“Love you too, mom.”
As desperate as I was to get out of there, I let our last hug run its full, lingering course. One, because I loved my mother. Two, because I needed time to think.
But also, because the unfortunate reality was, that you never really knew when it would be thelastlast hug.
~ 23 ~
HAYDEN
The popcorn wasn’t just good, it was better than promised. So was the guys’ place. I don’t know what I expected, but it sure wasn’t a cute little Colonial tucked into the corner of town. It’s worn brick walls and reverse gable extensions gave it a homey, historic feel that made me feel instantly at home.
Of course, it also helped that they had a huge, stone fireplace. Bodie started it right up, the first time he even suspected he saw me shiver. When Carter caught me staring at it, he gave me a shit-eating grin.
“What?” I asked coyly.
He nodded to the smooth hardwood floor before it, most of which was covered by a soft area rug.
“Plenty of space there, don’t you think?”
“I suppose that depends,” I teased. “Space for what?”
A lot had happened, in a very short period of time. Between the Halloween fight, Cole’s resulting freakout, and the mystery of my missing furniture, there were a hundred different things I needed to reconcile before I could set my life back on track again.
Even so, I’d be lying if I didn’t look at the floor in front of the fireplace and have the same thoughts Carter did. This past weekend had been absolutely magical. Being up on themountain, snowboarding again. Getting so far away from my busy, messed up life, that I’d forgotten anything and everything except where I was.
And now I was home again, my life turned completely upside down. I’d nearly let dogs escape at the shelter while daydreaming about sex. For the next few days I had a long, busy client list at my paying job; yet all I could think about was lying there naked, soaked and sated, in front of that Maine cabin’s roaring fireplace.
I guess there really was no rest for the wicked.
At the moment I was lying across the couch, eating popcorn, the soles of my feet soaking up the fire. There were so many things I wanted to say. More warnings I wanted to give, when it came to dealing with Cole.
“Did you get a copy of the police report to the insurance company?” Sawyer was asking Bodie.
“Working on it.”
“And what about Ford?” he paced back and forth. “They still can’t locate the truck?”
Carter shook his head and steepled his fingers together. “According to them, the onboard modem’s been disabled, or removed entirely. At the moment, they can’t do anything.”
I’d felt sick when Carter’s truck went missing. He’d blown it off as nothing more than an inconvenience, but I could see the worry behind those steady brown eyes. He didn’t need this. None of them did. But when I suggested I call Cole and tell him I’d finally talk to him if he brought the truck back? All three of them had growled the words ‘no fucking way.’
“If you do that, and he really did take the truck?” Carter offered. “He wins. This is exactly what he wants.”
“But—”
“It’s only a truck, Angel,” he assured me. “No big deal. Wherever he took it, it’ll eventually show up.”
I fell silent then, rather than tell him what I already knew in my heart. Cole was too devious, too vindictive. If Carter ever saw his truck again, it only be because Cole wanted him to see it. And when that happened, it would probably be crushed into a jagged metal cube.
“Look, we can’t even be sure it was him,” Bodie reasoned. “We live in New York, remember? Not even an hour outside the City. Stealing cars is a sport, here.”
“It was him,” I said glumly. “I know it was.”
Sawyer brushed my feet as he swept past me. Expertly, he slipped the stem of a glass of red wine into my hand.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I saw him,” I admitted sullenly. “When we were back in Maine.”
