I grab him and clamp my hand over his mouth. “Are you crazy?” I hiss. “Emily’s right in there. You can’t go around telling everyone what happened. There’s no statute of limitations on murder, or have you forgotten?”
Jake doesn’t need to know I was about to tell Emily everything.
I remove my hand. “You good now?”
He sighs. “Yeah. Sorry. And for the record, Ididlove Marnie. What I felt for Brett was different. It was like friendship, only more, but I was too scared to do anything about it, and I figured it would go away with time.”
“And did it?”
“I don’t know, Riv. It’s been twenty years. I had to leave all of you behind. I had some relationships along the way—always with women—but I never let myself fall in love. I couldn’t stay in one place too long. You know the deal.”
“Yeah. I know, man.” I massage the back of my neck. So much for that release. I’m tense as a bronc before the gate swings open.
“The thing is,” Jake continues. “Brett is in love with Sienna. I can see it in his eyes when he talks about her, hear it in his voice.”
“So you’ll let him go, then?”
Jake shakes his head. “It’s not that simple. She saw us.”
I groan. “She saw…what, exactly?”
“Simmer down. It was only a kiss. And I told him to go after her.”
“Did he?”
Jake nods. “Yeah. But I’m worried. And I don’t know how I truly feel about any of it.”
“Fuck.” I scratch at my suddenly itchy scalp. “This was a mistake. What was I thinking, bringing you here? I risked your safety, and what for? Because I was feeling guilty about keeping this secret all this time. Especially from Brett, once he told me his feelings. And then finding out that Misty’s your sister. I should have stayed out of it.”
“Don’t put it all on yourself,” Jake says. “I didn’t have to come. You gave me a choice.”
“Whydidyou come?” I ask. “Seriously, why? It’s been twenty years. You’ve been safe.”
He looks at me. Really looks at me, as if he’s willing me to see inside his brain. “Because for twenty years, Riv, I’ve been running against the wind. I can’t anymore. I’m exhausted. Part of me wants my life back, and the consequences be damned. But I never wanted to fuck things up for any of you. Especially not for Brett.”
I open my mouth to reply, but a rustling from the bedroom startles me. The door opens.
And Emily—my gorgeous Emily—walks toward us wearing nothing but a sheet around her.
Even as stressed as this conversation has me, my cock reacts.
She tilts her head, stares at Jake.
And asks, “Why exactly would you be fucking up anything for Brett?”
EPISODE 234
COLD AS ICE
Misty
I stare at the words, my skin prickling like I’ve been plunged into ice water.
I left something for you.
He used to say that. After punishments. After the “lessons.” He’d leave things. A flower. A coin. Once, a dead bird. Always with that same line, like a signature.
“Is it him?” Evangeline whispers.
