Page 26 of Distress Signal

This man hadhauntedme. Had me questioning over the years if I’d ever find a connection with anyone like what we’d found together on that single night.

A one-night stand wasn’t exactly grounds for a solid relationship, but there’d been something in the air that night. A force greater than us drawing us together—the same force that had likely never let me forget him since.

Did he feel the same?

He looked at me as though he’d seen a ghost, like he’d been as haunted all these years as I had been.

Lane spoke, though his words seemed to come from miles away, snapping the world back into focus.

“Hey guys,” the sheriff said to his brothers. “This is?—”

Finn cut him off.

“Reagan?” he asked hoarsely.

“Hey, Finn,” I said, not recognizing the breathy tenor of my own voice. “I wondered if I’d see you.”

“Holy shit, it is you.”

“Wait…Reagan?” West asked at full volume, reminding me we weren’t standing here alone. That our reunion had an audience. “Like one-night-stand, spun-you-out-for-a-minute Reagan?”

I blinked in surprise.

Spun him out?

Maybe Ihadn’tbeen the only one plagued by memories of that night, cursed to remember.

“Yes, cocksucker,” he gritted out to his twin, going so far as to sock West on the arm. “ThatReagan.”

“What’re you—” Crew started to ask but quickly stoppedhimself. His eyes went almost comically wide as realization dawned, darting between me and Finn.

I wanted to hide, to do whatever I could to avoid the expression of pity that passed over Finn’s face when he came to the same conclusion as Crew—the reason for why I was back in Dusk Valley.

“Fuck, Reagan,” Finn said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

I could only nod and look away, rolling my lips between my teeth and blinking furiously, trying to fight off the tears that threatened.

I knew I couldn’t hold them at bay forever. The dam would break today, likely the moment I set my sights on my sister’s lifeless body.

But I wasn’t going to breakhere. Not in the middle of the fucking sheriff’s department bullpen with too many eyes on me.

“Thank you,” I managed to croak out. “You guys were at the scene?”

“Yeah, we?—”

“We can do this later,” Lane said. “Right now, Miss Lindsey needs to identify her sister.”

“Shit,” West hissed.

I swore I couldfeelthe blood drain from my face and my hands, my fingertips going cold and shaky.

I didn’t want to do this.

“Okay, right,” Finn said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably and looking away from me. These were not ideal circumstances for a reunion, and I hated more than anything that it had to be like this. “We can catch up later then?” he asked hopefully. “If you want to, of course.”

I didn’t answer right away—truthfully wasn’t surehowto answer.

This was simply another thing added to my plate, pulling me in another direction.