Wide land.
Horses I mostly avoided.
Quiet.
Jackson’s laughter sometimes echoing near the barns.
Skye’s warm eyes.
Regan beside me.
Not safe exactly.
But safer.
My eyes moved to the door.
Dylan was out there.
I knew it without asking.
I could feel it, which was ridiculous. I was not magical. I was medicated, bruised, dehydrated, and possibly one bad decision away from house arrest.
But I knew he was there.
Edge saw me look.
Of course he did.
His face did not harden the way I expected.
It just got sadder.
That was worse.
“You trust him?” he asked quietly.
I looked at my father.
I thought about rain on the clubhouse windows three years ago. A bleeding San Diego prospect lowering his eyes because I was fifteen and he knew the line. I thought about the desert tonight. His arms. His voice. The secret things he didn’t tell because I had been too far gone to consent to being known that way.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Edge closed his eyes.
Regan’s hand tightened around mine.
Tarak exhaled slowly, like history had just shifted in a direction no one could stop.
Edge opened his eyes.
“Then he helps get you to the ranch.”
My heart jumped.
“I thought?—”
“I don’t like it,” he said.
