“You knew.” She lifted her arm, pointing a finger at him. It felt as though her hand wasn’t connected to her body. She saw everything through the haze of heartache crashing over her once again. Only this time it was a pain she doubted she’d ever recover from. “You knew about the checks.”
“Jase didn’t like keeping it from you.” Cole took a step forward but she stretched out her hand, palm out, to keep him from moving closer to her. “He was trying to figure out a way to tell you. He mentioned that Declan hadn’t cashed the checks for a while, if that helps.”
She felt her eyes widen. “You’ve discussed this with Jase.”
“He needed to confide in someone,” Cole said by way of explanation. “It was long before you and I were together.”
“We’renottogether,” she whispered, the words little pokes of a dagger. Her insides were raw at this point, battered and bloody, and yet the hits just kept on coming.
“Don’t say that.” He closed his hand around hers but she wrenched away, trying to gather herself. Trying to make sense of any of this. She felt the heat of his body behind her, although he didn’t try to touch her again. “This can’t come between us. Not now.”
“I trusted you, Cole. I love you.”
As soon as she said the words, she knew they were a mistake. His features went blank, as if he were suddenly made of stone.
“You must have heard I was a bad bet,” he said with no inflection. “You should have listened.”
She drew in a breath, squared her shoulders and met his dark gaze. “That’s an excuse to keep yourself from being hurt, and we both know it.”
“I care about you, Sienna.” He shrugged, ran a hand through his hair. “That’s all I have to give you.”
Care. What an inconsequential word compared to the all-encompassing love she felt for him. Care was a nibble on a corner of stale bread and she was ready to offer the entire buffet—her heart and soul spread out before Cole. She’d wanted to give him everything.
“It isn’t enough, and I don’t believe it anyway. Not after everything—”
“Jase would have told you about the checks,” he interrupted, a clumsy change of subject that made Sienna want to scream in frustration. “Eventually. Or made Declan do it. You shouldn’t have found out the way you did.”
“Thanks, Sheriff Obvious.” Her anger was the rising tide at the beach on a hot summer day. She let it wash over her, obliterating her heartache—at least for the moment.
It was hard to see Cole as anything but the man she loved, so Sienna let anger surge through her heart. The less she allowed herself to feel right now, the more she could handle without a total breakdown.
“I’m sorry,” he said, lifting a hand as if to reach for her again, then dropping it when she took another step away.
“Me, too,” she whispered, her hand on the door to his office. “You’ll never know how much.”
* * *
“Make it right, Jase.”
Cole didn’t need to turn around on the barstool where he’d been planted for the past two hours to know his friend had arrived at Elevation Brewery, the most popular bar in Crimson. Guilt radiated from Jase, hot and sticky, scorching everything in its path.
“Tell me how.” Jase took a seat next to him and inclined his head to the man behind the bar. “Hey, David. Gimme whatever the sheriff’s drinking.”
“Too much whiskey,” David McCay, the bar’s owner, said quietly.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cole saw Jase nod. “Sounds good to me.”
David frowned but pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels from the shelf behind the bar. “Is there some high altitude apocalypse on the horizon?” he asked as he poured two fingers into a highball glass and set it in front of Jase. “Because it concerns me to see two of our top town leaders bellied up to my bar looking like they just got kicked in the family jewels.”
“His fault.” Cole hitched a thumb toward Jase. “He’s a damn liar.”
Jase grimaced. “Mind dialing down the volume? That’s the last thing I need broadcast out to the town.”
“A coward, too,” Cole added, ratcheting up his voice another notch. “I’m only telling the truth here. You should try it sometime, Mr. Mayor.”
“How much has he had?” Jase asked David.
“Enough that I’m cutting him off after that one.”
