Page 36

“I ’m sure Alex is behind all of this.” I bit off a piece of bacon as Jayson rubbed a triangle of pancake in a puddle of syrup on his plate.

We were sitting in the hotel café. I’d decided last night, after hashing things out a bit more with Jayson, that I was going home.

There was nothing more I could do here. Plus, I was in danger now.

If I showed my face to Alex or any of his family again, there was no guarantee I’d make it out a second time.

“You should’ve seen the way he talked to his sister.” I shook my head with a scowl. “It looked like he was going to hit her or something until Damian intervened.”

“And Damian is the other brother?” Jayson asked.

“Yes. Damian is Rory’s biological brother. Rory and Damian are Black, but she says they were adopted by Alex’s mom, who I’m sure was a white woman.”

“Oh.” He took a gulp of orange juice. “It just doesn’t make sense though. If Rory knows something or assumes her brothers are behind it, why would she be talking to you and feeding you information?”

“I don’t know.” That’s what I was trying to wrap my head around. It was obvious Rory loved both Damian and Alex, despite how gruff both men were. She seemed like the type to protect her loved ones. Then again, I didn’t know much about her and could’ve been reading her all wrong.

“Well, fuck them.” Jayson set his fork down. The metal clattered on the plate. “I can drive over there if you want me to. Ask which one of those motherfuckers pulled your spark plug.”

“My God, no.” I laughed. “Let’s just get back to Charlotte. I’m tired of being here.”

“Alright.” Jayson nodded, then pushed back in his chair. “Let me hit the men’s room and we’ll get outta here.”

I watched him go as I picked up my coffee to polish it off.

My eyes dropped to Eve’s purse next to my belongings.

I grabbed it by the strap and placed it on the table, shuffling through it again.

I don’t know why I bothered. It wasn’t like anything new was going to magically appear overnight.

I looked through the inside pockets, finding a variety of lip gloss and some coins.

The bigger pocket had a strawberry scented hand cream, a pack of gum with only three pieces left, and hand sanitizer.

I grabbed her wallet and unzipped it. Her ID was still inside along with a few credit and debit cards.

Old coupons were in one of the small pouches, a crumpled car wash receipt, and more coins.

I slid each card out of their slots. One of them made me pause.

This one didn’t have her name on it. Instead, the name was Victor E. McDonnell.

My mind circled back to the night before, the call with Nico and Lincoln.

He said someone else had driven to the cabin.

Could that have been this Victor person?

I grabbed my phone and sent Nico a text, asking him to look into this person next.

He was likely asleep and wouldn’t see my message for another couple hours.

I hoped he wasn’t sick of me at this point.

Jayson returned just as I pushed Eve’s wallet back into her purse. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I stood, about to collect my bags until Jayson scooped them up, slung them over his shoulder, and winked at me. I couldn’t fight my smile.

Sunlight streaked through thick clouds as we left the hotel, presenting me with a slightly brighter day. Brighter day, new beginnings. Perhaps I needed to take that as a sign to leave since it’d been so gloomy the day before.

Jayson walked with me to my car and placed my things on the back seat. Once I started the engine and checked the dashboard, I cursed.

“What is it?” he asked, one brow inclining.

“I need gas,” I muttered.

“Okay. No big deal. I’ll follow you to the nearest gas station.”

I drove away from the hotel to the station across the street. Once again, Jayson swooped in, this time with a credit card and a hand on the gas pump next to my car. “I got you, baby.”

I blushed. At this point, I think he really was trying to win me over. To busy myself, I removed some trash and gum wrappers from my car to toss them in the nearest trash bin. Jayson was still pumping when I climbed back into the driver’s seat and closed the door behind me.

I looked to my right at two men chatting in front of the station.

Then my heart dropped. It was James and Alex Reed.

Alex was frowning as James spoke. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but it was clearly a serious conversation happening.

When James pointed past Alex, he nodded and turned around to march to his vehicle.

