The sky decides to open up, and raindrops pelt my face. I blink as they increase in frequency until it’s a downpour. We’re being cleansed from the bloodbath that has just occurred. Like whatever god exists is giving us a fresh start.
Paramedics rush toward us. I hear someone with an authoritative tone say the scene is secure. I try to roll over to prevent drowning in the rain when I remember the knife in my side. I yank it free, pressing my fingers to the wound. I’ve never felt this kind of pain. It’s like my side is on fire, and I groan.
I almost lose consciousness.
The paramedics try to stabilize me as I see people with dark blue jackets gathering around. They’re questioning and separating everyone. FBI is boldly lettered on their backs, indicating this isn’t random.
Well, fuck.
Storm won’t be happy. I see him on a stretcher. He’s loaded into the back of an ambulance as Bear rushes inside with him. My mind struggles to comprehend everything around me. All I want is to see Letty. I need to know she’s safe.
When I hear her cry out my name, I blink and try to sit up. The paramedic pushes me back down against the grass.
“Stay still. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
But I don’t fucking care. “Letty!” Despite my struggles, I don’t have the strength to fight off the two medics keeping me on the ground.
An FBI agent is escorting her away from the scene. As I watch my girl exit through the gate, I see her mother waiting. Cynthia’s look of disgust sweeps over the lot. I know the moment she notices the sheet draped over Mifflin’s body. A smile forms on her lips.
Wait.
Is she the one who called the FBI? Was she working with them all along?
FUCK!
Her gaze falls on me. I see a loathing that shocks me. What the fuck have I done to deserve that? Mifflin was the fucking problem, not me.
The FBI agent forces Letty into the car as she tries to run back to me. Cynthia joins her, and the door shuts. All I can do is watch as the car pulls away from the curb.
This feels intentional. Permanent.
Letty’s gone.
Swept away to a place that I can’t follow.
I know it even as my blood continues to seep into the bandage slapped over my wound. I’ve lost Letty. And this time, I can’t do shit about it.
Chapter 9 Letty
FOUR YEARS LATER—
The room is quiet. I lay in bed with the blinds closed. Outside, the sun is rising over the ocean beyond my balcony. Soft waves lap at the shore as I listen to the tide crash over the sand and then recede. I know if I step out there, I’ll see an endless beach stretching on both sides of the coast.
But I don’t get out of bed. Instead, I roll onto my side and open the drawer in my nightstand. My gaze falls on the black glove Gage wore the night of the Homecoming dance. It’s silly that I’ve kept it this long, holding onto an object that can’t take me back to that night.
It’s been four years since I graduated from high school—four long years since he held me in his arms. No matter how many times I go over the events of that night, I still can’t let it go.
I can’t let Gage go.
He haunts my dreams. His honey-colored gaze burns into mine, accusatory and angry because I left him. I don’t know what he’s doing or if he thinks of me. We’ve had zero contact.
But he couldn’t find me if he wanted to because I’ve been relocated, whisked into witness protection because of my mother’s testimony against Mifflin, his company, and the Vipers. I still don’t know what she said to get her this deal, and it infuriates me.
Is Gage okay? Do the Vipers think I betrayed them? What about the favor that Ava and I owe?
I miss my best friend. The night the FBI raided the Vipers clubhouse, I was shoved into a car and driven away. I never got to stop by home to pick up any of my personal belongings. The only reason I have Gage’s glove is that I begged Agent Phillips for a list of items from my room.
But I still didn’t get to say goodbye to Ava or Gage. My last memory of him is watching him bleed out on the ground. It took months to learn that Mifflin stabbed him. In self-defense, Gage had to kill his own father. I’m not sorry Mifflin is dead. But my heart aches for Gage.
