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She’s right.
It has been too long since I’ve seen her and I miss my best friend.
My stomach does a little flip and I barely resist the urge to do a little jump in the middle of the kitchen. I can’t wait to show her the bakery, and my new apartment. And I can take her around Baton Rouge and show her all my favorite places. We could drive down to the beach with the top down on the Jeep and stick our feet in the ocean, just like she said.
My phone buzzes in my hand and I glance down. My smile drops and every ounce of joy is sucked out of me in an instant.
Owen.
Again.
I stare at his name on the screen, my mind loud and yet, somehow painfully empty. Like screaming into the void.
No.
He doesn’t get to do this to me anymore.
He doesn’t get to take anymore pieces of me, especially my happiness.
As soon as the call goes to voicemail, I go into my contacts and find his name. My thumb hovers over the block button, shaking ever so slightly, and I press it.
I’m done.
I’m moving on.
And Owen is just going to have to come to terms with that.
“Hey, Lennon,” Mila calls from the front. “Can I get your help out here?”
The thought of my little bakery brings a smile to my face again and I stand, tucking the phone into my back pocket. Owen is behind me now, and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Chapter Nine
Rooster
The sun is beginning its descent, falling towards the tree line in slow dramatic fashion as I pull up in front of the restaurant where I’m meeting Calvin for dinner. I pull my bike to the curb and stare out at the city around me before pulling my phone out of my pocket. I glance down at the screen.
I’m fucking early.
Of course I’m fucking early.
Sighing, I pull off my helmet and run my fingers through my hair.
I’ve been counting down the hours until this dinner since I got off the phone with Calvin yesterday afternoon. All these questions about Lennon are making me crazy. As soon as I get some damn answers, I’ll finally be able to relax and let this shit go. Maybe then, I can focus on coming up with a plan to get Raya and Joey safely out of Louisiana because I refuse to accept any of the “options” in front of me.
What the fuck am I even doing?
I’m here wasting time with this damn dinner when I should be at the clubhouse, trying to find answers to keep those two alive. No, not just alive. We could keep them on the compound for the rest of their lives and keep them alive but it wouldn’t be living. I need to find a way to give them a life. And that is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult.
“Boy,” someone says, yanking me from my thoughts and I glance up. Calvin is standing next to my bike, a shit eating grin on his face. “If I was a snake, I would have bitten you.”
I roll my eyes. “Thank god you’re just an old man, then.”
“Hey,” he calls, dropping into a fighting stance. “You better watch it. There’s still some fight in these old bones.”
“Cal… you and I both know that would be a really bad fucking idea,” I tell him, climbing off my bike and he straightens, laughing.
“I do. Only came to one of your fights but that was enough.” His expression shifts, something darker flickering through his eyes as they slightly lose focus.