I watched him drive away, then turned my gaze to James again, who now had his phone pressed to his ear.

My door swung open, and I gasped as Jayson said, “Full tank. Let’s roll.” He frowned when he saw how startled I was. “You okay?”

“No—that’s the sheriff I was telling you about,” I told him, pointing ahead.

Jayson pulled his head back out to look where I was pointing. When he spotted the sheriff in his cowboy hat and uniform, he ducked to put his head in the car again.

“Let’s just leave it, Rose,” he insisted.

“I can’t just leave it ,” I told him, watching as James made his way to his marked truck. “Why are they meeting outside of town? A person only does that if they’re hiding something.”

“Yes, you can leave it,” Jayson countered. “Let’s just get back to Charlotte like you said. Whatever is going on here is out of our control.”

I looked at Jayson as James’s truck rumbled to life. There was desperation in Jayson’s eyes. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and he wanted me to make this easy.

I gripped the steering wheel. “I think I should follow him.”

“ Follow him? Rose, you’re trippin’. You can’t follow a fucking cop.”

“Why not? They follow people all the time.”

“Rose, come on. You can’t be serious.”

I gave him my most serious face yet and he shook his head. His brown eyes flicked to the left, at James’s truck that was now reversing.

“If you don’t want to come, that’s fine. I can meet you back here in an hour or so.”

“Fuck, Rose. Fine, but we aren’t taking your car. They’ve probably seen it too many times. Come on.” He slammed my door, and I hopped out to follow him to his Lexus.

He started the ignition and put the car in gear, trailing behind the sheriff’s truck. “Can’t believe you got me doing this shit,” Jayson grumbled.

“He’s hiding something,” I said as Jayson pulled onto the main road. “Stay about three cars behind him.”

There was a brief silence.

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Jayson asked.

I watched as he gripped the steering wheel. “What?” I asked. “Tailed someone?”

He eyed me before nodding.

“Yeah. A time or two. Comes with the job.”

“Figures.” Jayson dragged a hand over his face just as James took the ramp that led to Sage Hill.

It was trickier trailing the sheriff now. We were on a single lane road and no cars were between us. Jayson stayed back a good distance. It was smart using his car. James wouldn’t recognize it. James’s left signal flickered and he turned into a neighborhood.

“Keep driving ahead,” I told Jayson. “You can circle around.”

Jayson glanced at the rearview mirror, driving about twenty seconds more before making a U-turn.

“There,” I said.

We entered the neighborhood, but I couldn’t find James’s truck anywhere.

There was no outlet on this road, though, so he had to be around.

Jayson drove slowly, passing several homes where people did yardwork, and children rode scooters and bikes on the sidewalks.

Then I saw the familiar truck. James was parked in front of one of the houses on the cul-de-sac.

Jayson spotted it too and pulled to the curb. We watched as James climbed out of his truck and made his way toward the garage. The garage gate lifted slowly. The sheriff peered over his shoulder.

“Shit,” I whispered, ducking my head. We were a few houses back and I don’t think he saw me, but still . . .

“He’s gonna put our asses in jail,” Jayson hissed, eyes ahead. “You better be glad he looked away.”

I took a peek over the dashboard and James was walking through the garage. Two vehicles were parked inside it. One was a green Ford pickup truck. The other a black Honda Civic with a custom license plate.

“Oh my God, Jayson,” I breathed as the garage gate started to close. I gripped the sleeve of his shirt, hands shaking, body trembling.

“What, Rose? What is it?” he asked, clutching my hand.

“That’s Eve’s car in his garage.”

Eve Castillo journal entry

Forget what I said before.

Alex is sexy, but his brother just came to fix the bathroom faucet, and THAT man is fine. I caught him looking at my butt a few times. And don’t get me started on Alex and his terrible way of flirting. He’s cute though. They both want me, that’s clear.

After Lincoln leaves, I might invite them over for dinner. See which one of them wants me most.

Don’t judge me. I need the escape.