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“I think I’d never leave,” Carmen said with a smile. “This place is so gorgeous. I feel so connected to nature. So free. Did you grow up around here?”
Serenity relaxed. “I’m originally from Bakersfield, but I’ve been here for years.”
“How did you all pick this place?” Carmen took a deep breath, trying to sell it. “It feels… I don’t know…” She looked at Lola and aimed for wistful. “Magical somehow.”
Serenity smiled. “She grew up in Richvein Ridge just north of here. This place always sang to her soul.”
“Of course,” Carmen said seriously. “I can feel that.” She pressed her palm to her chest. “Would you tell us about the immersive couple's experience?” she asked, satisfied with the clue and looking to cover their tracks.
In the car an hour later, Lola exploded. “A tantric marriage retreat? What the hell, Carmen?”
“I had to say something to get us in there,” Carmen argued. “Did you notice the security? No way she just lets strangers poke around.”
“Ugh, you’re so...” Lola trailed off, glowering.
“Resourceful? Quick-thinking?”
“Annoying.”
Carmen grinned. “Maybe. But we got some useful intel to investigate Fortune’s past. Richvein Ridge didn’t come up in her background check. I’m going to send that to my investigator. It might uncover something.”
Lola just huffed, but the spark was back in her eyes. “Fine, it wasn’t a totally useless trip. I guess we can always come back with cash and fake IDs,” she added, picking up on Carmen’s same concern about disclosing their names.
Quirking a brow, Carmen looked over at her. “Think you can pretend to be my wife for a month?”
Lola’s lip twitched into the briefest smile. “Yeah, you’re right. Scratch that.”
“Don’t feel bad that you’re not as good at faking it as I am,” she teased, before backing out of the spot.
“Yeah, right,” Lola grumbled, but Carmen would bet everything she had that Lola would spend the rest of the drive to Fortune’s hometown trying to figure out whether she was joking.
CHAPTER37
Shakingthe feeling of being an alien on a new planet was almost impossible. Since the damn turkey sandwich that had gone off in Lola’s mind like an atom bomb, she hadn’t been able to find her footing.
Sitting in the car while they were pulled over on the side of the road just outside of Richvein Ridge, Lola was trying and failing to feel normal. She’d barely been able to speak all day, a rare occurrence.
Maybe if it had just been the stupid sandwich, but then it was the coffee and the snacks. What the fuck was Carmen playing at? What was she trying to do to her? Lower her defenses so it would really hurt the next time she messed with her?
Lola opened and closed her hand, but she couldn’t banish the weight of Carmen’s fingers in hers. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d held hands with someone like that. Just walking together and reaching out for the kind of touch some people wouldn’t think about, but other people would find absolutely shattering. Lola hated being in theother people'scamp.
It wasn’t even real, she reminded herself. It was part of her dumbass ruse that didn’t even work because they didn’t get beyond the main lodge. They wouldn’t have all their cult shit just spilled all over the place. They needed to get to where all the people were. There had been at least two dozen vehicles scattered around the place, and twice as many outhouses, Lola was sure.
There was no point in going if they couldn’t get to where the people were. It had been a waste of time. A stupid waste of time.
She shouldn’t have gone to Redpine at all. She should have taken her win in LA and gone home, where she understood the world around her. Where she could breathe in the atmosphere and move with the right amount of gravity.
Her attention drifted to Carmen. Finger in her ear and crouched on the side of the road to get a cell signal in the middle of freaking nowhere.
This is so stupid.
And then she thought about the fucking sandwich and the coffee and wished she was a different person. Just for a second. Just long enough to ask Carmen what it all meant and believe her when she answered.
Tossing her long ponytail to one side, Carmen looked like another version of herself. Glowing under the sun that had chased the chill out of the air, she’d scrunched the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbow.
It made no sense. They were in this crazy place to find evidence to use in a serious lawsuit, but Carmen looked too much like she was enjoying herself. Like she was happy in some way that just didn’t make sense.
Worse was the knot that had formed in Lola’s stomach last night and simply refused to loosen. She’d blamed the sandwich, suspected that Carmen had put something in it, but she knew it wasn’t that.
