Page 16 of Until the End (The Lost Letters #3)

Ginny

“ D id you do it?”

I freeze at my sister’s question. My pulse flutters in my throat as the fantasy of Carson’s body pressing me into my bed, his lips coasting down my neck, filters into my head.

I’ve never had a wet dream before, but since the text exchange with him, I’ve had two.

“D-do what?”

Gia walks across my kitchen with two drinks in hand. I have no idea what she’s concocted, but I’ll need to be careful if I want to keep my secrets. Normally, I’d have gone to Gia the second Carson responded with a flirty text back. But it’s Carson. He’s always been more to me than a best friend.

“Did you talk to Carson?”

Shit. So much for keeping it to myself. There’s no way I can get away with lying to her. She’ll see through me the second the words come out of my mouth.

I bite the inside of my cheek. What do I tell her? How much do I tell her?

Everything, the voice in my head, who sounds an awful lot like Gia, whispers.

I hate that my first instinct is to hide from her.

This is the chance I need to practice talking to her about my life again.

I spent almost two years keeping my biggest secret from the one person I should’ve been able to share it with.

If now isn’t the right time to start talking again, I don’t know when it will be.

Gia gasps. “Spill it. Right now.”

My glass clunks against the counter in her haste to settle on her bar stool. I give her a bemused expression. “How do you know anything happened?”

“Because your face is a tomato.”

I palm my warm cheeks. “Shut up.”

Gia waves her hand in the air as if to say, start talking.

“Right…so I might’ve sent him a bit of a risqué picture of me in my swimsuit by the pool.”

“Shut. Up.” Gia slams her hand on the countertop. “I am so fucking proud of you.”

I giggle. “I was kind of proud of myself.”

“You should be. What did he say back?”

I groan. “It took him forever to say anything back. I thought I’d ruined everything by sending it.”

“He probably had to go jerk off first.”

“Gia!” I smack her arm.

“What? You could probably send him a picture of you in a hazmat suit, and Carson would still need to take care of business.”

“You’re ridiculous. Anyway, when he finally responded, he told me I looked great. It took me a bit to decide what to say next. I thought about what you would say, and then I dialed it back about five.”

“Can I read the exchange?”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Why?”

“Because you’re holding back the details, and I want to know exactly what he said.”

After hesitating for half a second, I hand over my phone. Maybe Gia can give me some better insight into our conversation.

She raises an eyebrow at me when she sees the pictures I sent. My cheeks flame in response.

“I swear, I couldn’t love that boy more than I do right now.” Gia hands my phone back to me.

“What does that mean?”

“It means he wasn’t thinking with only his hormones. This is a big deal for the two of you. Fuck knows it’s been a long time coming, but that doesn’t mean you have to rush into doing anything. You just got out of a shitty relationship, and he has loved you for too long to be a rebound fling.”

“I’d never treat him like a rebound.” Is that really what she thinks of me? And how long is too long?

Gia gently squeezes my forearm. “Not on purpose, Gin, but you do need to think carefully about this. Are you even ready to start a new relationship?”

I take my time with my answer. It should be easy to find the words to explain how I feel, given that I write love songs all the time. Instead, it’s like describing a sunrise while my eyes are closed. I know what colors should be there, but I have no idea how they blend together.

“I’ve thought a lot about my relationship with Wesley since I’ve been home.

He treated me like shit. There’s no doubt about it.

My confidence was in the toilet by our wedding day.

When I saw him with that woman, I wasn’t brokenhearted that he cheated.

I was relieved, actually, to have a definitive reason to leave.

No, my heart was shattered because I spent so long believing that was what I deserved.

The tiny scraps of affection he’d give me, interspersed with the cruelty he’d spew, left me broken down and unable to see who I was anymore.

“The last few months before the wedding, I’d checked out of the relationship.

Wesley was barely around, mostly because I stopped reacting to his verbal attacks.

It gave me enough space to wonder if the marriage was even what I wanted, but because my confidence was so low, I couldn’t see a way out. Who would want a broken woman like me?”

I find the courage to look up at my sister. It takes me a second to realize I’m not the only one with tears running down my cheeks.

“Gin, god… I will always be pissed at myself for not doing more to get through to you.”

A sad smile tilts the side of my mouth. “I wouldn’t have let you. I didn’t let you. I couldn’t let my strong-as-hell sister see how far I’d fallen.”

Gia wraps her arms around me in a tight squeeze. We hold on to each other until our tears dry up and we’re sniffing to get ourselves back in control. We both take fortifying sips of our drinks.

“Okay, back to Carson,” Gia prompts. “I think talking to him should be your first step. I’m not saying you can’t fuck each other’s brains out right after, but it would be good to chat before.”

My eyes bug out as I choke on my drink. “Gia!”

She cackles at my embarrassment. “Hey, I have no doubt he can make you forget your own name if you give him the chance.”

“I do not want to know why you believe that.”

“Call it a sex sense.” She winks.

“A what ?”

“A sex sense. Like a sixth sense but for orgasms.”

I face-palm while I try and fail not to laugh at Gia’s ridiculousness.

My cell vibrates on the counter, interrupting our laughter. “Hey, Daren. What’s going on?”

“Mind if I come over to talk? I got a report back from my guys on the break-in. ”

Well, that calms me down in a hurry. “Of course.” I hang up the phone and fill Gia in on why Daren’s coming over.

A few minutes later, he comes striding into the kitchen through the garage door. His black T-shirt stretches tight across his broad chest. Gia’s eyes devour the show of muscles, and I raise an eyebrow at her.

What? Her expression asks.

Stop checking out my employee.

Why? He’s yummy.

I roll my eyes and turn to Daren.

“Sorry to interrupt, Miss Ginny. Good to see you, Miss Gia.”

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Daren.” Gia’s grin is wolfish, full of flirty desire. I’ve always admired how confident she is in her sexuality.

Daren’s cheeks darken while a bashful smile peeks its way out.

His demeanor straightens when he looks over at me, his brain switching back to work mode.

“My guys just called to give me their report. We believe you have a stalker. This wasn’t an ordinary break-in.

The place was destroyed, which is why it took so long to figure it out.

None of your valuables were taken, but some of your clothes were missing. ”

“What kind of clothes?” Gia asks as if she already knows the answer. I frown at the two of them.

Daren’s body tenses. “Your underwear drawer was almost empty.”

My stomach drops, and I have to press my hand to my mouth to keep from vomiting. Someone violated every inch of my privacy. I feel dirty.

“Did her security camera pick up anything?”

Thank god Gia is still levelheaded.

Daren shakes his head. “The cameras were turned off, and the system was disarmed. ”

“How’s that possible? She has some of the best security money can buy.”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out now.

My first priority was to figure out a motive.

Now that I know their goal, we can figure out how they did it.

We’re doubling your security here. The paps have diminished significantly, but all it takes is one determined photographer to get through and we’ll have an issue on our hands.

I also want you to talk to your assistants.

It’s only a matter of time before the police leak the story.

I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten out already. ”

“Right now, they think it’s a random break-in. Once they piece it together, that it’s both a stalker and related to Ginny, the rags will be all over it,” Gia says.

Daren nods in agreement. “I’m sorry this was the update, but now that we’ve got more information, I’ll be able to protect you better.”

“Thank you for your diligence on this, Daren. I really appreciate you taking this threat seriously.”

“Just doing my job. I’ll let you know when we get any further information.” Daren leaves through the garage.

“I think this calls for another round.” Gia grabs our glasses.

“Or five,” I murmur.