“Phone call,” a guard grunted, shoving the receiver toward me.
My mind went blank.
There was only one number I could remember right now. My hand trembled as I punched it in.
It rang once. Twice.
“Hello?” Her voice. Soft, familiar, devastating.
I swallowed hard. “Juniper.”
CHAPTER 46
Ididn’t even have the chance to blink the sleep out of my eyes before I was tugging my shoes on.
“I need you to come and get me,” he’d said — and I was on the way. No questions asked.
Yet.
He was being held at the jail just outside of Seattle, about thirty minutes from my house. When I pulled up, still in my damn pajamas, my heart was fluttering rapidly.
What the fuck happened?
The officer at the desk took my credit card without a word, a seemingly permanent scowl etched onto his features. “He’ll be out soon.” He snapped, dismissing me.
I sat in the uncomfortable seat, awkwardly shifting in my seat — waiting for Ansel — when my phone rang.
“Girl,” it was Jess on the other line. “Have you seen it?”
“Seen what?”
“Oh lord. I’ll send it to you.” Then she hung up with a click.
A text came through moments later, a link titled ‘BARLOWE’SBREAKDOWN’.
Oh shit.
My stomach dropped as I hit play. The video was shaky, with muffled voices in the background, but there wasnomistaking him.
Ansel.
Wild-eyed, bloody.
Beating the absolute shit out of someone in the coffee shop.
Fist after brutal fist, landing with sickening thuds that somehow cut through the grainy audio. He shoved the man against the counter, teeth bared in a snarl, every line of his body feral and unrestrained.
My breath caught in my throat.
Oh, my God.
That wasJoel.
He’d done this — forme.
Even through the shitty resolution, I could see it. The rage in his eyes. The way he said something —to him,about me— before landing another vicious blow.
Heat curled low in my stomach. I should have felt horrified. Should’ve been furious, embarrassed,something.
