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“You know it’s four-thirty in the morning in California, right?” Reagan pointed out.
The line started to ring. “I don’t give a fuck. We have to tell someone what happened.”
Reagan and I were exhausted. The adrenaline had worn off, and there was nothing left. I wanted to go after Finn with every fiber of my being, but I knew my limits. I could handle him one on one, but I couldn’t compete with his guns. I wasn’t stupid, and I definitely wasn’t going to risk him getting a hold of Reagan.
The line rang some more, and then Seth huffed into the phone. “This better be good, Emerson.”
“Finn found us,” I said, not wasting any time. “It’s good that Reagan and I weren’t at the house. He had two cocksuckers with him, and they broke in, guns and all. I doubt you’d be talking to me right now if things worked out differently.”
Seth grumbled under his breath. “Fuck. Are you and Reagan okay?”
“Would you be if you had a psychopath hunting you down?” I snapped. “Look, I don’t give a shit about my safety, but I do care about Reagan’s. I refuse to let that fucker get anywhere near her.”
“Yeah, Emma would kill me if I let anything happen to her sister.” He blew out a sigh. “Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone where you are. I’ll call you back when I have more information.”
He hung up and I dropped my phone in the center console, my insides burning like fire. I’d take Reagan to the ends of the world to keep her from Finn, but that wasn’t a life for her. I wanted this shit to stop. But how?
“I wish there were something we could do,” Reagan said.
Looking over at her, I admired how she had so much strength left in her tired eyes. I reached for her hand and clasped it in mine. “There is. We’ll figure it out.”
Her eyelids started to drop, and it wasn’t long before she passed out. It was still too early to show up at the bed and breakfast, so I let her sleep.
An hour passed by and then another. All I could think about were different ways I could deal with Finn. What concerned me was the lengths he’d go to to find me. Would he go after my family? Of course, he would. I already knew he’d blow up an auto parts store with innocent people in it. My family meant nothing to him.
Reagan awoke with a gasp and sat up, grabbing her chest when she realized we were in the car. “Oh my God, I had a horrible dream.” She covered her face with her hands. “
“You’re okay,” I soothed, rubbing her back.
She kept her face covered until her breathing slowed down. “I thought it was real.” Her terror-filled eyes met mine. “They killed you. It was the worst thing I’d ever witnessed in my life.”
“Hey,” I said, grasping her face with both hands, “nothing’s going to happen to me. I promise.”
Reagan leaned into my touch, and the fierceness I loved about her returned with a vengeance. “You’re damn right it’s not. I don’t know how Finn thinks getting you out of the way would ever make me want him.”
Sliding my hands away from her face, I stared right into her eyes. I hadn’t told her what Seth told me about Paul Sellinger making a contract deal with Finn’s mother, and how she lost and was forced to marry him. It didn’t seem like the right time to tell her now.
“He’s fucked up in the head, Reagan. The same goes for his sister.”
“That’s for damn sure.” She glanced over at the clock and sighed. “I could really use a bed right now. Do you think we can head to the B&B?”
“Sounds good to me,” I said, starting the car. “Let’s hope they have a spare room.”
Reagan grumbled. “Oh, I hope so.”
We were only ten minutes away from the B&B, and when we pulled down the long driveway, Reagan beamed when the white plantation-style home came into view. It was in the middle of a large open field with a massive red barn in the back.
Reagan kept her gaze out the window. “I remember coming out here once when I was a little girl.” She pointed off to the left. “There’s a pond out that way and walking trails you could get lost on for hours. Aylee’s uncle was the owner of the place at that time, and he made the best blueberry muffins I’d ever tasted. The place became hers when he passed.”
I parked along the side of the house and shut off the car. “Maybe Aylee kept up the tradition and has some muffins inside.”
Her stomach growled. “That would be heaven. I could eat a dozen of them right now.”
Before getting out of the car, I grabbed my phone and we walked around to the front entrance of the house. When we stepped inside, Aylee was behind the desk counter, tapping away on her laptop with a straw hat on her head. It’d been a few years since I met her, but she still had the same bright red hair. She looked up and did a double take when she saw Reagan.
Eyes wide, she stood. “Reagan, is that you?”
Reagan smiled and perked up even though I knew she was about to fall out on the floor. “Hey, Aylee. It’s good to see you.”
