”

“Charlotte, thank God. Where are you?” he asked, sounding exasperated.