Just tone.
Sharp. Heated.
And one of them is Peyton’s.
My stomach tightens, spiking into something ugly and combustible. I pick up my pace. Ace had texted me twenty minutes ago.
Ace
Masterson called John. Peyton is there.
I dropped everything I needed to be getting done, kicking up gravel as I sped away from the warehouse. Halway to Blue Skye another message came through.
Ace
She’s back.
Two words that lifted a rock inside my chest. I changed course, making my way to Broken Ridge, anger replacing thepanic. Whoever let Peyton go to Blue Skye alone is going to get torn apart.
I round the porch steps just in time to see Peyton push past John and Pace, her shoulders tight, her jaw clamped like it’s the only thing keeping her from shaking apart. John’s face is granite and Pace looks like he’s ready to explode again at the slightest provocation.
John exhales, long and hard, then jerks his chin toward the house. “Inside. Now. We’re not doin’ this out here.”
Peyton’s eyes flick toward the yard, searching. A wild, defensive look flashes across her face. One that tells me she is looking for a way to run. Then her gaze catches mine and she freezes.
Heat hits the back of my neck. The familiar punch of something I don’t want to name slams into me hard enough to leave my unsteady for half a second. I don’t show it, I can’t, but fuck if I don’t feel it.
She stops dead on the porch steps, curls of dust settling around her boots, face pale and flushed at the same time.
She’s scared.
She’s furious.
She is hurting.
And she went into the lion’s den without telling a damn soul.
“Where were you?” I ask, my voice low, too calm.
Pace snaps his head toward me. “We already went over that?—”
“I’m not asking you.” I don’t take my eyes off her.
Peyton swallows hard. “Out.”
“Not good enough,” I say.
Something flickers in her eyes. Resentment, fear, defiance. They all swirl together in her gaze as she stares me down. “I don’t have to check in with you. I’m a grown ass woman and just because we’ve fucked, doesn’t mean you own me.”
Oh, she thinks she’s walking away from this.
She thinks I will let her.
John clears his throat awkwardly between us when he sees where this is going. “Colter…” he warns. “Maybe now isn’t…”
My jaw twitches. “When, then? After she walked onto another piece of land where she has no business being? After someone sees her and decides to take out their anger for what her mother did on her?’
Peyton’s head jerks up. “What did she do?”
