So yeah, I don’t need the obituary to spell it out.Jag dealt with Gavin, and I don’t know whether to cry or laugh or smash this goddamn phone into the pavement.
I loved Gavin.Or I thought I did.My feelings are muddy, but I certainly didn’t wish him dead.
Why did Carol send me this text?She’ll get nothing from me.If she’d known the truth about her son, that he preferred men, she would’ve cut him out of her life long ago.
Fuck her.
Jag, on the other hand, probably thought he could keep this from me.
I open our text chat and send the obituary link to him.
Three dots instantly appear.Disappear.Appear again.Pause.Gone.
Nothing.
After a long minute of waiting, I know that’s the only response he’ll give.
I shove the phone into my pocket and grab the nearest work order.Brake pads on an old Toyota Tacoma.Easy and quick.I throw myself into it.Lug nuts, calipers, pads swapped out.When I’m done, sweat slicks my neck and grease lines my wrists.
“I’m out.”I toss the keys onto the counter and meet Chester’s eyes.“Not feeling well.”
He studies me, probably wondering if I’m hungover or just being a bitch.Then he nods.
I wipe my hands, grab my jacket, and step out into the rain.
Carl and Jasper break off from the exterior wall and stride toward me.
“Evening, Miss Rath.”Carl motions for me to walk ahead of him.“We’re taking you directly to the island.Wolfson’s orders.”
“Where is he?”My pulse ramps.
“Waiting for you there.”
Relief and dread swirl in my gut.Wolf hasn’t texted.Hasn’t called.But he’s waiting for me.
Why didn’t he just come here?
Something’s wrong.
And that something is watching me.
I feel him before I glance at the alleyway behind the guards.
Jag leans against the brick wall, rain sluicing down his hair, dripping over his face, and drenching his denim jacket until it clings to muscle.
His dark, unblinking eyes cut through the haze.Lightning cracks overhead, and he doesn’t flinch.Thunder shudders the ground, and he doesn’t twitch.
He just stares.Possessive.Accusing.Like I belong to him.
Part of me always will.
Even now, after Gavin, after all the bodies in Jag’s wake, I feel the tug, the familiar pull toward the man who raised me, hurt me, saved me, and stalked me my entire life.He’s inked into my existence, permanently etched into every fear, every memory.
I hate him.
I love him.
I’ll never be free of him.
