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But it didn’t feel that way. Not after the things we’d said.
“Beth and I…our relationship was supposed to be fake,” I replied. “I couldn’t keep my heart out of it though, even at the very beginning. That kiss—God, that fucking kiss in the parking lot—Beth had me right then, hook, line, and sinker.”
“Oh, honey,” Alexandra said. “Everyone could see that. It was written all over your face every time you looked at her.”
She pulled her phone from her back pocket and placed it on the bar, sliding it over. The screen displayed a picture of me with Beth on our first date. I’d seen the picture before but there was something different about it now.
It was raw with honesty.
The way Beth’s head tipped back with her hands buried in my hair. The soft smile at the corner of my mouth as my lips trailed along her collarbone. Her airy white cardigan slipping off one shoulder. My black leather kut, studded with patches.
That was my Beth. That wasus.
And it was real.
“You’d have to be blind or stupid to believe that’s just an act,” Brewer put in.
I flicked to the next picture on Alexandra’s phone.
I was leaning back in the diner booth with Beth draped against my chest, her arms wrapped around my neck. Her lashes fanned across her cheek as she nuzzled into my neck like a kitten, my chin resting on top of her head. A lock of her hair draped over my arm like a ribbon of golden sunlight against the dark ink of my tattoos.
You said it yourself. I’ve been playing one part or another this whole time. So, which version of Beth is the one you love, Axel?
This was the Beth I wanted. The one who knew that a picture was worth more than any words could ever say. A picture taken on her terms and no one else’s. The one who wore her heart on her sleeve for the whole world to see.
My chest tightened at seeing those pictures of us together. I couldn’t lose Beth. Not like this.
“I need Diablo to trace a phone number.”
“Got it covered,” Brewer replied without hesitation. He turned on his bar stool. “Diablo, grab your laptop.”
Diablo glanced up from his game and passed his pool cue to Crow.
“What am I hacking into, boss?”
“Can you track Beth’s phone?” I asked. “Tell me where she is?”
He shrugged.
“Sure. No big deal. Just give me her number and I can get to work. Didn’t take you for the stalker type though.”
I waved him off, ignoring the jibe when I was already making my way out the door.
“Dude, did youmisplaceyour girlfriend?” Diablo called after me. “She’s one of the hottest models in the world and you freakin’losther? What the fuck?”
Chapter Thirteen
Beth
About an hour outside of Merry Field, I stumbled on a small public garden. In the middle of the day, with the desert heat, I was the only one there to brave the sun. Wandering the paths alone, weaving between rocky beds of succulents and towering cacti.
Toward the center of the garden, shaded by trees, was a little pool with water lilies and cattails. Orange-and-white koi darted beneath the surface of the water. A handful of sparrows flitted in and out of the shallows, ruffling their feathers and flinging droplets as they bathed.
When I started taking pictures with my phone, the birds didn’t shy away. Instead, they seemed to puff up and preen for me, beads of water glistening on their dusky brown wings like jewels.
I was so caught up in what I was doing that I didn’t hear the rumble of a motorcycle approach, or the crunch of footsteps on the gravel paths.
“Hey.”
