He didn’t move. “Have wemet?”
I looked over my shoulder at him, fake smile still in place. “Not in thislifetime.”
That made his entire forehead groove. I tossed him a wink as I turned thecorner.
The second I was out of sight, I dropped the smile and hurried to the bedroom my aunt and uncle had loaned me. I shut my door and sidled against it. My heart was thumping so hard it threatened to derail. Liam hadn’t recognized me. I wassafe.
At least, that was what I believed for the next fewminutes.
Two knocks on my door made me spring away fromit.
“Openup.”
I sniffed the air. Evergreen.Not Liam. I turned the knob to let my cousinin.
It had taken his girlfriend almost dying for me to forgive my cousin for being such an ass back in LA. I hadn’t forgiven his parents, though. They’d yanked me out of my life one too many times toforgive.
“I just overheard Liam mention to his buddies that he ran into a hot blonde housekeeper.” Everest dropped into the flannel-covered armchair in the corner of my bedroom. “Was ityou?”
I crossed my arms. “I’m offended you need toask.”
“Only reason I’m asking is ’cause I thought you were planning on holing up in your bedroom until the packleft.”
“Can’t a girl change hermind?”
“Youcanchange your mind, but if I were you, I’d stay the fuckaway.”
“Noted.”
“I’m serious, Ness. Especially from Liam Kolane. He’s cut from the same cloth as hisdad.”
A chill whorled beneath my ribs. “He rapes womentoo?”
“There are rumors…” Everest dragged his long fingers through his redhair.
I hated that I’d just reminded him of his girlfriend’s fate—raped by Liam’s father, Heath…thehorror.
I sat on the edge of the duvet I’d fluffed upon waking, folding one leg underneath me. “Go againstLiam.”
“What?”
“For Alpha. Go againsthim.”
Everest exhaled a rough breath. “I have no desire to lead thepack.”
“You’d rather have Liam leadyou?”
“No.”
Ever since Everest’s girlfriend had attempted suicide the week I arrived in Boulder, I’d softened toward my cousin. His pain, although different, reminded me acutely of my own. Maybe that was why I’d found it in my heart to overlook Los Angeles. Gone was his cockiness, replaced by this oppressive despondence that had turned him into a bit of arecluse.
“I can’t stop thinking about what Heath did to Becca,” he whispered, hazel eyes slickening with emotion. Not many things got to me, but a man crying…yeah, that got tome.
I leaned across the narrow space and touched his clasped hands. “Heath is gone, Everest. He got what hedeserved.”
Even though Heath had died a week ago, the realization hadn’t settled in Everest yet. Perhaps because Liam had decided to bury his father in an intimate ceremony to which only a handful of pack members had been convened. Although brutal, seeing my mother’s body lowered into the earth had brought meclosure.
“He may be gone, but so is Becca,” hemuttered.
