Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
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.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“Nico, I need another favor.”
“Alright. I think it’s about time you start paying me now, Rosette.” Nico’s mouth sounded full as I sat behind the wheel of my car. We’d driven back to the gas station in Green Pines to pick it up and leave. “Besides, I’m still working on your last request.”
“Right. You can keep looking into that, but this one is more urgent. Can you go through the Sage Hill Sheriff’s Department roster and find me a deputy who isn’t up the sheriff’s ass?”