He guessed it was the first time he’d realized he had something worth living for, his spirit coming alive with something new.
Two weeks ago, he’d promised Dakota he would make a change, and he was going to see it through.
Whatever it took.
He lifted his chin as Pete and Lenny pushed off the wall they lounged against.
“I need to talk to him.” Ryder’s words were low and emphatic.
Speculation moved through Lenny’s expression. “Does he know you’re coming?”
“No.”
Lenny wavered before he moved to the door and tapped it lightly with his knuckles. “Boss, Ryder is here. He wants to talk to you.”
“Let him in.” It echoed through the door, and Ryder tried to play it cool as he squeezed between Lenny and Pete and stepped into the office.
It was dusky inside, a single, dull lamp setting it aglow from where it sat on the cluttered desk.
Dare clasped his hands over his stomach and rocked back in the chair, bastard eyeing him from across the desk.
Ryder tried not to shrink or shift on his feet.
The fucker was dangerous.
He’d seen it.
Witnessed it.
Knew it from experience.
“How did it go?”
Ryder swallowed over the lump in his throat. “Three months of probation and a hundred hours of community service.”
Unruffled, Dare nodded. “And you claimed it as yours?”
Dare’s only concern was that his ass was covered. That Ryder hadn’t leaked when he’d been squeezed.
“Said I bought it off someone I’d never seen before on the outskirts of town.”
He nodded again. “Good.”
Good.
It wasn’t fucking good.
None of it was good.
Dare took a long drag of his cigarette that was burning in his ashtray before he stubbed it out, blowing the smoke out the side of his mouth like it wouldn’t cloud the dank space. “Lay low for a bit.”
“I’m done with it,” Ryder said rather than agreeing.
Dare cracked a menacing grin like he wasn’t surprised, rocking farther back, so casual though it was cut with a threat. “Is that so?”
“I was seventeen. A fucked-up kid who didn’t have a clue. I want out.”
Air puffed from Dare’s nose, and he sat forward, his arms rested on the desk as he shrugged. “Seems you still don’t have a clue because you should know by now that’s not the way it works.”
Ryder’s molars ground. “I won’t keep taking that poison into my town.”
“I see.” Dare’s grin was back, and a second later, the door burst open and Lenny and Pete rushed in. Ryder didn’t have time to prepare himself before Pete grabbed him by the shoulders and drew up a knee, ramming it into Ryder’s stomach.
He choked on the shock of pain, the air knocked from his lungs. A second later, he was on the ground, getting pummeled in a flash. Fists and feet and a flurry of pain that made his sight blur in and out.
His consciousness came at him like the spinning beacon from a lighthouse.
He could barely process the presence that came to stand over him while he lay face down on the soiled, grimy floor with blood pouring out of his mouth.
The wickedness that slithered over him.
Dare leaned down close, getting in the line of Ryder’s fuzzy sight. “Don’t worry, Ryder. You won’t have to drag it into your town anymore. I have something much better planned for you.”
THIRTY-TWO
DAKOTA
It was after seven when I pulled into the driveway of Ryder’s house. I could feel the emptiness radiating from the walls, and for a moment, I was pinned by the weight of it. The boulder sitting on my chest was so heavy that I wasn’t sure how I managed to breathe.
He’d been gone when I’d come out of the bathroom after taking a shower this morning.
I hadn’t meant to cry, but I had. I’d broken down right in the middle of the room where I’d left him twenty minutes before because this was the man I loved.
The man I’d loved since I was nineteen.
Probably longer than that if I was being honest with myself.
But he was right—I deserved better than what he was offering me.
Blowing out a sigh, I shut off the car and glanced through the rearview mirror at my son who had fallen asleep on the drive over.
I’d stayed at my mom’s for dinner. I hadn’t been ready to come back here and face him yet, but he wasn’t here, anyway, so I guessed it didn’t matter much.
I opened my door and stepped into the twilight.
The air was tinged in that iridescent pink that was so thick it felt like you could reach out and touch it.