Sawyer’s brows came together. Across from us, Bodie bolted upright.
“What do you mean yousawhim in Maine?”
“It was at the gas station,” I sighed, “just before we left. There was a guy at the counter who looked like Cole, bothering the clerk. Probably asking him if he’d seen us. I only saw him from the back, but—”
“That’s impossible,” Carter dismissed. “How could he know where we were?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “But somehow he did. Somehow he always does.”
I’d been dreading this conversation. Not telling at the time felt like outright lying.
“Look, in my defense I wasn’t entirely sure,” I said. “But then I dragged Sawyer out of there, and I saw his car, too. The town’s not that big. He probably figured we gassed up at some point. It was smart of him to go there. It just happened to be dumb luck that we were there at the same time.”
“Sothat’swhat happened,” Sawyer swore. “That’s why you wanted to go home so badly.”
“Yes.”
“Wait, I don’t get it,” Carter shook his head. “If you saw him, why didn’t you just tell us?”
And there it was. The disappointment in his eyes cast a cold shadow over my heart. I’d been so fucking stupid, to start things up with Cole again. And now I wasn’t only dragging them into my nightmare, but I was pulling them in blind.
“Look, she said she only saw him from the back,” Bodie defended me. “She said she wasn’t sure.”
“I wasn’t at first,” I admitted, “but then I was sure. I knew it was him. It’salwayshim. It’s… it’s what he does.”
Angrily, I choked back tears. I didn’t deserve to cry.
“But I was afraid foryou,” I said truthfully. “If he saw me up there, with the three of you? It would’ve been bad.”
“For him, yeah,” Sawyer made a fist.
“No, for everyone!” I countered. “He’d try and hurt the three of you, I know he would, and if he did he’d hurt you bad.And even if you hurt him, Cole would somehow make it all your fault. You’d have hospital billsandlegal troubles. On top of… well… everything else.”
“You’re talking about the bar?” Carter frowned.
I shrugged. Might as well put it all out there.
“I just mean you’ve got your own set of problems,” I told him carefully. “Piling my own issues, on top of everything else you’ve got going? Shit, it’s the last thing you need.”
I saw his head roll back, but not in frustration. He looked conflicted. Conflicted and tired.
“Don’t you worry about what I need,” he said finally. “We helped you because we wanted to. We did it because it was the right thing to do.”
“I—I know that,” I choked. “And I appreciate it, too. But—”
“So he knows about us, then,” Bodie theorized, blessedly changing the subject. “By now he realizes we were with you all weekend.”
“Probably,” I admitted. “Or at the very least, he suspects.”
“Then when he gets here we deal with him,” Bodie said simply. “Odds are, he’ll come to us.”
“Good,” Sawyer clapped his hands together.
“But if he doesn’t,” Bodie continued, “we’re going to need to pay him a visit.”
I looked at him skeptically. “Payhima visit?”
Bodie and Carter had moved to either side of the hearth. They stood there now, utterly motionless, as I watched the reflection of the flames flickering in their eyes.
