He pulled the door open. Clutching the shirt closed, I heaved myself onto the bench seat and slid all the way to the passenger side door. The scraped leather was rough and cold against the backs of mythighs.
“I need to stop by my new place first.” If only I’d had the presence of mind to run toward it instead of—I looked around the lot—wherever it was I’d endedup.
“Newplace?”
“Yeah. Jeb and I. We’re going to be living in town. In an apartment on 13thStreet.”
He slowed at a traffic light. “You are?Why?”
“Because my cousin sold the inn to AidanMichaels.”
August turned toward me, his stomach muscles rippling in the faint moonlight. For someone who’d sprinted through a drenched forest, he looked incredibly clean, barely flecked withmud.
Unlikemyself. . .
My thighs were smeared brown, and my hair felt like dreads. A glimpse at myself in the side mirror confirmed the dreads part. I rolled my hardened hair into a larger rope, coiled it, and threaded the ends through to make ithold.
“You’re kidding me?” Augustwhispered.
“Afraidnot.”
August shook his head as though trying to drive the new information intoit.
“Effective upon Everest’s death. I bet that’s why Liam believes I saved my cousin’s life,” I grumbled. “To make sure the inn didn’t switchhands.”
The wordbackstabshrilled in my brain again. I pressed my fingertips against my temple and massaged it. “Actually, can you drop me off at the inn? I need to grab a couple things. The apartment isn’t exactly move-inready.”
There were mattresses, but no sheets, no pillows, no cleaning products, and nofood.
“Sure.”
While we drove, I took my phone out of the bag. My screen was full of messages. Mostly from Evelyn and Sarah, but one of them—a missed call and a voicemail—was from Everest. I dropped my phone onto my lap, then fumbled to grab it before August could see the name in the notificationbubbles.
“Is everythingokay?”
I blinked at him like a deer in headlights; I hoped I didn’t look like one. “Yeah. Just Evelyn worrying. I was supposed to go sleep at Frank’s placetonight.”
I called her to prevent August from asking me anymorequestions.
“Querida!” she exclaimed, ridding me of a couple decibels of hearing. “You are alive!Dios mio, I thought . . . I thought. Do not do this to my poorcorazónor I will not make oldbones!”
I smiled at the butchered expression, at the love that seeped out of all the Spanish interjections. “I’m so sorry. I had dinner with a friend and lost track of time. Are you still at theinn?”
“I waited forever, but Frank insisted on taking me home. He said you went out for a run with a friend. I do not like you running around the woods atnight.”
I tightened my hold on the hem of the flannel shirt. “I was in . . . in my other form. It’s safer for us at night than during the day. Besides, like Frank said, I was notalone.”
“Are you coming over now? I made yourbed.”
A made bed in a house with Evelyn sounded like heaven. I checked the clock on my phone and cringed when I noticed it was almost ten-thirty. I still needed to grab stuff from the inn, drop it off at my new place, shower, andchange.
“I can be there in an hour. Is that toolate?”
“What sort of question is that?” She sounded insulted. “You don’t think I would wait all night foryou?”
Her words filled me with affection. “Okay. I’ll be there in an hour then.” I added a whisper-soft, “I loveyou.”
Not for the first time, I silently thanked Frank for having placed Evelyn in my life. What would I have done withouther?
