“Addison.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, the torturous pain that voice instilled in me washing overme. I turned and stared into the face of the only man I’d ever loved, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. Ohmigod, he looked edible. Dark jeans, a tight black T-shirt, and motorcycle boots made me want to forget my manners and drag him into my room. “Jake.”
He gave me a tentative smile. “How are you?”
Sad, angry, missing you horribly.
“I’m well.” I crossed my arms. “How are you?”
“Notso great, actually.”
“Oh?” I bit my lip. “Well, that’s too bad. I’m sorry, but we need to go.” I glanced over my shoulder at my brother and best friend still trying to swallow one another, and I forced myself not to swear. “Dylan?”
“Addison, can we talk?” Jake asked.
I turned back to him. “No.”
“Baby, please.”
“Oh, hell no!” I snapped as I wagged a finger at him. “You donotget to ‘baby’me.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. But if you’ll just hear me out—”
Before he could finish whatever he was going to say, Wyatt drove up and climbed out of his truck, and I couldn’t help but smile. He looked gorgeous in his tight Wranglers and cowboy boots.
“Excuse me, my ride’s here,” I lied.
Jake grabbed my arm. “Addie, please. Let’s just talk.”
“Addison?” Wyatt asked as he closed the distancebetween us. “You okay?”
“She’s good, man,” Jake said.
“I’m thinkin’she’sgonna tell me whether or not that’s true,” Wyatt countered.
“Hey Wyatt,” Dylan said, and I gave her a look of confusion. She shrugged. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to work this morning, so I thought I’d stop by and see if you ladies wanted to head out and ride,” he replied.
“That’d be great!” I said, as Dylan said,“Thanks, but we already rode this morning.”
Wyatt looked from me to Dylan and Asher to Jake. “Is everything okay here?”
Dylan stepped forward before I could answer. “Yes. Actually, it’s better than okay. Wyatt, this is my...my boyfriend Asher, and Addison’s uh...Jake.”
“Ex,” I said. “The word you’re looking for is ex, Dylan. As in, over, done, caputzki.”
She smiled a little too sweetly.“Regardless, it’s really good luck that a cop we can count on appeared right when we need to get some information on our case, right, Addie?”
The case. Dylan was asking me to play nice with the guy who’d chewed up and spit out my heart for the sake of our case.
“‘A cop we can count on...?’ Are you high?”
“Yes,” she pressed.
I glared at her. “Fine.” Then turning my own sugary-sweet smile ontoWyatt, I added, “Everything is fine. Thanks for asking. We do need to work on the case, though. Maybe we can go for a ride tomorrow?”
He frowned and turned toward Dylan. “You sure you want to mess with this case? You know how the town is. Maybe it’s best to sit this one out.”
