Page 367 of Roughneck

So, yes, I was an ass and it was time to find my woman, tell her that, and beg for her forgiveness.

Except she was nowhere to be found.

I caught up with Olivia near the bar, flirting with some hick looking motherfucker. “Hey, Liv, you seen Ruth?”

She shook her head. “But I can call her.” She pulled out her phone from her purse. Right. I shoulda thought of that.

But her brows furrowed at something she saw on the phone.

The band started up some song that had the crowd cheering so that I missed what Olivia said next.

“What?” I shouted and she turned the phone so that I could see a message. It was from Ruth.

Ruth: borrowing your car to get check from the winstons. Buck stalled them on way to airport so I could catch up. Be back soon!

My eyes searched out the time tag. It had been sent almost two hours ago. I messaged back from Olivia’s phone in case Ruth was still mad at me and blocking my calls. How long till you’re back?

And then waited impatiently. No response.

I looked back at Olivia. “She should be back by now, yeah?”

Olivia shrugged, leaning close to shout over the music. “Yeah, it’s less than an hour to the airport from here, so even if she went all the way there and back…”

I frowned and handed her the phone. “Find me if she texts back.”

I pulled out my own phone as I walked away toward my truck, dialing Ruth’s number. Why the hell would Buck of all people have offered to drive Charlie’s parents back to the airport. Well, if they offered to pay him, I bet he would. But if they were paying, then why would he be stalling so Ruth could catch up?

I wish she’d offered more damn information in the text. I saw Reece and Charlie rejoining the guests. Good. At least they could recoup the rest of the wedding and get memories of their special day that wouldn’t be tainted by that witch of a mother-in-law.

I hoped she wasn’t giving my Ruth trouble now.

My Ruth.

Dammit, it was true. I’d thought of her as mine for…a while now. I was jealous of that fucking job because it took her away from me. Even having her live all the way in Austin was interminable because she wasn’t under the same roof as me. And now she was going to move to Fort Worth?

Not if I could help it.

I didn’t bother telling Reece where I was going. He’d had enough of me for one day. He had his bride to look after and I still wanted him to be able to salvage some of his wedding day without thinking an iota more about his in-laws. If they were giving Ruth any trouble, I’d deal with it without ever involving him.

And I’d tell Ruth what a giant fucking idiot I was. I hurried around to where all the vehicles were parked, pulled out my keys, and hopped in the truck.

Before I pulled out onto the gravel road leading to the side trail that led to town, I looked at my phone and clicked on the GPS app.

I’d cloned Ruth’s phone a long while back, after the tornado. I’d done it with everyone’s phone—Reece and Charlie too. After Charlie’s bastard of an ex showed back up—then his best friend a week later, blustering and blowing smoke about foul play—well, I wasn’t going to take chances when it came to my family. Ruth was Charlie’s best friend, and Charlie was my brother’s girl, i.e., she was family. That was what I told myself, anyway.

But now I knew as I clicked on the button that tracked her phone and felt a bone-deep relief that I could see exactly where she was, it had always been more than that. I’d needed to know she was safe not because she was Charlie’s friend. I’d needed it for me. And good thing, too, because her little dot wasn’t flashing anywhere near the airport.

I zoomed in on the phone and frowned. Why the hell was she out near Five-Mile Dam? And then, just like that, the dot disappeared. The fuck?

I clicked the button for her phone again, but nothing.

An error message appeared when I clicked for more information. Error: Device has been turned off or lost signal.

“Dammit,” I said, throwing the truck into gear and peeling out.

Maybe she’d just decided to go take a rest at the Dam instead of coming back to the wedding after she’d taken Charlie’s parents to the airport? In the dark?

Maybe she was avoiding me.

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