This was getting dangerous. Not just the physical stuff, though that was risky enough. But the way I kept wanting more. The way I couldn't seem to stay away from him, even when I knew I should.
The way "later" felt like a promise I was already desperate to collect on.
Maddy chattered about the tour on the way to the parking lot, but I barely heard her. All I could think about was Wyatt'shands on me, his voice in my ear, the way he looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.
I was in so much trouble. And the worst part was, I didn't want it to stop.
Thirty-Two
Tessa
Work had been so busy, I hadn’t even stopped for lunch. I was back at my house. Colin hadn’t been found, but I couldn’t stay there any longer. And Dani had come back to stay with me when her meetings wrapped up. I missed Maddy and Wyatt. Missed the touches Wyatt snuck in when Maddy wasn’t looking, and the middle of the night sex we’d been having in Wyatt’s bed. I felt like a teenager again, sneaking around and trying not to get caught.
As I locked the clinic behind me, town felt wrong the second I stepped onto Main.
Not loud. Not obvious. Just tilted. Like everything shifted a fraction out of place while I wasn’t looking, and now the whole street was leaning.
I kept my head down as I crossed the sidewalk toward my truck. I could feel eyes on me from behind glass and doorways. I didn’t look back. If I pretended I couldn’t feel them, maybe they wouldn’t be there.
My hand shook as I unlocked the driver’s door.
Cologne hit me first. Too familiar. Too wrong.
“You always forget the back seat,” Colin said quietly.
My scream died in my throat before it ever reached the air.
There he was, sitting sideways behind my seat like he belonged there. Calm. Waiting. His phone lay in his palm, screen dark.
I froze with one boot still on the pavement.
“Get in,” he said.
“Get out of my truck.”
“You can,” he replied. “Or you can listen to me and make this easy.”
I stayed where I was. My pulse roared in my ears.
He lifted his phone and turned the screen toward me.
Maddy.
On the brewery porch. Backpack slung over one shoulder. Wyatt’s truck a soft blur behind her. The timestamp glowed in the corner.
Ten minutes ago.
Everything in me dropped.
“You’ve been near her,” I whispered.
He smiled. “Near is a generous word. Close enough is the truth.”
My body went numb. “If you touch her, I’ll kill you.”
“You won’t. You care too much about surviving to try.”
My breath came fast and shallow. I could hear my own heartbeat. I could barely feel the ground under my feet.
