Page 50 of Savage Secrets

“Your phone.” He did a pushup off her. How he located her phone so fast was a mystery, but suddenly she held it in her hands.

“Is it Rainie?” His worried tone cut through her surprise at seeing the name flash across the screen.

“No. It’s Kirsten.” She quickly opened the text message. Only two words appeared on the screen.

Cinnamon roll

In a flurry, she whipped her legs over the bed. Her thumbs raced over the keyboard.

Where are you?

The answer came back instantly.

Badlands.

“Is somebody in trouble? Opal, talk to me.”

At the worry in Zach’s deep voice, she paused, chest heaving. “Kirsten and I have a code word in case one of us is in trouble. And she just sent it!”

“Shit.” He swiped his underwear off the floor and tossed her clothes onto the bed for her to unscramble and put on while he dressed.

She grabbed her boots and ran barefoot to the front door. He glanced at her feet. “Get your boots on. I’ll get the truck and pull up to the steps.”

She nodded. Her insides were shaky, but she managed to do what he told her. When he drew up to the porch, she jumped in the truck and he took off down the driveway so fast the tires kicked up gravel.

“Tell me where to go.” Zach braked as they reached the turn to the main road.

“Badlands.”

“Dammit.” His soft cuss seemed to work under her skin more than a shout.

“I’m so worried.” She twisted her fingers together. “We agreed to use the code word cinnamon roll if we ever got into a situation we couldn’t handle.”

He said nothing, but in the lights from the dashboard she saw his fingers clench tighter on the wheel.

“She must be on a date. It’s the only reason I can think that she’d use the code word. Usually she tells me if she’s going out and with who, though. Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Maybe she wasn’t on a date. A guy at the bar might be bothering her.”

She swiped her fingers through her hair. “You’re right. But there’s safety in numbers there too, right? The bar’s always packed. And Livia is always there since she owns it. She hasthat baseball bat she uses to keep people in line. Plus there’s a bouncer.”

“And Carver.” He shot her a look. “He and I don’t always see eye to eye, but he’s solid. He wouldn’t let anyone get hurt in Badlands.”

“You’re right. Oh, Zach. I’m so worried. Can you go faster?”

He reached across the console and squeezed her hand. “No problem.”

In that moment, it struck Opal that those words really did mean much, much more when he spoke them.

They meant he would do anything for her.

* * * * *

The tension flowing through Opal had her stiff and trembling. Zach stroked his thumb over her hand in an attempt to ease her nerves. They needed to come up with a plan, but that meant he had to know exactly what was going on.

“This hasn’t happened before? Your friend’s never been in trouble and used the code word?”

She shook her head. “No. We don’t date. We just keep each other’s kids to give the other person a break.”

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