What the fuck was she doing here?
Alone.
Immediately, it sent me spiraling back to the first night in Savannah. When she’d been out by herself, searching for a way to erase the agony that clung to her like a disease.
Tonight—with the way she looked—I had to wonder if she wasn’t looking for me.
Drawn the same way I was.
Magnets pulling through time and space.
I leaned toward the woman whose name I hadn’t bothered catching, gesturing with my chin. “That’s why.”
Her attention moved to where Emily stared at us.
The girl winced. “Sorry . . . I didn’t realize.”
She quickly slipped out of the booth, but not before Emily had whirled around and started to push through the crowd.
Fleeing.
Motherfucker.
My guts tangled in regret.
What I needed to do was let her go.
Not feel as if I’d committed a wrong.
She wasn’t mine and I wasn’t hers.
As soon as I thought it, I knew it was a blatant lie.
Sliding out of the booth, I tossed a twenty onto the table and shouldered through the crowd in the direction she had gone.
Something frantic rose up. Clutching and strangling.
People glared as I shoved through, but I couldn’t seem to find it in myself to give a fuck.
One thing on my mind.
One destination.
I caught up to her close to the front door. Knew she sensed me there, the way her footsteps faltered for a beat before she increased her pace.
Hated that she was running from me.
Couldn’t stomach the idea even though I knew it was for the best.
I grabbed her by the wrist. Flames swept up my arm, so intense I was pretty certain my chest seized. She whirled around. Distress twisted her face into a knot of pain. “Please . . . just let me go.”
My hold intensified. “Is that what you want?”
Confusion pinched her face. “I thought that’s what we decided was for the best.”
“It is. Doesn’t mean it’s what either of us want.”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “Why’s this so hard?”
I took her hand, trying to get her to see me. To look at me. Slowly, she opened that mossy gaze to me, looked back in the direction of the booth where I’d been sitting.
“Did you want that girl?” Pain leached into the question.
“No. Not for a second.”
Sadness pulled across her face, and she gently tapped her fingertips over the words stamped across my chest. “Maybe someone else deceived you . . . hurt you . . . but I’m not her. And I’m not sure I can keep deceiving myself about what I feel for you.”
Then she pulled away. So close but out of my reach.
And I was terrified that was exactly where she was always going to be.EighteenEmily“Load ’em up and move ’em out.” Rhys held open the back door of the Escalade that was waiting at the curb.
“Cool your jets . . . since when are you the one trying to wrangle the band?” Melanie arched a brow at him as she handed her duffle bag to the driver, who was loading our luggage into the back.
“Um . . . hello, Mells Bells. Every second we stay standing out here is one second I don’t get to spend with my mama, and that’s just uncool. So why don’t you get that sexy ass of yours into the SUV so we can get out of here.”
“Mama’s boy.”
Rhys touched his chest. “You say that like I’m gonna take offense to it. I think it just might be the best compliment you ever gave me. I’d go down in a blaze of glory when it comes to my mama.”
Melanie chuckled. “I think you might be right, cowboy.”
Rhys narrowed his eyes.
She patted him on the chest as she edged past him. “I know, I know—stallion.”
Rhys gasped and clutched her hand, holding it closer to his chest. “Holy shit. I think the sky might be fallin’. Did y’all hear that? Mells Bells just complimented me and acknowledged what a thoroughbred I am in the same breath. I think it’s gonna be a damned good day.”
“It will be a good day when we finally get to Dalton,” Richard grumbled.
“Then let’s do this shit,” Rhys said, smacking his hands together as the last bag was placed inside and the driver lowered the hatch.
A tremble of nerves rumbled through my body. I glanced over at Royce, who was standing on the sidewalk, hands shoved in his pockets, wearing another of his suits.
Sunshine poured over him. Lighting him up even though I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him appear so dark.
Beautiful and raw and rippling with that energy that grew stronger every day.
“You ready to check out our hometown, Money Man?” Rhys asked. “You should probably know you don’t need to be wearing that suit.”
Somehow, Rhys had convinced Royce to come with us to “check out the old hood.”
The hint of a smile played around Royce’s mouth. “I figured if I am going to meet your mom, I’d better dress to impress.”