Page 16 of Snake Eyes (Out of His League #2)

Joey points at his companion. “Tyler here—you remember Tyler?—said he stopped here a few days ago.”

Tyler . Fuck. I thought I recognized the guy from somewhere , but the mention of his name was the final piece of the puzzle. “The Tyler I met at your work’s summer party last year.” I’d had more strawberry frosés than I should have, but now I remembered him.

“That’s the one.” Joey props a seemingly casual elbow on top of the station wagon. “He mentioned he’d seen you working here, which is kinda funny seeing as you disappeared after you wrecked my fucking Mustang .”

Oh. Oh shit, yeah. I did do that. I try and look surprised, squeezing out everything I can remember learning in fifth grade drama. “I’ve never even driven your Mustang,” I reply vehemently.

“Don’t bullshit me, Charlie,” he spits through clenched teeth, closing the gap between us. He points a finger at me. “I’m not stupid. I know it was you, you conniving fucking bitch.”

I drop the shitty acting, emptying my face of emotion as I glare at him. “I have no idea what you mean.”

My monotone answer only makes him more furious. “Do you know how much money it’s going to cost to get it repaired?”

“I genuinely couldn’t give less of a fuck if I tried.”

Anger hardens Joey’s sharp features, his gaze dipping down to the plant pot in my hands. The plant pot I want to give to Garrett. “This is all about those goddamn plants.”

The derision in his eyes sets me aflame. “The plants I loved ,” I snap, roaring emotion raising the pitch of my voice.

“Nobody gives a shit, Charlie. They were plants. They meant nothing .”

“They meant everything to me,” I yell back furiously.

“That Christmas cactus was the only thing I had left of my Nonna and you still fucking stomped on it because you were angry I asked you to do your fair share of chores around the house. Do you understand how absolutely fucking pathetic that is?” I gesture wildly at Tyler, watching the two of us arguing like a man surprised to find himself as the umpire at a tennis match, his eyebrows about to disappear into his hairline.

“Does your friend know how much you bitch and moan when you’re asked to pick your dirty underwear off the floor like you’re a fucking child?

Instead, you take your anger out on something I loved, something that meant everything to me, because you can’t stand not getting your own way. ”

Joey’s features tighten, pulsing with anger. “Give me this,” he seethes, snatching at the plant pot in my hands.

“ No !” I shriek, clutching the pot from the top and bottom as he wraps his enormous hands around the middle. My feet slip on the frost-laden surface as I fight to stay upright, leveraging my weight against his strength.

A snarling shadow leaps toward us. Panic seizes me, my mind awash with the constant bear sightings around the town—but then I blink, and I realize it’s not a bear at all.

It’s Hunter .

His huge canines clamp shut around Joey’s arm—and suddenly I’m falling backward as Joey releases me. The blacktop rushes up to smack my ass against the soundtrack of Joey’s yelling and Hunter’s growling. I grunt at the impact, a spattering of loose soil falling over me.

When I look up, I see Joey has retreated several paces, white-faced with shock and cradling his arm. Hunter, on the other hand, stands over one of my sprawled legs with his hackles raised, fiercely barking at Joey.

“ Hunter ?” The shout comes from across the square, and from between the parked cars I see Garrett rushing out of Shane’s Diner. He jogs in our direction, vanishing from my line of sight.

A warm, wet sensation scrapes across my cheek. Hunter— Hunter —is licking my cheek. I catch sight of brown smudges on his tongue, likely the remnants of my costume makeup. Daringly, I reach up to stroke his fluffy head, my heart fluttering with delight when he wags his tail.

“Charlie,” Garrett exclaims as he rounds the corner onto the Snake Eyes’ parking lot.

His pace quickens, the ground disappearing beneath his powerful strides.

He aims an accusatory glare at Tyler and Joey, the latter inspecting his apparently uninjured arm.

“You okay? What happened?” he asks me, pulling me back up onto my feet.

“Your dog fucking bit me, man!” Joey shouts, but Garrett ignores him.

“I’m fine.” I brush a hand over my ass to unearth some of the rock salt embedded there. “I was just telling Joey what a piece of shit he was. He tried to grab this plant but Hunter kindly persuaded him to let go.”

Garrett’s eyes widen—before molten fury invades them. “Joey as in your ex?”

“That’s the one.” He goes to move toward Joey, but I swing my arm over his ribs to keep him in place. “But he was just leaving.”

Joey snorts. “I’m not going anywhere until I get what I came for: payment for my ruined Mustang.”

“Nobody gives a shit, Joey,” I say, mimicking his tone from earlier. “It’s just metal. It means nothing .”

His nostrils flare as he draws in a sharp breath. “I’m not kidding, Charlie. You cost me ten fucking grand.”

“ Karma cost you ten grand, but let’s just talk it out for a moment to see who owes who money.

” I sink my hands into the dip in my waist, comforted by the presence of Garrett on one side of me and Hunter on the other.

“You destroyed my plant room—do you have any idea how much some of those plants were worth?”

Joey rears back slightly, his brows pulled downward.

“Let’s start with my Nonna’s cactus. At the size it was, it would have brought in a few hundred bucks—although to me it was fucking priceless.

That plant in the corner next to my chair?

That was a mature Anthurium Heinz. A small version of that plant sells for two-and-a-half grand, so let’s add that to the list. A variegated Monstera Mint; that’ll be another couple grand.

A jade plant that was taller than I am: another few hundred.

Same with my Agave White Rhino. A Nepenthes edwardsiana.

An Anthurium Bloodmoon. A variegated maharani, for fuck’s sake.

All grown from cuttings . Look up their damn prices—and you best believe I have receipts and photographic evidence of their growth.

” Hell, my phone’s camera roll is effectively just plants, plants, and more plants.

