Page 6

Kade sat in front of the house, staring at the front door. What was he still doing here? He’d been parked here for five minutes, trying to convince himself to leave.

Jess was probably long asleep. She didn’t need anything. She was safe. She was good.

How many times had he looked over at Jess while she slept on that long drive? How many times had he noted how pretty she was, or the peace that found her face when she was unconscious to the problems in her world. She looked different, and she felt different too. She was more defensive now. More careful. A little bitter at certain points in their conversation. The years since he’d last seen her had taken a toll on her.

But underneath it all, there was still the watchful, sometimes shy, scarred but strong beauty with the surprising wit, and the smile that showed up sometimes when she was happy, and sometimes when she was feeling sarcastic. She was a study in balances.

She was hurting inside. That much was easy to sense when he was around her, but he knew that could change if only she had time away from the things that had been dragging her down.

Females in the Sister’s Edge Crew were like birds who’d had their wings clipped.

Hell, after a couple years in Cold Foot Prison, he felt the same about himself when he thought back to his Sister’s Edge times.

Distance from that place was what she needed. Distance and rest, and space from anything or anyone who needed anything from her.

And that…that was the part that was making it hard to leave.

He wouldn’t see her anymore.

Kade frowned and ripped his gaze away from her front door. He’d left his phone number on the counter in case she needed anything, but if he had to guess, she would want to distance herself from everything to do with Sister’s Edge, and once upon a time, he had been Third there. And then he’d been taken away in handcuffs, and she’d been left to deal with the aftermath.

Jess would probably never forgive him for that. He could tell she didn’t believe him about Samuel being the one who murdered Tanner. Maybe it had been a mistake to tell her.

He eased his foot onto the gas and coasted out of the small residential neighborhood and aimed his truck toward Wreck’s Mountains.