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Following Jace, I halted once we reached the kitchen. “Shit, this looks amazing.” I ran my fingertips over the black marble countertops. The white marble backsplash brightened the space, providing a wide-open feel. The stainless-steel hood hung over the new matching stove. The dishwasher and refrigerator were spotless, which led me to think they were smudge-proof.
“It came together really nicely.” Jace busied himself with starting some coffee while I rummaged through his food. “What sounds good? Pancakes? An omelet?”
I stopped searching his fridge and looked at him. “That’s what I made for River the morning I found her in my recycling bin.”
Shock registered in his expression, and he nearly tripped over his feet. “I’m sorry, what? Like the big blue trash container?”
“Oh, that’s right. When you guys met her, I introduced her as my cousin. I never told you how we really met.” I couldn’t help but smile at the memory of meeting her that day.
“You gotta fill me in.”
I removed the milk, eggs, cheese, green onions, mushrooms, and a can of biscuits and placed them on the counter.
“Bacon,” Jace said, nodding as he pulled the package of pancake mix down from the cabinet.
I glanced at the ingredients. “Shit. I must be hungry.”
“Good. Now quit stalling and tell me how you really met River.”
I retrieved a small pan for the gravy and set it on one of the five burners. “Becky had just left.” My lip curled in a snarl. “Michelle,” I corrected myself. “Anyway, she went out the front door, thank God. Oh, and that bitch can say whatever the fuck she wants, I know she is jealous of River.”
“Agreed,” Jace said, whipping up the pancake batter.
“I needed to take the trash to the curb for pickup, but when I approached the canisters, one of them was laying on its side. All I could see was a pair of black, worn-out Converse poking out of the recycling bin. I gently shook a foot and backed up, not wanting to spook anyone.”
“What the hell was she doing sleeping in your container? It was winter.”
“It was below freezing, too. I was worried maybe someone had frozen to death, so I tugged on her ankles.” A chuckle rumbled through my chest. “Then I met the tip of her knife.”
Jace barked out a laugh. “Who was startled more? You or River?”
“I definitely scared her more. It took me a while to talk her into coming inside so I could make her some breakfast.” I scanned the ingredients that were in front of me. “She was terrified, dirty, and exhausted. All I wanted to do was help her.”
“I think any decent human being would have.” Jace tossed the bacon in the pan, then started the pancakes as we continued to talk.
“She wouldn’t come into the house. It took me forever to convince her that I wasn’t trying to hurt her. Eventually, she finally came in and stood next to the sliding glass door. I tried to reassure her that she was safe, but I had no idea what she’d just lived through. She agreed to some food and ate it all. River was even open to more, but as she approached the kitchen, she accidentally dropped the plate and it shattered all over the floor.” I shook my head as the events played out in my mind. “Dan must have done a real number on her because she bolted. I almost caught up to her when she jumped over a lawn chair and tripped.”
“Is that how she really broke her leg?” Jace poured the smooth, thick batter into the pan.
I popped open the can of biscuits and placed them on the cookie sheet. “Nope. She shot up and high-tailed it out of the backyard and into the alley. She was fucking fast, too.” I tossed the empty container in the trash. “I tried to stop her, but she ran in front of a car.”
“You saw it all go down, huh?” Jace stepped out of the way and opened the oven door, and I slid the pan of biscuits in.
“Yeah, Maxwell was driving, and he about shit himself,” I snickered.
“Oh man. He’s a weaselly fuck, but I wouldn’t wish hitting a person with your car on anyone.”
“It’s funny how those seconds changed my entire life.” I opened the white cabinet and removed a few plates. “I hate that she got hurt, but I’d do anything to have that time with her again.” Grief wrapped its fingers around my heart and squeezed. A second wind of determination followed, and once again, I swore that I’d move heaven and earth to bring the love of my life home.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Once breakfast was over, Chance texted that Brynn had started her chemo. I hoped like hell the treatment worked.
I stretched out on the couch and dozed off and on while Jace buried himself in research. We’d always been upfront with each other, but this time I felt like there was something he wasn’t telling me. I wasn’t positive, but I had a strong hunch that it was a detail from the first time I was hypnotized.
The morning crawled by at a turtle’s pace. I should have gone to bed, but I was a fucking chicken. Jace was wrong. My nightmares and visions couldn’t be a part of my past. What I struggled with even more was how this might tie into River. Or was I fishing for anything that might make sense of her disappearance? Logan and Tim were ruled out. Laura was the only suspect that we had, and she’d not been helpful at all.
Anger pulsed through my veins. Laura had used 4 Play to lure young women into a sex ring. The pair of balls on this bitch were insane. If she had River … was it Laura’s idea or her boss’s? How fucking dare she? Even worse, I should have known what was happening in my club. Guilt toyed with me, making me second-guess my intuition and the choice to rebuild.
