Page 126 of Running from Drac

Ryder stares at me for way too long before exhaling, pinching the bridge of his nose like he’s trying to rein himself in.

“Amber,” he says finally, voice softer but still rough. “Don’t ever fuckin’ do that to me again. Don’t put me in his shadow. I’m not Eddie. I’ll never be Eddie. But if ya give me a fair go, I’ll never do ya dirty like that. Not with ya mate, not with anyone.”

His hand finds my chin, tilting my face up. His eyes are still stormy, but there’s a steadiness there now too, something that makes my chest ache.

“You hear me?” he murmurs, grip firm under my chin. “I’ll fuck up, sure. But not like that. I’ll be the one bloke you can trust.”

I swallow hard because the promise sounds so good—so tempting. But trust is exactly what shattered me in the first place.

“I don’t know if I can believe anyone anymore,” I admit, voice breaking.

“Then let me prove it,” Ryder says, thumb brushing away a tear. “One day at a time, love.”

The room is quiet again after Ryder’s speech. It’s still heavy, but softer, as if the storm between us has finally settled. At some point I drift off, tangled in sheets drenched in our sweat, my body wrecked and my mind too overloaded to stay awake.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Eddie

I drive until my tires scream, rubber melting against asphalt as I tear through the streets of Reno, racing against the clock, against fate, against death itself.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Every second feels like it’s carved from bone. The city lights blur past me in a smeared haze of red and gold, and as I approach Rattlesnake Mountain, a jagged black silhouette in the night, dread coils around my chest like barbed wire.

The road narrows. I shift into four-wheel drive and slam through the barriers like they’re paper, the truck rattling over dirt and loose gravel as I charge up the steep incline. Dust rises like smoke in my rearview, and more than once I come within inches of tumbling over the side, the mountain threatening to swallow me whole.

But I won’t stop.

I can’t.

Not until I stop her.

All I have to do is get there before she jumps…

My tires screech to a halt the second I reach the top of the mountain, headlights illuminating her back, her hair blowing furiously in the breeze as she wraps her arms around herself tighter, like she’s the only thing holding herself together.

“Don’t come any closer!” Pippa screams, backing dangerously close to the edge as I throw open my door and start moving toward her.

“Pippa, what the fuck are you doing?”

Her bare shoulders tremble beneath the pale moonlight, and her voice is frantic, cracking like dry glass. She tugs at her hair, almost like she’s trying to pluck out every strand, a coping way to pick through her guilt.

“You’re being stupid right now. Back away from the edge of the cliff and let’s talk about this.”

Her hands shoot up in protest. “Come any closer and I’ll jump, Eddie. Don’t think I won’t.”

I lift my hands as I step slowly out of the truck, my boots crunching on the gravel so loudly it sounds like a continuous echo. “Okay. I’m not moving. I’m just… I’m just here to talk.”

She glances back at me with wide, broken eyes. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“You called me!” I argue, throat tightening with worry. “Youwantedme here.”

She sways slightly as the wind rips across the peak, her thin dress billowing around her legs. “I didn’t think you’d come,” she says softly, her voice barely audible above the wind. “Not after what I did. Not after I ruined everything.”

“You didn’t ruin—”

“I DID!” she shrieks. “Amber’s gone because ofme.Because I couldn’t fucking keep my hands to myself. You hate me now.I see it in the way you look at me. Do you remember when you used to look at me like you look at her? It was before I introduced you two, before everything changed. Now look at us. You fucking hate me and wish I was dead.” Her voice fractures at the end as she spins back toward the drop, toes kissing the edge. My heart slams against my ribs.