Page 13 of Awaited Love with You (Wasted Love #3)
Double Reverse
Autumn
I ’m sitting at a café that’s two miles away from Buffalo’s airport. My bags are safe and secure on Ryder’s jet, but I’m not leaving until this final job is done—until I can close this chapter and never reread the book again.
Dad
Hey… Why isn’t your stuff here anymore?
Where did you go?
My fingers hover for a second before I tap out the message to my parents.
Ryder and I have some unfinished business in Seattle, so I’m flying out tonight, but we’ll be back to see you soon.
Promise?
I promise.
Taking a deep breath, I call Kylie.
“Hey there!” she answers on the first ring. “I was thinking about you.”
I’m sure you were… “What a coincidence. I was just thinking about you, too.”
“Something wrong?”
“No, but um…” I pause. “I’ve gotten back with Ryder. He told me everything and I think I can handle it.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he flew to see me last night and I’m flying back to Seattle with him in a few hours.”
“With him?” she asks. “Like, you’re with him now?”
“I will be soon… I’m not supposed to tell anyone anything.”
“No, no. Wait. Where are you? Are you at home?”
“I’ll let you know if I need anything,” I say. “I understand you probably won’t want to hear from me, so?—”
“No, just—” she interrupts. “Just stay where you are. I’m coming, please, please.”
“Okay, fine…” I hang up and signal to a barista for another cup of coffee.
Then I wait…
An hour later, Kylie steps inside the café, her hair tossed all over her head. She scans the room, spots me in the corner, and walks over.
Two men enter after her, looking around before taking their seats in the far corner.
One of Ryder’s associates looks up at me from his magazine across the room, sending me a be calm look with his eyes.
“So, tell me,” she says, shrugging off her coat. “What exactly happened to make you just reverse on getting back with him?”
“I love him.”
“You barely know him, Autumn.”
“Do you know him?”
“Of course not.” She waves a hand. “I don’t know anything, really.”
“You knew exactly where I was today,” I say. “You didn’t even ask me which coffee shop or café… You just knew.”
“Autumn—”
“How is that possible, Kylie?” I ask. “Out of the sixty or so cafés that are between here and the airport, you knew I was at this one.”
“Lucky guess.” Her voice wavers. “I assumed to check the one that served waffles since you love those.”
“This place doesn’t serve waffles.” I glance toward the menu board above the counter. “It’s just coffee and tea. No snacks at all.”
“That’s not important.” She shakes her head. “What’s important is that I’ve found you, and you said that he’s going to be here soon? Taking you with him?”
I say nothing.
“You also said he told you everything he does?” She’s unraveling in real time. “Do you want to tell me any of that? Just so I can, uh—run it through the database and maybe see if it’ll lead to other warnings? Maybe I can try to convince you a different way?”
“I heard there are new charges pending that are going to stick,” she says. “That the moment they find him this time, he’ll really stay behind bars for good…”
As she sits there rambling questions that I won’t answer, I take a long look at her—trying to memorize her features—taking in who she is one final time.
The helpful Kylie from years ago—the one person who actually opposed my foolish decision to get married at eighteen—is no longer here, and the love I had for her is dissipating by the second.
My old friend has been replaced by a woman I don’t know. A woman I’ll never know.
“It’s really important that you tell me these things, Autumn,” she says, cutting through my thoughts. “It’s the only way I can keep you safe.”
“How exactly can you do that?” I sip my coffee, ready to end this. “You’re just a regular citizen like me who can sneak into databases with your father’s info. What else could you possibly do to help me?”
She swallows, stalling for the first time tonight, silently searching for a way to slide out of the twisted web she’s woven.
“You don’t have to answer that, Kylie.” I slide a hand into my pocket, pulling out the tracker she gave me and placing it on the table. “I know who you’re working for, and how much you’ve been fucking lying to me.”
All the color drains from her face, and her lips part in shock.
“It’s okay, though,” I say. “I’ve accepted it, and I think—once whoever is listening to this hears how much of a lying, traitorous bitch you are, they might reconsider that promotion you just got for selling out your best friend.”
“Ex best friend.” She hisses. “We haven’t been real friends in years.”
“Good to know that’s how you feel,” I say. “So, from the moment I called you about him, you just used that as a way to move your way up?”
“Where is he?” She narrows her eyes. “Tell me where the fuck he is right now.”
“You didn’t tell your bosses you were coming here, did you?” I look over at the two men who followed her here. “You’re just trying to move up the ladder at all costs, no matter the casualties, right?”
“You’re not the one who should talk about casualties, Autumn.” She leans forward. “You gave up all your friends and family for a cheating asshole, and then you traded him in for a fucking mob boss.”
I arch a brow. “Good to see how you really feel.”
“Where is he, Autumn?”
“Tell me you’re trying to arrest him to get all the credit and glory first.”
“I’m trying to arrest him because he’s a fucking criminal and he deserves to be in prison.”
“With you in the headline as the arresting agent.”
“I’m just a junior agent, Autumn.”
“Until you get him?”
Her silence tells me all I need to know.
I down the rest of my coffee and slide the cup to her. “He’s already back in Seattle. He would like to tell Miss Poole—your boss—that she’ll need to send a crew of at least twelve ambulances to the address on the bottom of that cup.”
“So, he’s admitting to murder?”
“I don’t know what he’s admitting to.” I stand to my feet. “But I’m admitting to you that I never want to hear from you again.”
“As if that matters to me at this point.”
“You’ll regret running low on friends after they fire you, I’m sure.”
“Fire me, for what, Autumn?”
“Wiretapping,” I say, pointing to her device. “I’ll be pressing charges the moment I get back.”
“What are you even?—”
“Don’t worry.” I smile. “The man you called a monster managed to dry out the wires and pull out all the data to prove you were spying on a private citizen. With no real cause… That’s a felony, right?”
“Autumn…”
“Hurry up and report the address on the cup to your boss,” I say. “Since she’s always talking about making prison deals, maybe she’ll make you one.”
End of Episode 12