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I don’t know who is more stunned. Seconds of silence stretch to minutes until I finally find my voice.
“Sean. If you’re here, I must be in the right place. It’s been a while.”
Face white, he lets go of my truck and steps back like he’s seen a ghost.
Ink
I trust my gut, so when it tells me to pull over and check out the beat-up truck on the side of the road, I listen.
But as I peer into the cab and stare into the eyes of my best friend’s dead sister, I’m pretty sure I stepped off my bike and into the Twilight Zone.
It’s impossible not to stare. She looks exactly how I remember, down to the scar that circles her neck. And I’d remember because those wild curls and piercing green eyes still haunt my dreams.
But Grace fucking died, this can’t be her.
“Grace?” I manage as I step back toward the truck. “Is that you?”
Her laugh is forced. “Who else would it be? Brian had to know I’d track him down eventually.”
Shit. She doesn’t know.
I try to talk, but the words don’t come. All I can do is stare.
“Why are you being so weird?” she asks. “We’re near Deep Run, right? Isn’t that where Brian lives?”
I know her well enough to read her tells. She’s terrified.
“Grace.” I manage. “We thought you were dead.”
The color drains from her face. “Dead?” she repeats, dumbstruck. “You thought I was dead?”
I pull open the truck door and move closer, gently removing her white-knuckled hands from the steering wheel and turning off the ignition.
“Your Dad wrote to Brian. He told him you and your mom were killed in a car accident. We tried to get leave to come home and go to the funeral, but your Dad said he’d already taken care of everything.”
“Oh my god.” She hides her face in her hands. “That fucking bastard.”
I want to touch her, to pull her in my arms and let her cry it out, but I lost that right a long time ago. Things had been rough between us when I’d shipped out, and time didn’t heal every wound.
Still, I’m damn glad she’s alive.
Grace looks up at me, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Is Brian okay?”
I nod. “Bear. He goes by Bear now.”
“Bear.” She turns the word over in her mouth. “I like it. It suits him.”
“You’re going to give him a fucking heart attack.” I’m not going to sugarcoat things; I’ve learned better.
She pales. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
“I know.”
And I do. She’d idolized her brother since we were kids, but Bear wasn’t the Brian she said goodbye to back in Texas. He was an entirely new animal; she was about as ready for him as he was for her.
Chapter Two
Grace
