Page 21 of Return of the Bad Girl (Rock Canyon, Idaho 4)

“Fuck your sorry,” Gabe had roared, charging Chase and knocking him to the ground.

Sitting on his chest, Gabe had thrown punch after punch until his sister had jumped on his back, screaming in his ear, “Stop, Gabe! I like him!”

He’d climbed off Chase and grabbed Honey’s arm, dragging her to his motorcycle. Chase had yelled at him, tried to stop him from driving, but he hadn’t listened.

It was no wonder Chase was reluctant to accept his apology, even now. The day after the accident, Gabe had woken up in the hospital, handcuffed to the bed. Chase had been sitting in the corner.

“What happened? Where am I?”

Chase had stood up grimly. “You’re in the hospital. You wrecked your bike last night and broke your arm.”

Dread had pumped through him as he’d tried to remember, to shake the clouds from his brain. His bike, Honey flying through the air . . .

“Where’s Honey?”

Chase’s expression had darkened. “She was stable and talking when they brought her in, but then she started seizing. They missed a bleed on her scans, and her brain swelled. They took her back up to surgery and put in a shunt to drain it, but they aren’t sure if she’ll wake up. And if she does . . .”

“If she does, what?” Gabe had shouted.

“She probably won’t be the same girl.”

Gabe had gone berserk, throwing whatever he could reach until nurses had come in and sedated him. He’d cursed Chase, blaming him, and Chase had left.

Only none of it had been Chase’s fault. It was his.

Maybe moving here had been a mistake. It seemed like any time he was around Chase, memories flooded up and crashed over him.

Trying to change the subject, Gabe asked, “So, Katie, why did you freak out when you heard I was rooming with Caroline?”

Katie blushed. “It’s nothing, really—”

“You might as well give up,” Chase said. “My wife doesn’t like to gossip.”

“It’s not gossiping; it’s sharing intel,” Gabe said, relieved when Chase grinned. If he could just break down this wall between them, he could start mending the rift. And then, maybe, they could be real friends again.

Katie opened her mouth, probably to shoot him down, but then Chase said, “Don’t you think he should

know what kind of character he’s living with?”

Her cheeks flushed, and she slid off of Chase’s lap into her own chair. “Caroline and I went to school together and would have graduated the same year, but she took off and left town. Nobody really knows why, except that she had a falling out with her father just before.”

Gabe didn’t get why that alone would make Katie look like she was going to shit her pants.

“There’s got to be more to it than that.”

Sighing, she continued. “She just had kind of a wild reputation in high school.”

“Oooooh, a reputation,” Chase teased, and Katie smacked at him.

“What kind of reputation?” Gabe asked.

“With parties and”—Katie paused, looking very uncomfortable—“guys.”

Gabe sat back in his chair with a smile. “So?”

“Nothing. I just remember rumors flying a lot where she was concerned and was surprised when you said you were living together,” Katie said, adding, “I just kind of got the impression you were trying to fly under the radar.”

Ah, so Chase has told her about your past.