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Tears pour down my cheeks as the weight of my feelings hits me. My heart feels as if it’s breaking in two. I want nothing more than to go back to the way things were this morning. When my life was perfect. Instead of leaving, I’d demand answers from Maxwell. He’d explain everything was just a simple misunderstanding. He’d tell me how he loved me more than his own life and would never do anything like this again if I forgave him. But this is the real world. Maxwell cheated on me. His fiancée. The woman he declared to the world was the other half of his soul. And there’s no doubt in my mind he’d do it again.
My only saving grace is that we aren’t married yet. We’ve just begun combining our lives, so it won’t take long to separate the few things we purchased together. He can keep the sheets, that’s for damn sure. I’d like to say that there were signs that Maxwell was cheating on me, but that’d be a lie. I was blissfully unaware of his wandering eye until I walked in on him fucking some other woman on my dream sheets.
Searing pain flows through my entire body as waves of agony try to pull me under. I’m being torn into two different pieces, my soul breaking into two separate halves. One half is indescribably happy to have escaped a life with a lying, cheating sack of shit like Maxwell, and maybe still a little bit in disbelief that this happened at all. The other half is a writhing mass of pain, stealing my ability to take a breath at the loss of the life I’d planned for myself, yearning for the numbness to cut me off from all these feelings that I’m so desperate to forget.
My eyes fly open as red-and-blue light shines in my rearview mirror. No. No. No. My hands grip the steering wheel tightly. This could be one of two people, neither of whom I want to deal with right now.
Living in a small town like Magnolia has its perks. Lower crime rates and little to no traffic, but it also has its downfalls. Like the strong possibility that the person you spent most of your childhood wishing would give you the time of day will show up when you’re at your lowest.
“Please. Anyone but him, please,” I whisper, praying that anyone but him is coming to my rescue.
My heart rate picks up as tiny droplets of sweat form on my forehead. Damn, I’m getting flustered just thinking about him. You’d think after all these years, I’d have gotten over my childhood crush, but there has always been something about Colt that called to me. Whenever I talked to my parents, I found some way to ask about what he was doing or who he was dating. It’s how I found out he was elected the town sheriff earlier this year.
Hell, at this point, I’d rather it be my sister, Marissa, coming to my rescue. Anyone else but Colt. But I soon realized I had no such luck. Colt Butler has always been, and probably always will be, my own personal Adonis. His large frame unfolds itself from inside the dark-colored SUV as he comes strolling toward me, with his chiseled jawline and his hair with that just-got-out-of-bed look. A leather jacket zipped halfway, accentuating his bulging muscles, and a shiny gold badge attached to his chest was a dead giveaway.
“Is everything alright?”
CHAPTER2
Colt
I’m heading toward the edge of town when I notice a car pulled over on the side of the road. Nothing too out of the ordinary for this stretch of road, but this is the last thing I want to deal with after the last few days—hell, the last few months.
Reaching down, I flick on my lights as I spin my cruiser around and pull up behind a late-2000s pale-blue Volkswagen with a few worn-out bumper stickers on the back. A sense of déjà vu settles over me, causing me to pause.
Where have I seen this car before?
Magnolia is a small town, so it isn’t unlikely that I’ve seen the car at some point, but it’s not ringing any bells. With a shake of my head, I push those thoughts to the back of my mind and climb out of the car.
“Is everything alright?” I mumble, scanning the surroundings for any reason this car may be sitting on the side of the road.
“About that…”
My eyes snap towards the voice, coming face to face with a pair of tear-filled, sultry brown eyes I’d thought I’d never see again.
Sutton Flores. The one that got away. The woman I’ve never been able to forget about, even after all these years. She’s owned my heart ever since the first time I saw her across the room. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. Her long, dark hair was pulled up into a bun at the top of her head, black-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, which was stuck in a book, the same way she was almost every day. Alone, hiding out in her world of make-believe, and the opposite of how I was in high school.
Ever since I laid eyes on her, I’ve wanted her. No, want isn’t a strong enough word to describe the way I feel about Sutton. I want to claim her, possess her, in a way that’s unhealthy. But most of all, I want to call her mine.
“Is everything alright?” I repeat, my mind working on autopilot as I attempt to process the fact that Sutton is sitting in front of me.
“Nope. Not even a little bit.” She sobs, her head dropping into her hands as her shoulders shake.
“I’ll be right back.” I turn on my heels and storm back toward my SUV.
I’ve never been able to deal with a woman in tears, but hearing Sutton’s sobs sends a rage, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, coursing through me. I want to find whoever did this and make them pay for hurting her. But I have to find out what happened first.
I should call this in and bring Sutton to the station, but that’s the last thing I want to do. Going to the station means more questions that I’m not sure I want the answer to. But also, a sick part of me can’t stop thinking about what she’d look like handcuffed and completely at my mercy.
Reaching into the window of the cruiser, I grab the radio and call the only person who may have answers for me. My grip tightens as Sutton climbs out of her car and leans against the driver’s side door. Our eyes lock as a soft smile spreads across her face. She’s just as gorgeous as ever—curves in all the right places, chocolate-colored hair I can’t stop imagining wrapped tightly around my hand as I pound into her from behind. The soft glow of the setting sun accentuates her beauty as my eyes make their way down her body, cataloging every detail and filing it away for later use. She may belong to someone else, but Sutton will always be the star of all my fantasies.
“Good evening to you too, Sheriff Grumpy Pants.” Marissa’s voice tinkles across the line, raising my annoyance to a new level.
Marissa and a few of the other deputies have taken to calling me that ridiculous name since she announced Sutton was getting married to some tool bag a few months ago. Everyone in town has known my feelings for Sutton since we were kids—well, everyone except Sutton. I had finally gotten the nerve to ask her out the day she announced she was heading to Nashville to pursue a career in fashion, taking my heart right along with her.
“How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?” I growl, reaching down to adjust my cock in my pants.
“Probably a million, but you know I’m never going to stop.” Marissa giggles, no doubt with a bright smile plastered across her face.
