"Well, that was something." I barely got the words out before I was overcome by a fit of giggles.
Cade and June didn't say anything, just stared at me, and I paused long enough to say, "I can't believe I was going to marry that fucking douchebag."
Cade grinned. "See, Junebug?" he asked. "I knew she wasn't going to fall for that bullshit. That was a stupid ass song, too. Shit, the part about the hole in his heart?" He screwed up his face in disgust. "I don't even have words for it."
"She still needed to see it," June said, smiling. "It was really bad, though. The part where he said he could see into your soul and he knew your soul wanted to be with his?"
I howled with laughter. "That's embarrassing."
"For him," June said.
"For me, too. What was I thinking?" I asked, more to myself than to them. "I was going to actually marry that guy."
Cade grimaced. "Screwing your sister aside," he said, shaking his head. "Any guy who writes a song that lame should just be taken out and shot."
"He's a huge star," I said, my voice soft. I felt numb, detached from everything. I shook my head. "I don't know why I didn't see what a douche he was before. Nothing's really changed. He's always been like this."
"Sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of your nose," Cade said. He reached over and grabbed June's hand, and she patted it, smiling as she looked at him.
The sound of a car engine and the crunch of gravel cut through the evening air, and I saw a car pull into the driveway of the bed and breakfast. It might have been early evening, but I could still see whose car it was, plain as day. And who was stepping out of the car.
I heard June's voice, soft, like it was meant only for Cade. "Speaking of seeing what's under your nose..."
I walked over to the bed and breakfast. Elias had stood there for a minute on the front porch, probably thinking I was still pissed off at him and just not answering, before he noticed me coming across the lawn.
"Hey," he called.
"I didn't expect to see you here," I said. I crossed my arms over my chest. Even if he was looking sexy, standing there in a pair of tattered jeans and this t-shirt that made his blue eyes look even bluer, he'd still been a jackass earlier.
"I fucked up," he said. "Snapping at you, saying it was none of your business. I was being a shithead."
"No kidding," I said, but I felt my resolve softening. Especially now that I knew why he'd been so touchy about his past. I could understand that kind of thing. "You want to come inside?"
"Nope," he said, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Okay, then," I said, taken aback. I guess he was still being a shithead.
"Came to see if I could take you out."
"Like on a date?"
"Yep," he said.
"I don't know." I was wary, thinking about the possibility of being noticed out in town. "I don't think it's a good idea. The tabloids, they've got video of you and me at the hotel in Vegas. I'm sure they're tracking me down even as we speak."
Elias nodded. "I already thought of that," he said. "Come with me. I want to show you something."
"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" River asked.
"Nope," I said. "You'll see in just a minute." Up ahead was the turn off, this little indentation on the side of the road that only fit two cars at any given time. It was just us, given the fact that it was early evening. No one else would be out here this late.
I'd been out here earlier this afternoon.
I turned off the engine, and River looked at me warily, stepping out of the car. When I popped the trunk, she laughed nervously. "I don't suppose you'd tell me if you had a trunk full of tarp and duct tape and stuff, would you?" she asked.
"Pulling over here does make me look like a serial killer, doesn't it?" I said.
"That wasn't really an answer."
"Yeah," I said. "Me and my fucking bum leg, we're a real good killing team." In my head it sounded like a joke, but it came out more bitter than I intended.
River narrowed her eyes when she looked at me. "Do people feel sorry for you when you talk like that?" she asked. "Seems like you get by just fine to me with that bum leg of yours." Her back was toward me as she looked around. I watched her draw in a deep breath, her shoulders rising and falling. "Besides, wasn't it Ted Bundy who kept a crowbar in a cast on his arm? Lured his victims with his injury and his good looks."
"Are you saying I'm good looking?" I picked up a headlamp and handed it to her.
"It's tacky to fish for compliments you already know are true." She turned the lamp over in her hands.
"Put it on," I said, sliding the band on mine over my head.
"Sexy."
"You want to fall down the trail or what?"
"You're taking me hiking?" she asked. "I was kind of thinking dinner, a nice glass of wine, but sure."
"Well, I can't exactly get rid of a body in a restaurant, can I?" I asked. "It has to be the woods."
River narrowed her eyes and glared at me. "Har-dee har-har."
I picked up the picnic basket from the trunk.