“What’s your big idea?” I asked Miles, eager to get on with it.
There was a time, not so long ago, that I looked forward to Friday nights at Ace’s place. I’d relax, have a beer or two, and maybe even talk a stranger into letting me take her home. Right then, all I wanted was to get Rose back to my place where I could finally ask her what I’d been trying to all night.
Miles dropped the smile and leaned forward. I had to bend closer to hear him. “We haven’t had any luck flushing out Doug. The Riders have been keeping an eye on the streets and he hasn’t shown his face between here and Coeur d’Alene over the past couple of weeks.”
“He’s probably keeping a low profile. Be patient. We’ll get him,” I said.
“I’m tired of waiting. Kinley’s going out of her mind. Neither one of us will have any peace until he’s either behind bars or six feet under.” The look in his eyes told me which option he’d prefer.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned.
“There’s only one thing I can do.” He sat back in his chair. “Kinley and I are going to leave Mustang Mountain.”
The words punched through the noise. People left. That’s what they did. I looked toward the stage until I found Rose. Her head tipped forward as she laughed at something Rae said. She was right there, but so far away, like she was already a few steps out of my reach.
CHAPTER 8
ROSE
Cullen didn’t say a word during the whole ride home. The taste of huckleberry still lingered on my tongue, bright and sweet, a reminder of the way his gaze had warmed over the candlelight. Whatever happened at the bar had him white-knuckling the steering wheel and staring through the windshield with his jaw clenched tight enough to ground his molars into dust. An awkward end to an awkward evening.
I could still feel the heat of his hand at my waist in the crowd at Ace’s, the quick squeeze he probably didn’t know he’d given me. With Callie around, it was easy for both of us to focus on her. Without her, it was just us. Tiptoeing around each other like we were walking through a minefield.
Ozzy greeted us when we walked in. I’d saved some of my steak for him. He scarfed it down in a flash then scratched at the door to be let outside.
“Are you tired?” Cullen asked.
This was the first time we’d ever been alone in his cabin. I wasn’t sure how to act around him without Callie as a buffer. It was barely after nine. Too early to turn in for the night unless I wanted to be up at four.
“A little.”
“Too tired to talk for a few minutes?”
There it was. He’d been trying to say something all night. I had a feeling I knew what it was, and I didn’t want to hear it. But the longer I avoided the conversation, the worse it would be. “No.”
“Want to sit on the couch or out on the deck?”
“On the deck.” I’d never pass up the chance to soak in the sounds of Montana at night. Knowing I’d be leaving soon made me not take them for granted.
“After you.” He crossed to the back door and held it open.
I grabbed one of Callie’s blankets from the edge of the couch and stepped outside. The scent of pine and cedar hung in the air, and I took in a deep inhale as I settled into one of the chairs.
Cullen pulled his chair closer to mine, the legs scraping over the deck boards. Though he hadn’t turned on the light, I could still see the crease between his brows, like it might hurt him more to say the words on his mind than it would be for me to hear them.
“You know I’ve been looking for someone to take your place when you leave next week,” he started.
My damn heart jammed. It skipped a beat then shifted into fast forward. I put my palm on my chest to try to slow it down and waited for the worst. Leaving was the plan. Leaving had always been the plan. So why did I suddenly have second thoughts?
“I interviewed a couple of folks, and…”His voice trailed off, leaving my mind to fill in the rest of his sentence.
He’d found someone better qualified and couldn’t bring himself to tell me how stupid he felt for ever offering me the job in the first place… or whoever it was wanted to start right away and he didn’t know how to ask me to move out early. My shoulders tensed, and I shifted into self-preservation mode. I rose from the chair and gripped Callie’s blanket like a shield.
Cullen got up too and towered over me. “I thought we were talking.”
“Just say it.” He didn’t need to let me down easy. His rejection would just be one in a long line of others that had come before it.
His hands went to my shoulders like he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t run. I stared up at him, my head tilted back in a challenge while I braced my heart for whatever happened next.
