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SEVENTEEN
Sunny jerked awake just as he started to topple sideways onto the bench. The faint ache in his neck and back said he’d been there for a while. Blinking his eyes open, he surveyed the room and realized he was alone. There was no sign of Laura anywhere.
A curl of… was that disappointment? Whatever it was twisted his stomach. Why was he disappointed though? They’d had a hot as fuck encounter and she was gone. There was no awkward morning after discussion of expectations and no need to figure out how to tell his boss that he didn’t do feelings or relationships.
Hot sex was enough.
Still, he needed to find her at some point today just to make sure she was alright. It had been monumentally stupid to do a scene with someone without discussing it first. He defended it to himself with the knowledge that he’d checked in every step of the way, and she hadn’t balked even once.
Sunny stood, stretching until something popped with a satisfying crack in his neck, releasing some tension. He hadn’t even realized it, but his clothes were folded neatly on the bench next to him. For a long second, he just stared at them, then shook his head. There was no reason to read more into it than her looking for her own clothes… still it felt nice that she’d done that for him.
Dressing, he left the barn and went to Sadie and Eagle’s cabin. They would all be worrying about him, he was sure. They might even be pissed that he’d just walked away, but he knew they would understand in the end. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he snorted when he saw it was dead. He looked up to check the sky. It was still pretty early. Hopefully, breakfast wasn’t finished yet.
Inside the cabin, he stopped dead. Ford was still there. What the fuck? Glaring around the room, he stalked to the tiny kitchen for coffee. He’d been prepared to deal with questions and maybe even a little sympathy, but not this.
He fixed himself a cup and took the plate Nettie slid toward him after kissing his cheek. He took a fortifying breath before turning around. “Good morning.”
Nails slapped Cash on the back of his head. “Told you! Pay up.”
Cash rolled his eyes and slapped a bill in his hand.
“Glad you’re back with us,” Cap said dryly.
“Where’s Hilary?”
“Packing,” he said with a smile.
“So you guys are still leaving?”
Cap hesitated only a moment before he nodded. “We are.”
“When do you leave?” Sunny asked, mentally planning. If they didn’t have to keep watches at Cap and Hilary’s place, it would free up time to investigate the people asking questions about them in town.
“Wednesday, so we have a couple of days to help you guys before we leave.”
Sunny nodded and dug into his food. He desperately wanted to ask why…hewas still here then if they had a plan. His… brother… just the word made him cringe internally, hadn’t said a single word. He also hadn’t stopped looking at Sunny, either.
When no one else spoke, Sunny turned his attention from the food back to the people around him. “What? We have a plan. With you guys out of town, we’ll have fewer places to cover. It’ll take a few days, but we’ll figure out who is asking questions.”
“I can tell you that,” Ford spoke up and his southern drawl felt like nails on a chalkboard to his ears.
“Of course, you can because at least one of them was you,” Sunny said, trying to keep his voice level, but it still came out sharper than he had intended.
“I was, but there are two more as well.”
Sunny froze, but no one else at the table seemed surprised by this, so Ford must have already let them in on that little secret.
“Who else then?”
“Malik is one of them,” Cap growled.
Ford nodded. “He didn’t fit in, so no one would talk to him. Dark hair, dark skin, and an accent.” He shrugged. “It didn’t exactly endear him to the small-town locals.”
Sunny snorted. No, it wouldn’t. Felton was a classically white ranching town. Distrustful of anyone who hadn’t grown up there. The only reason he and the rest of the team had such an easy time of it was that Eagle had grown up here.
“Ok, we know that one. Who else?”
“A minister.”
