Page 71 of Fastlander Fallen

They’d settled into a routine of sorts over the last few days. At night they met at Hallie and Gunner’s, hung out for a bit, and then when it was time for the potential Crew to go to bed, Gunner told Ace to, “Fuck off,” and he spent the night at her cabin so they could all avoid the fights that came along with the tension between Ace, Owen, and Gunner. Honestly, she could do this every day with him.

He had already told Gunner no on the Crew, but she’d noticed he still was spending time in Gunner’s territory. She wasn’t broaching the subject about it because he seemed confused in his feelings, and probably needed time to sort things out.

I’m about to leave. Send. I’ll see you at Gunner’s. I’ll bring the bacon flowers!

Paying out now, see you soon. Like you.

She couldn’t help her smile if she tried! He had been dancing around the L-word with saying he liked her. She’d been saying it too, both of them being stubborn on who would say it first. Gah, she had the biggest crush on him. Sure, he completely owned her body in the bedroom, but it was so much more than that. He thought of her. They spent their mornings getting ready together, and checked on each other through the day, and she counted down the moments until she got to hug him the second they saw each other again.

This was what love was supposed to be like. She’d never felt anything like this. She could live the rest of her life just like this.

She finished making appointments for the day, closed down her computer, and said goodbye to her coworkers because she wouldn’t see them for a few days after this. The day after tomorrow was the courthouse wedding for Hallie and Gunner, and she had taken a few days off around it to help Hallie out.

She was low on gas, so she stopped at the gas station and mulled over the thought that if Ace and the seller ever settled their negotiations on the Moosey’s BBQ location, she could be getting gas at his place soon. It was on the way back to her cabin.

When she got back into her car, she checked her phone, and had somehow missed three calls from an unfamiliar number. She frowned. She didn’t usually answer unknown numbers, but there was a text from the same number that said two words that electrified the fine hairs on her body.

Need Ace.

She moved to call the number back, but another call came in and she answered it.

“Corey! I need Ace here now.”

The voice was familiar. “Owen?”

“Yes, it’s fucking Owen. Tell him to use his bat powers. I don’t have his number. I need help!”

“Where are you?”

A roar through the phone nearly deafened her left ear, and static followed. “Owen? Owen!”

“It’s Gunner and Hallie. Corey, just get here. I can’t stop him.”

“Oh my God, I’ll call Ace!”

The call dropped. “You better not be fucking with me, Owen,” she murmured as she frantically connected a call to Ace.

“Hey pretty girl, how—”

“Ace, Owen needs help. Something about Gunner and Hallie. Owen said he needs your bat powers.”

The phone clicked.

“Hello?”

No answer, and the call was disconnected. Shhhit. She turned on her car and threw it into drive, hit the gas, and spun out of the parking lot throwing gravel behind her. She hit the main and was horrified to see the birds lifting from the trees en masse up on the mountain they lived on.

“Oh no,” she murmured. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong!

She didn’t let off the accelerator until she saw Ace’s truck on the side of the road. He hadn’t even bothered to put it into park. It had come to a stop against a tree in the ditch. He wasn’t inside, and the sky was darkening.

Hallie, Hallie, Hallie. Something was wrong!

She skidded onto the turn for Winding Creek Way and sped up the gravel road as fast as her car would go. The sky was nearly night-dark over the trailer, and churning above the mountain.

The clearing was chaos. It was filled with purple smoke, and there were two bears at absolute war, trying to kill each other near the tree line. Owen was on the porch, gesturing her to him.

She threw the car into park, and didn’t even bother to turn it off or close the door before she was sprinting for the door.

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