Oh god.Oh god.
Diesel’s next to the truck. He plants his forearm on the roof and looks down through the glass at me. Deep lines mark his brow, bracket his mouth. A muscle tics on his cheek.
He’s never shown me this side of him before.
When I lift my palm to the window this time, he lays his on the other side, lining it up with mine.
For a few seconds it’s just us looking at each other.
The ache inside of me crushes me, cracking me in ways I’ve never felt before.
Stone walks over and Diesel turns his back toward me. Says something in a low tone and walks away.
Walks away with conviction. Finality. Severing the fragile thing we just shared.
I’m stunned, paralyzed by pain when Stone rocks the truck as he climbs into the driver’s seat, dark glasses still firmly in place.
“He’s got some things to take care of,” Stone says as he starts the engine.
I stare straight out the windshield, anger, pain, confusion making my blood feel thin and hot.
My heart saw this coming, didn’t it?
I just didn’t expect it to happen before it even started.
“Take me to see your boss,” I tell Stone, not bothering to hide the thunderstorm that’s building inside of me.
CHAPTER 19
Valor Creek is less than an hour from the warehouse, just a dozen miles from my ranch, but the terrain feels foreign today.
Or maybe it’s my internal landscape.
I’ve never been gutted before.
Stone hasn’t said a word. He drives with complete focus.
I’m glad he hasn’t asked me anything. Or tried to talk me out of going to see Gray.Whoever the hell Gray is.
Stone takes a turn on a road I never use, then hangs a left into the entrance for a private ranch road.
It’s well maintained, almost magazine perfect. Every fence and building is freshly painted and tidy. This makes sense when nothing else does.
If the owner of Lone Star Security is like Diesel, Caleb, and Stone, nothing goes without extreme attention to detail.
“Tell me about your boss,” I finally say as we stop in front of a building that matches the rest of the ranch, but on closer inspection looks newer.
“Grayson Calhoun.”
I look at Stone who still has on sunglasses and wait.
And wait.
“Is that it, don’t you have anything else to say?”
“Ma’am…” he slowly turns to face me and my reflection distorts in his glasses lenses. “With all due respect. I’ll let Gray speak for himself.”
This does not make my mood better. “That’s helpful.”