“And that’s without mentioning my bonsai trees, the orchids, the hoyas. Jeez, even the grow light—”

“ I get it ,” Joey yells, his hands swiping through the air and his words echoing around the parking lot.

“Watch your tone.” Garrett’s voice is a low, dark rumble.

I approach Joey, feeling stronger with every step. “You get your money after I get mine, Joey—or we call it even, say a final farewell, and you fuck off back to Long Lake. Your choice.”

The tension falls away from Joey’s shoulders as he exhales, his gaze hopping from Tyler to Garrett to me. “Fine,” he says softly, the rage in his eyes slipping away. “I guess we’re even.”

I step back until I’m out of the way of the station wagon.

Tyler goes to get in, but Joey remains where he is.

The lines in his brow deepen, his gaze growing heavy with something that resembles old affection, until its weight forces him to look away.

“I’m sorry for what I did to your plant room,” he mumbles, a muscle beating in his jaw.

“It was a shitty thing to do, especially to someone I loved.”

“It was,” I agree. Bittersweet memories roll through me, reminders of early in our relationship—when we made each other happy instead of miserable. And for their sake, I’m glad our last words weren’t in anger. “Drive safe.”

Perhaps Joey sees them too, because he gives me a sad smile before getting back in the station wagon.

I can almost hear this chapter of my life closing as I watch the station wagon pull out of the Snake Eyes’ parking lot. When I’d packed a bag and left our apartment, we hadn’t said a goodbye. The moment was so quiet it almost passed us by .

Now, though, I feel unexpectedly sad, knowing that this is the last time I’m going to see him—and that it might not be the only chapter that’s closing tonight.

Garrett’s warmth presses against my back. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asks quietly.

I turn to face him, my hands still clasped around the plant pot sandwiched between us. It’s missing a little soil, but the tiny plant is still in place, its roots dug deep. Shane is nowhere to be found, but Hunter sits at Garrett’s side, ever loyal. “I need to talk, but not about Joey.”

Joey’s chapter is closed—but Garrett’s isn’t.

His eyebrow cocks quizzically.

“I, um, I wanted to give you this.” I hold out the plant pot, trying to control the shaking in my fingers. Best to tear off the band-aid . I’ve been torturing myself long enough.

Garrett’s hands come up to envelop mine, steadying me with ease. “Isn’t this one of the plants you propagated from your Nonna’s cactus? These are the ones you love the most.”

Finally, I lift my eyes, my view shimmering with unshed tears as I push the pot into his grip. “That’s why I wanted to give this one to you. It gives you something to remember me by once…once…”

Garrett recoils as though I’ve slapped him. He moves over to his vehicle, gently placing the pot on the truck bed lid, followed by his rifle. “When will you be leaving?” he asks curtly, presenting nothing but his profile.

“Well, now the party’s over—almost—and I’ve got my car back, I figured you’d want me out of your hair.

I mentioned to Mikayla that you were looking for someone to run the bar full-time, and she seemed pretty keen.

” Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. “But in terms of the date of my departure.” I swallow, trying to stop the tone of my voice rising even higher as I try and stem the tears. “Well, it’s up to you, really.”

His roughened laugh is almost sardonic, his elbows firmly resting on his truck.

My heart thumps against my chest. My breath fogs around me, the cold slowly seeping into my pores like dread.

Garrett exhales, his head hanging between his shoulders.

He mutters a word, but it’s too quiet for me to hear.

The seconds tick by, my heart beating faster and faster—until, finally, he shoves himself away from his truck, steely resolve etched into his features.

“Fuck it,” he snarls, crossing the distance between us.

I gasp as his lips descend on mine with desperate urgency.

The heat of his body envelops me, chasing away the chill in the air—but a second later, it’s gone, and Garrett lets out a throaty rumble as he yanks his leather jacket off and pulls it over my shoulders.

The combination of sudden warmth and Garrett’s scent is so good I almost moan.

Garrett seizes my face between his huge hands, forcing me to look in his eyes. “I don’t want to remember you , Charlie baby,” he bites out. “I want you here . Where you belong.”

If he wasn’t holding onto me, I know for a fact my knees would have buckled. “ What? ”

“I know it’s selfish of me. I know you want to go home to Calgary, but goddammit I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t ask. Stay .”

I don’t know whether to cry or laugh or collapse in sheer relief. “Thirty seconds ago I was trying to hold back my tears because I thought you were about to kick me out,” I squeak.

“Never,” he whispers against my lips, before drawing me into the softest, most tender kiss I’ve ever experienced.

“The asshole ex-boyfriend tracking me down didn’t scare you off?” I laugh, throwing my arms around his neck.

He shakes his head, a devilish smirk curving his lips. “Not a chance.”

I purse my lips to stop the spread of my exuberant smile. “I have nowhere to live.”

“Yeah, you fuckin’ do.”

There’s no holding it back then, a sparkling grin unfurls across my face.

“I’m staying,” I say—or at least I mean to, but my voice cracks as it passes the lump in my throat.

I’ve been living with the weight of my inevitable departure on my shoulders for days and days, trying and failing not to let myself fall for Garrett any more than I already have.

But there was no reason to worry.

My eyes well up as Garrett lifts me into his arms, my thighs automatically locking around his hips. Salty tears leave a wet trail down my cheeks, but my smile has never shone brighter. “I’m staying,” I whisper to him. “You’re the home I’ve been searching for.”

He pulls me into an unhurried kiss, his lips slanting against mine in gradual, savoring passes. The aching anguish that’s resided in my chest disintegrates, powerless against the flood of elation surging through me.

Garrett heaves in a shuddering breath, his arms tightening around me. “Then we’re both exactly where we’re meant to be.”

Together.