The pounding on the door intensified, each hit rattling the hinges. The sound filled the trailer, a metallic roar that made my ears ring. My heart felt like it might burst from my chest.
I pressed myself flat against the wall, whispering his name like a prayer I wasn’t sure anyone could hear.
The metal screamed under Josh’s fists again, and I flinched, sliding down until I was sitting on the cold floor, the phone still pressed to my ear. He was already moving, the muffled sounds in the background made my fear dissipate slightly.
The trailer felt impossibly small. The shadows stretched across the walls like they wanted to swallow me whole. My hands shook, my body ached, my lungs couldn’t catch a full breath.
But under the panic, something held steady. That tether that had always pulled between us.
Lincoln was coming.
And until he got here, I just had to hold on.
CHAPTER FOUR
LINC
“Linc, where are you going?”
Her voice came sharp, slicing through the dim hotel room like the crack of a whip. The curtains were half-closed, allowing city lights to bleed in through the slit. The glow turned everything a dirty orange: her skin, the sheets, the half-empty bottle on the nightstand. The bed still smelled like perfume, sweat, and something cheap I couldn’t name. She was propped up on her elbows, the sheet sliding down her body, her hair tangled from the hours we’d spent trying to forget ourselves.
I didn’t even bother to look back.
“Out.” My tone was flat, final. I hated the ritual of answering to anyone who thought a warm body in bed bought them a say in my life.
“You’re going to her, aren’t you?”
There it was. The edge of jealousy, the sour bite of a woman who already knew the answer but needed to bleed herself on the words anyway.
“If you mean Kristin,” I said, pulling my jeans up one leg at a time, “yes.”
The sound of the zipper cut through the silence. Her breathing went sharp.
“Don’t you dare walk out that door.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Her eyes were wide, hard, but I could see the panic curling underneath. She’d never admit it, but she already knew I wasn’t hers. Never had been. She was just a layover on the way to where I was meant to be.
“What’s going to happen if I do?” My voice was low, sharp. I yanked my belt through the loops and cinched it, every tug deliberate, final.
“I might not be here when you get back.” She lifted her chin like she was delivering some great threat.
“Make sure you’re not,” I said coldly. “Get your shit and get out.”
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. I grabbed my duffel off the chair and started tossing in anything I recognized as mine: T-shirts, the old hoodie, my razor, phone charger, and my boots from under the bed. I wasn’t planning on coming back. No sense leaving anything behind.
“You can’t do this.” Her voice pitched up, shrill now. She’d gone from smug to desperate in seconds.
“Yep. Pretty sure I can.”
She scrambled upright, clutching the sheet to her chest, and her lips twisted around the line she’d been saving. “What if I’m pregnant?”
I froze mid-motion. Time hung for a heartbeat. I turned. She sat there, smug again, chin tilted like she thought she’d cornered me. She thought that word would chain me to her.
“We’ve been fucking on and off for two months,” I said slowly, deliberately. “I’ve used a condom every single time. You had your period last month, and you just finished it yesterday again.”
Her expression faltered, eyes darting side to side, searching for a foothold.
I shook my head. “If you’re trying to trap someone, you should find someone dumber than me. Get the fuck out.”
