Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
It left us alone for the first time since we opened.
In the silence, the air grew denser. An impenetrable vapor that clogged my lungs.
I could feel Emery’s spirit crawling through the stagnant atmosphere as she slowly wound through the store, touching different items as she passed as if she were inspecting them before she came to stand at a rack behind me facing away. Her movements were slow as she began to reorganize the pieces that had gotten out of place.
Her words came cautiously when she finally whispered, “I found out after Kane had been shot.”
My heart clutched at her sudden admission, and the tears I’d been fighting all day gathered quickly.
“Of course, I’d known there was something going on with him. I knew he was keeping secrets. I mean, there was no missing that there was something dangerous underlying all his jokes and easiness,” she mused.
Her hushed voice drifted over me like she was inviting me into a dream.
“He told me he had to go out of town to take care of something important, and my gut told me whatever he was doing defined who he was, even though he hadn’t given me access to it.”
She paused while I struggled to find the oxygen that continued to go missing.
“It turned out, he and Theo had gone out of state to get a woman and her son out of jeopardy’s way. It was supposed to be a simple extraction, only the woman’s husband found out about it and chased them. It ended in a gunfight and Kane was hit.”
I could feel her body tremor at the painful memory.
“I didn’t know where he’d gone, and River was suddenly in front of me, telling me that he was injured. Shot. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. What had happened.”
She sniffled as she continued to reorganize the clothing, metal hangers screeching against the rod as she shifted items around.
“We went running to the doctor’s office. The doctor Charleigh works for. He’s in on what they do and treats anyone they bring to Moonlit Ridge. Only that day, he was treating Kane.”
My stomach tightened.
Dr. Reynolds.
The man who’d shown up the night after our accident. I’d known something was strange from the beginning.
Emery breathed out the strain. “I was terrified to find out what they were really involved in, Piper. Terrified that what they do is considered criminal. Terrified by the risks that they take. But how could I ever judge them for it? Assign them blame when they are giving their lives to the greater good?”
A tear streaked down my cheek, and I batted it away.
Slowly, I swiveled around to face her, the sweater I was folding fisted in my hands.
Her face deepened in empathy and understanding, her warm, brown eyes creasing at the sides as she tipped her head in emphasis. “It’s a different life, Piper. One with added fear and danger and complexity. But it’s a good life. One I’m proud to be a part of. And when one of them loves…”
The low toll of a rumbling motorcycle engine suddenly cut through the air, and my attention jerked to the big plate-glass windows to find Theo swinging around in the middle of the road on his bike. He pulled into an open spot at the curb.
He turned his face toward the windows.
I doubted very much that he could see me from where I stood against the far wall, but it felt like he was staring directly at me.
Through me.
Or maybe into me.
Locks of black hair whipped around his obscenely handsome face as he sat at the helm of his motorcycle.
Tattooed hands stretched out to the handlebars and his worn motorcycle boots planted on the pavement below him.
Foreboding.
Menacing.
The most terrifyingly beautiful man I’d ever seen.
“Theo doesn’t love me.” I whispered it like grief.
He couldn’t.
He told me.
His heart belonged to someone else.
Emery pulled her gaze from where she was looking at Theo and returned it to me. “I’ve never seen him this way, Piper. You changed something in him.”
Silence wound around us before she implored, “He’ll hold whatever you’re hiding from. Whatever you’re running from. He adores you.”
Was it that obvious? Did they all know? Could they all see right through me?
I expected Theo to push from his bike and come striding in the way he always did.
But he remained there, the low grumble of the engine vibrating the glass and trembling the floor beneath my feet.
Disquiet rushed through my being. “Is he…checking on me? Making sure I’ve kept quiet?”
A frown marred her brow, and she barely shook her head. “No, of course not, Piper. He trusts you. And even if you went directly to the police, he would never hurt you.”
She glanced at him again before she looked at me. “It looks to me like he’s waiting for you to make a choice on him.”