Page 74 of Westin

Her inhale is sharp. “Sometimes. I’ve never been scared of you. I think you make me feel safe.”

I’m so fucking grateful I make her feel safe enough that she wants me to take control of her body. Now, I just need to find a way to make her trust me with everything else. She’s quiet as I kiss down her shoulder.

“I know trust is hard, Diane,” I say. “I know you don’t believe me, but I’m going to give you everything.”

Billie starts growling impatiently at the bottom of the hill, so I pull back from Diane and finish buttoning my shirt. She puts the cheap ring back on her finger, and I look away because I want to kill someone.

I walk her to my truck and drive her a few miles out from Garrison Farms. When I pull off the road to let her out, she wipes her face with her sleeve.

“Goodbye,” she says. “This was probably a bad idea.”

“I don’t regret it,” I say.

I take her wrist, and she turns, fixing those big, dark eyes on me. “Swear to God, I will get you out of this. I don’t care what the paperwork says. You’ll be my wife.”

She smiles sadly. “I’m not so sure. But I’m safe for now.”

I kiss her mouth, and she tastes like salt. “I’ll be back for you.”

She doesn’t want me to break her heart. I know it’s so delicate and bruised already. She slips from the truck, taking her dog. I wait until they’re just over the hill, and I park in the woods. Then, I follow her by foot to make sure she gets up the driveway and into the house safely.

It’ll take time, patience, and a loaded pistol, but I’m going to fix that heart.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

WESTIN

“Do you know if Clint ever beat on Keira?”

Sovereign looks up. We’re knee deep in the river, pulling mud and branches from the low water. The summer burned up all the deep parts, and we haven’t had the autumn rains yet. Now, we’re relying on rain barrels for the upper pastures that can’t access the pond.

We’re both soaked in sweat and creek water. I spit, trying to get the grit from my teeth.

“The fuck?” Sovereign says.

“I said—”

“I heard you,” he says. “But why ask that?”

I shrug. Since the night Keira arrived, Sovereign has been distracted. He works, we talk, but he’s always up in that room with her, in his head. I don’t begrudge him being in love—he deserves it after all this time—but that hasn’t stopped me from worrying over the possibility of what the Garrisons are capable of.

“You think Thomas is just as mean as Clint?”

Sovereign’s jaw works. “No, Thomas is a pussy. And as far as I know, Clint never hit her. He was always too manipulative to be that straightforward.”

“I assumed psychological torture was his preferred method,” I say.

Sovereign nods. I can tell he doesn’t like talking about this, and I don’t blame him. I fall silent, and he goes back to pulling debris and tossing it on the shore. After a while, I feel like enough time has passed to start bothering him with questions again.

“Do you know Corbin Buchanan?”

“What’s that?” Sovereign takes his hat off and runs his hand over his hair.

“I said, do you know Corbin Buchanan?”

Sovereign squints. “He’s a city official,” he says.

“He’s in charge of the new highway getting put in west of us,” I say. “And the access roads around it.”

---