Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“Yes!” Evelyn shouted.
“Yes!” Kayden copied her, dancing on his feet when it made her laugh.
“These two,” Caleb rumbled as he came deeper into the room, easing our way. Worry was written in his expression as he approached. He came up behind Paisley’s chair and pressed a soft kiss to the crown of her head, but it was me he was looking at.
Concern weighed heavy in his eyes. He’d told me last night that he had known Ryder was involved in something just because he’d been involved in enough corruption in his own life that he knew when something shady was going down.
But he had no idea how bad it was. That Ryder was in that much trouble.
Ryder had kept it from everyone who was important to him. Except for when he’d finally hit a breaking point and had gone to Ezra.
Another wave of alarm went off.
Caleb touched my arm. “We’re here for you, Dakota. Both you and your son. And I know I don’t have the details or know exactly what is going on, but the one thing I know, for certain and without fail, is my cousin loves you, and he would do absolutely anything for you.”
But that was the problem, wasn’t it?
What he’d done for me, and the lies he’d told to cover it.
“Do you think we should just postpone the party?” Paisley asked as she followed me to the door. She chewed at her nail in contemplation, at war with how to proceed.
I shrugged even though I was in the middle of that war, too.
A war that conflicted and raged, so many questions at odds with each other I didn’t know how I was even standing beneath the barrage of bombs.
I’d spent the entire day yesterday crying, both numb and feeling too much, and I knew I had to at least get up and do something with myself today. I couldn’t let it fester.
“I don’t know,” I told her. “I think we just…continue to plan it and then you can make the decision how you want to proceed based on what happens.”
Based on what happens.
I nearly choked over a sob.
I had no idea what any of this would mean.
What was going to happen to Ryder.
What danger he was in both with whoever he was trying to get away from and legally.
I couldn’t just call up Ezra and ask what kind of deal had been made, and I’d fled from Ryder’s house long before any of those questions had arisen.
Now they came at me perpetually.
Relentlessly.
“Are you sure you want to deal with it?”
“I honestly need something to do to take my mind off things.”
The pain and the torment that continually wound through me. Because I missed him, so much, and it was brutal not to answer the texts that he continually sent.
Begging me to talk to him.
To listen.
But I’d listened for so long, and now I didn’t know if I could ever believe what he had to say again.
“Only if you’re positive.”
“I am. And besides, Caleb deserves his day,” I promised her.
She swallowed hard. “And you’re sure you don’t want to stay here for a couple more days?”
I flinched, hating the idea of being alone, but I still had a dream to follow. A restaurant to run. The life I’d built for Kayden. I couldn’t allow this to destroy any of that, even though the clot of guilt inside me was so big I was sure it was obstructing the flow of blood.
But I would figure out something.
How to make this right.
How to pay restitution for a sin that had been made on my part.
“I need to be at the café by six in the morning. I think it’s best if I go home.”
Home.
The thought of it juddered through me. I’d only been staying with Ryder for a short time, but his house had come to feel that way. Like it was where we belonged.
Those walls safety and love.
“Okay, but if you need anything at all, I want you to call me. Caleb meant what he said. You and Kayden always have a place here.”
“I know. Thank you so much for being there for me.”
Paisley wrapped me in her arms. “Um, hello, you’re my Doodle-Boo. You think I wouldn’t be?”
A wave of appreciation billowed. “I know, and I’m so grateful for that.”
She stepped back, but she continued to hold me by the outside of the arms. “Call me tonight before you go to sleep, okay? I’m going to be worried about you.”
“I will. But you don’t have to worry. I’m going to be okay.”
“I know you are, but that doesn’t mean you’re not in pain right now, and I’d do anything to take that away.”
“Which is why I love you so much.” I forced a smile.
“What’s not to love?” She let the razzing wind into her voice, and I chuckled through the waves of sorrow as I opened the door to step out into the late afternoon light. Warmth saturated the air, the fading summer still holding on, though the color of the leaves on the trees had begun to change.