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Fay: Tell me you’re okay? Theo says you probably can’t be on your phone, but I need a sign. Anything that tells me you’re safe. Please just give me a bestie sign so I can stop worrying. Love you.
Vince: Hey. Checking in. Thought things went well. Hope I wasn’t too overbearing. Hoping there’s a second date in our future.
Harry: WTF are you, Parks? This is the second shift you blew off! You better show tonight or you’re done!
Well, shit.
Those will have to be dealt with later. Right now, it’s stalker time. I open a search engine app and type in the details Tate told me about the accident. It doesn’t take much scrolling until I find it.
Harbor County resident involved in fatal accident.
Chills cascade down my arms as I read the article. God, he was just a kid himself. I scan until I find what I’m looking for.
Jacie Daleny of Harbor County was a passenger involved in the vehicle that struck the victim. No charges were pressed against the minor…
Bingo.
I can’t stomach reading anymore. I found what I came for.
Jacie Daleny.
I switch to my social media app and type her name in the search bar. “Of course there are a million of you. Which one of you looks like you’re into life-ruining schemes?”
I scroll through a lot of no-gos, finally coming across one. She matches the description. Petite. Mousy. I click on her page, but it’s private, so I take what I can get and look through her profile photos. Just as Tate suspected, she’s married and has three girls. “Man, she has an actual white picket fence. Bitch.”
My finger freezes over the message button. Somebody has to put this perfect little dream crusher in her place. It’s notmyplace to do so. And in the end, her loss became my gain. “Your nose is crooked.” I take a final jab and close the app, opening my text to reply to Fay. When I hear shuffling from the bedroom, I hurry to shut down my phone and walk back into the bedroom.
Thankfully, Tate is in the bathroom. I toss my phone back into his bag just as he walks out.
“Hey, the raccoon is back. Invited him in for breakfast. Thought you two could make up—” Dammit, he’s quick! Before I have time to back up, his arm snakes around my waist, pulling me to his chest.
“That little fucker’s gonna have to wait.” And he ever so kindly grants me his delicious mouth.
Chapter eighteen
“Where the fuck is she?” I thrash my arm across the utility bench, swiping everything to the dirty floor of the barn. I had her. She was so close, I could taste her. My chest heaves, and I try to calm myself. I gaze down at the mess I made. All the items I’ve collected. I bend down, reaching for the lock of hair and press it to my nose. Inhaling deeply, I pick up a trace of her scent and imagine her in my mind. My fingers brush back and forth over the softness of the hair, making me hard. It always does.
She doesn’t appreciate the efforts I’ve gone through to make her mine. The love I have for her. And to repay me, she disappears withhim. This is just her way of teasing me. She wants to play games. That’s fine. I’ll play her game.
I pace the musty barn, my boots digging into the hay covering the floor. “She wants me to find her. And I will. I’ll show her just how fucking mine she is!” I yell, pressing my palms against my temples. My eyes focus on the wall I’ve created. A dedication of her. She has no idea how loved she is. How special I’ll make her feel once I have her. And when I find her, she’ll appreciateme. Not him.
My nails dig into my temples, breaking the skin. He’s tainting her mind. Her thoughts. She’ll see that once I get rid of him. I will wipe out any last thought she has of him and anything he’s done to her until all she knows is me! My fingers slide into my hair and pull, needing to ease the building headache.
My phone dings, and everything goes silent. I wait to hear it again and snap out of my haze, dropping to the floor to search for it. I lift it up and stare at the screen. The phone dings again with a location. The tracker I downloaded when I hacked into her phone worked.
“There you are.” I breathe a sigh of relief. “Game’s over. It’s about time you give me your full attention.”
Chapter nineteen
Mindy
Three days later…
“You’re doing it wrong.”
“I’m doing it fine.”
“You’re not. You have to stick it all the way in the flames.” I step closer and push his arm to move the stick closer.
