Page 51 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

I whipped my attention to him. “How long will it take?”

It was almost amusement that lit on his face as he glanced at Theo.

Theo who stood so close to me, he might as well have been tacked to my side.

Like I was...

I gulped, refusing to allow the thought to even enter my brain.

Silas’s brown eyes slid back to me. “At least three weeks.”

“Three weeks?” I screeched.

“That’s generous,” he said.

Dread slipped into my being, and I pressed a shaky hand to my stomach in an attempt to stop the nausea that suddenly churned.

Three weeks.

I couldn’t stay here for three weeks.

In this town that had begun to feel like a trap.

Too beautiful and cozy to be real. A mirage that would enchant me into carelessness.

“Just make sure when you finish that her car is as safe as it was before the accident,” Theo ordered.

“You know nothing leaves this shop that isn’t mint.”

“Only reason I’m here.”

Silas dipped his head. “I’ll be in touch when I know more.”

“Thanks, brother,” Theo said, putting his hand out in front of him and making a deal like it was his to make while I stood there trying not to completely spiral.

Trying to conjure the words to shut him down.

Once and for all.

End whatever control he seemed to so easily wield over me.

“Let’s get out of here.” That time, Theo actually set his hand on the small of my back to lead me away.

I nearly came out of my skin.

The flashfire of energy that streaked through me at that bare touch.

A rush of flames that chased out the cold.

He turned me around and guided me toward his truck, the man nothing but dark persuasion as he leaned down close to my ear. “Looks like you’re stuck with me for a bit, Pipes.”

And that was exactly what I was afraid of.

EIGHT

THEO

Faint strainsof dance music vibrated from the floor above us where we were down in the small, musty room hidden far below Kane’s office at his club dubbed by the same moniker.