Every turn I take, he takes.Each burst of speed he matches without crowding me.He’s not chasing.He’s shepherding, babysitting, making sure I come back from this ride in one piece, even if I hate him for it later.
As we rip along the waterfront, my throttle hand twitches, urging me faster, harder, anywhere but inside my head.
Every denim jacket turns my stomach.Every thirty-something woman makes my heart kick.
She’s nowhere.
This town spans nearly three-thousand square miles.She could be anywhere.
And Jag…
Satan save me from my own stupidity.Jag said he was leaving Sitka today.He couldn’t have been clearer about it.
He also said he wanted Dove to stay with me.He said it like a promise.Looked me in the eye when he said it.
What changed?
Did he read my journal?Did seeing the worst parts of me make him question my ability to protect Dove?I’m not that broken kid anymore.I survived.I learned.If he read all of it, he would know that, godsdammit.
I ride harder, faster, reckless enough that the bike shudders beneath me.Warm air knifes my lungs.My hands ache from gripping the bars too tightly.Leo stays with me, a constant pressure in my mirrors.
Did Jag kill the guards, peel out of there, and snatch Dove while I was on the pier?Did he plan the decoy before or after he sucked my thumb like a blow job?Was that always the move?Bait me, split my focus, take what matters, and disappear?
Dove told me he was manipulating me.She warned me, and I didn’t listen.
I wanted to believe Jag would read my story and stay long enough to tell me his.I wanted to believe the best version of him was real.
Now I don’t know what I believe.
I only know the streets keep coming up empty, and my chest is tearing itself apart from the inside.Every second stretches too long.Every minute without her ratchets my panic.
I circle back toward the harbor, engine screaming, eyes burning, brain stuck in a loop, replaying her smile, her kiss, and the way she told me to go.
My gut told me to stay.Why didn’t I listen to it?
That thought doesn’t leave.It claws.
I ride until my hands shake, my vision blurs, and the city pushes in from all sides, daring me to break.
Leo speeds up alongside me and points in the direction of the tattoo parlor.
Has there been news?Did they find something?
I crank a one-eighty and gun it back toward the shop with Leo glued to my flank.
The barricades come into view, a mayhem of metal, lights, and uniforms.No way to get close.I ditch the bike and take off on foot, knowing Leo will deal with it.
Monty waits for me at the door.That alone is wrong.
He steps closer, his expression ice-quiet.“There’s another body.”
My brain refuses it.I left before they finished cataloging the scene, but another body?How the hell did I miss that?
“Who?”
“Declan.”
I stagger, and Monty reaches for me, pulling me against his chest.
