“My uncle’s diner. It’s closed, but we can talk in the parking lot.”
“Perfect. I’ll be there in twenty. Come alone.”
We end the call and, ten minutes later, I’m dressed and in the truck. There’s no point in trying to dodge my security detail, because West would hand them their asses on a platter if they let me go alone. So, the closest I can get to meeting April’s request is convincing the guys to hang back a couple blocks.
Andof course,West texts back while I’m driving, so I check his message at the stoplight.
West: I fucking love you, and I can’t put into words how badly I want you home.
I smile and send a heart emoji because the light just turned green and that’s all I have time to send. There’s no way I’m telling him where I’m headed.He’d definitely tell me to turn around and go back to Hunter’s, but like I said, I feel drawn.
April’s already in the lot when I pull up. Her headlights go dark when I park beside her, and I’m praying I don’t regret this.
She steps out—hair disheveled, oversized pajama pants and slippers. A far cry from the polished version of herself she tends to put out to the world. But it’s a testament of how out of sorts she is.
“Thanks for coming,” she says, shrugging deeper into herCypress Pointe Emperorshoodie.
“I’m here. Now, what’s so important?”
She looks around, exhaling through her mouth, and judging by her puffy eyes and red, splotchy skin, I can guess she’s been crying.
“I need you guys to back off. Pandora understood West’s post about Vegas, knows he’s somehow got eyes on her, and she wants him—wantsall of you—to stand down. Stop trying to track her, stop trying to expose her.”
My head’s spinning. “What the hell are you talking about? Pandora contacted you?”
“Yes, but—”
She’s so fidgety, unable to stand still or stop wringing her hands as she glances around like she’s in Witness Protection.
“April, what aren’t you saying?”
Tears fill her eyes, then stream down her distraught face.
“It was me,” she says.
There are too many different ways I can take that, so I need her to be extremely fucking clear right now.
“Whatwas you?”
She shakes her head, which doesn’t answer my question. “I was upset, andReedwas upset, and I just… I had to do something.”
My stomach twists in knots, and the only sound is that of the occasional car passing by my uncle’s diner.
“What does that mean?”
She swipes tears from her cheeks. “It means I’m the one who brought her back. Pandora. I put her back online.”
Her admission leaves me winded for a moment. I’m sure April gets the gist of who and what Pandora is, but she can never know the full scale of the hell we went through. The trauma, the danger, the humiliation.
In the pastandthe present.
I take a breath and stand straighter, composing myself before I speak.
“You know who’s been posting?”
She shakes her head. “No, I mean… I don’t knowwhatI fucking mean.”
It’s clear she’s not going to cooperate, so I pull my phone from my pocket the next second, pulling up West’s name to call him. If April won’t talk tome,maybehecan convince her that this isn’t a fight she should’ve picked.
