“No, baby, not when I want to shout your name from every rooftop in this town.”
My spirit glowed, and I gave him a nod. He returned one before he slipped out.
I waited for a minute before I followed, and I started to slink down the hall.
All stealth mode.
Only I startled when I heard the movement behind me, and I whipped around to find my mother coming out of her room with a bottle of sunscreen.
I was pretty sure I was painted in guilt with the way I gulped and fidgeted and tried to smile around the discomfort.
Her gaze turned knowing. “While you didn’t hit things off with Brad, it appears to me that you might have hit it off with somebody else.”
“Mom.” I warred with what to say, almost pleading with her to drop it, but I remained frozen as she stepped forward and set her hand on my cheek.
“The only thing I want is for you to be happy, Dakota. Fully happy and fulfilled. I pray every day that this life gives you everything you deserve. That you find the one who makes your heart and body sing, holds you up when you need uplifting and cheers you on when you’re standing fine on your own. And I’m not blind…I know your heart made its pick a long, long time ago.”
Uneasiness wobbled through my being. I thought to deny it, but what was the use?
It was already written all over me.
I was marked by it.
Scarred by it.
Held by it.
Tender eyes flicked over my face. “And I love that boy like my own son, but I also know there is something in his life that is far more complicated than he lets on. And more than that, there is a pain…a fear there,” she corrected, “that scares me. And I won’t ever tell you what to do, but I will ask that you be careful.”
My nod was shaky against her hand.
She stared at me for a beat before she pulled away and walked to the end of the hall. She paused to look back. “And for the record, your brother doesn’t get to decide who’s good enough for you. Only you can decide that.”
Without saying anything else, she disappeared around the corner, leaving me standing there trembling against the wall.
THIRTY-SEVEN
RYDER
Hatred clawed through my spirit, squeezing it in a fist as I stared at the bastard who sat in that same chair where he’d sat doling out my sentence for so many years. Where he’d wielded his power, twisting me up in a seedy grip of manipulation.
I shook with the brutalness of it. At the lengths he’d gone to keep me under his thumb. The sins he’d piled on top of me like they were my own when I’d wanted to get out from beneath them for so long.
It was time.
Fucking time.
“Have it ready by next Tuesday night. Marc and I will be at the safehouse at midnight.”
Agitation lifted a sheen of sweat on my skin, and I did my best to keep the anxiety from showing. I had to play it cool. It was just another job out of hundreds of others that I’d done for him. I couldn’t give him any indication otherwise. I was dead if I did.
“I’ll be there.”
Dare rocked back in his chair, a smirk lighting on his pompous face. “So agreeable.”
Air puffed from my nose. “Don’t see much of a point in arguing it.”
“Easy money in your pocket, Ryder. Not sure why you ever did in the first place. I’ve always taken care of you.”
He said it with zero conscience. Like he really didn’t see a problem with it. Like he was the one doing me a solid.
Like any of this was okay.
Amelia’s face flashed through my mind.
Grief over her fate.
That hatred burned hotter, singeing my skin. I had to grit my molars to keep from reaching across the desk and wrapping my hands around his throat until the life drained out of him.
But I had to be patient.
Play this right.
My shoulder lifted like I didn’t give a fuck. I couldn’t act too compliant, either. “Just want to get the fucking job done and over with. Have other things at the shop I want to be focused on.”
He laughed a sound of disbelief. “Fucking waste of time, but I guess your hard work provides a good cover, so I’m not gonna complain.”
I wanted to tell him to fuck off. Remind him it was something I’d built. With my own hands. It was one of the things I was most proud of.
He was the one who’d swooped in and used it in his favor, seizing it as his own opportunity.
But that shop was mine.
The art was mine.
Dakota was mine.
And this time, I wasn’t going to let her go.
THIRTY-EIGHT
RYDER
TWENTY-SIX YEARS OLD
Country music blared from the speakers as the band played from the stage at Mack’s.
Mack’s used to be a giant barn that had been converted into the bar that half the town of Time River had to be crammed into tonight. People were packed wall to wall, taking up the huge dance floor in the center of the cavernous space. Not a single one of the high-top tables that surrounded it were unoccupied.
Ryder sipped at a tumbler of whiskey where he and his crew had managed to pull a couple tables together. Cody broke through the crowd, carrying two pitchers of beer. Ezra was behind him, carrying another two, plus he had a stack of plastic cups tucked under his arm.
Ryder cocked a grin. “You two look like you have some sort of expectations for tonight.”
Cody chuckled as he set the pitchers down. “While I normally would be taking advantage of an opportunity like this…”
He waved a hand at the women in a line on the dance floor, tossing their hips as they spun and kicked to the choreographed dance. Most of them wore cowgirl boots and were in varying states of dress. Cut-offs and jeans and dainty dresses.
Mack’s was never in short supply of the fairer sex, and it’d become the place Ryder and Cody hung out most. Ezra had, too, until he’d fallen hard and gotten married a couple years ago. Brianna was home with their little girl, so Ryder’s cousin was flying solo tonight.
“Tonight is all about my sister,” Cody finished.
Ryder’s stomach tightened in a fist, though he kept grinning like he was completely unaffected. “When did she get back into town?”
“This morning. Graduation and birthday in the same week.” Awe shook Cody’s head as he slipped onto a stool. “She graduated with honors all while managing a bakery off campus the entire time. I figure we have some celebrating to do.”
Of course, she had.
This was Dakota they were talking about. Ryder wouldn’t have expected anything less. She was crazy smart and crazy talented, and he knew she was going to be crazy successful.
Pride filled his chest, all while it got mixed with something unsettled. This shaky anticipation gliding through his nerves that he needed to shuck.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her over the years when she’d come back to visit. But it’d always been quick. In passing. He’d been sure to keep his distance because he’d never fully squashed what she’d triggered in him four years ago.
Gratitude, he guessed it was. The fact Dakota had seen him when he’d been at his lowest. Pulled him out of the dark place he’d thought he’d be a prisoner to forever.
Lit a path.
The girl a beacon he couldn’t help but follow.
Because of her, he was different. Fighting for something better.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still trapped, so he knew he had to maintain that distance. Go on pretending everything was just fine while his soul crawled with the filth of what he’d succumbed to.
A frenzy suddenly broke through the crush.
Paisley, Beth, and Chloe, Dakota’s three best friends, were pure smiles, tossing their arms in the air and squealing with their excitement as they clambered for the table. “We’re here! It’s party time, baby!”
A smirk tugged at Ryder’s mouth. They were all fucking cute. Living this life the way it should be lived. Happy and free and with a zest that traveled out ahead of them.
“Looks like we’re in for a bit of trouble tonight,” Ryder said, standing so he could give them a round of hugs.