“And he’ll know she came through here, if he’s watching.”
Days ago.
Fuck.
I jerk my chin toward the street. “People know her car came to your garage.”
“Those people missed the fact that it left,” Cash says coolly as he ushers me out of the shed.
“You sure it’s clean now?”
“I’ve gone over every inch of it.” He pulls the rolling door down, then padlocks the shed.
“It took a lot for her to tell me about the tags,” I say, stopping him before we return to the garage. “She’s terrified. And this will give her even more reason to be afraid. I’ll ask her about it, but I’m notgoing in hot. She thinks she’s found some safety at the ranch. I don’t want to blow that up.”
“You don’t have a lot of time. If someone is following her, they’re going to show up sooner than later, unless you can convince them her car has left again.”
I think about the two days of rest Hope has had—two days of letting down her guard.
Two days where I’ve been able to earn her trust, only to fucking miss the target on her back.
“Yep, let’s go.”
“You want me to go out to the ranch while you’re gone?”
Cash rolling up on his motorcycle and full sleeve tattoos is the last thing Bellamy and Hope need. “Stay here just in case her ex shows up. Don’t leave Riley alone.”
“She can handle herself, but yeah, good call.”
I hesitate, then add, “You could call Ridge, though. Loop him in just enough. He’s going to be mad, but?—”
“Don’t worry. I know how to be a beast whisperer. And he won’t let anything happen to your girl.”
“She’s not my girl.” The denial is reflexive, but wrong. I let her tie me up today, a first step in a lot of lessons I thought we’d have more time for. I wouldn’t let just anyone do that.
I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if anyone else had tried.
I thought we had a week. I hoped we might have a summer. It turns out we might only have a day, and that’s not nearly enough time to claim her as my own, but I’m hers.
We’ll have to talk about it.
Tomorrow, I’ll find a way to talk to her.
Tonight…
Tonight I’m driving this fucking tracker to the truck stop north of the city, then putting it on a tractor-trailer heading far, far away from Dragonfly Creek.
Chapter 16
Hope
Bellamy is curled against my side with her frog tucked under her chin.
But sleep won't come for me. That low-grade roll in my stomach is back, and officially feels like morning sickness now.
Ironic that it’s keeping me up at night.
I don’t know how I’ll hide a pregnancy for long.
