Page 56 of Something Unavoidable

Keegan stilled. “Interview?”

Alice didn’t answer, and Keegan had to wait impatiently while she finished putting Sunny away and shut the stall door.

“Alice,” he tried again. “Who’sinterviewing him? Andwhere?”

Alice frowned at him. “I don’t know. Some reporter.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you freaking out?”

Keegan ran a hand through his hair, trying to keep his sudden worry and frustration to himself. “I’m not freaking out,” he told her. Which might be a lie in about two minutes if someone didn’t tell him what the hell was going on. “I just need to find him.”

“Okaaay,” she said, clearly not believing him. “If Izzy isn’t telling you, why don’t you ask Xavier? He drove.”

Keegan was going to have words with Xavier for keeping this from him. But first, he needed to make sure Izzy was okay. He pulled out his phone and opened the contacts.

“Or you could ask Riley,” Alice offered.

Keegan looked at her blankly. “Last time I checked, my dog couldn’t talk.”

Alice rolled her eyes hard enough Keegan was surprised it didn’t make her dizzy. “Not like that. I mean check your app. Wherever Izzy is, Riley’s right next to him. It’s pretty cool. I think I’d like to have a service dog.”

Fuck. Keegan was stupid. He’d completely forgotten that Riley had a GPS tracker in her collar. It was supposed to keep her safe when they were out in the woods, but in this case, it could help him find his wayward boyfriend. He’d worry about the ethics of it later. “Thank you, Alice,” he called over his shoulder as he ran back to his car, already bringing up Riley’s tracker in the app.

She was in town. Keegan drove faster than was safe, but he couldn’t shake the vibrating under his skin that told him Izzy needed him, and he was going to get there too late. As he got closer, the app narrowed in on the location until Keegan could see the little dot with her photo was somewhere inside the Lookout.

Keegan parked out front—illegally, but he would pay the ticket without complaint—and hurried for the front door, eyes on his phone screen.

“Hey.”

Keegan glanced up at the familiar voice. It was Asher, leaning against the wall next to the door where Marco, the bouncer, usually stood. “Where are they?” Keegan asked, his heart pounding and a lump in his throat that made breathing a chore.

“He’s fine,” Asher said, instead of giving Keegan the answer he wanted. Then he moved to block the door. Keegan stepped toward him, body tensing, and Asher raised his hands. “I promise. He and Xavier have been prepping for this for days.”

Keegan clenched his teeth and debated shoving past Asher, consequences be damned. “I need to see him.” His voice cracked.

Asher’s typically unflappable expression went soft. “Yeah. I know. Come on.” He waved for Keegan to follow him, then made his way around the side of the building to a door that Keegan didn’t know was there. “Just stay quiet. The interview is being recorded, and we trust the reporter, but we also don’t want Izzy to get distracted and say something he doesn’t want on the record.”

Keegan jerked a nod. Quiet. Right. He could do that. Probably.

Okay. He could do it for Izzy’s sake. He was discovering that he could do a lot of things for Izzy’s sake.

They cut through the kitchen and walked down a long hallway, stopping at a curtained opening. Keegan could hear voices but not make out what they were saying.

Asher held a finger to his lips, then led Keegan through. They stepped out into the main area of the bar, over near the booths. Xavier was standing with his arms folded, watching a spotlit table that held a woman with immaculate, white-blond hair and, across from her, Keegan’s brat.

Izzy was dressed simply but casually in a gray button-down and jeans. His hair had been trimmed, the curls in perfect order the way they only were when he was just out of the shower or he’d spent a lot of time and product on them. He was pale but otherwise seemed composed. Keegan couldn’t tell from a distance how much of that was a mask.

Riley was at his side, her chin on his knee. She was freshly groomed as well, her white coat brushed until it shone. Someone had been shopping because she was wearing a very professional-looking vest labeled SERVICE DOG. DO NOT PET. Keegan wondered if that was legal, then put it out of his mind. It was something that could be dealt with later.

“Can you explain what happened after Emma and Samantha confided in you?”

Izzy let out a slow, measured breath, his fingers buried in Riley’s scruff. “After Emma told me what he’d done, and Sammy backed her up, I went to confront J-Josh.” He fumbled for the glass of water on the table in front of him and took a quick sip. Then he cleared his throat. “He was in his office. I think he was doing paperwork.” Izzy’s gaze was focused in the middle distance as he spoke. “I asked him if it was true. If he’d really done the things they were accusing him of. I’d known him for years, trained with him, I thought he was my friend. I didn’t want to believe he was capable of what they were saying.”

Keegan got stuck on the word “friend.” He hoped that was a sign that they were keeping Izzy’s real history with Josh out of the story. Izzy didn’t need that trauma dredged up for the world to see and potentially judge.

“It’s been difficult for everyone to believe,” the interviewer continued, her voice professional but kind. “He was a beloved member of the eventing community. His death was seen as a tragedy.”

Izzy nodded along, his eyes going glassy. “He laughed.” Izzy paused, letting the impact of that statement sink in. “He said it was all part of the game, and if I wanted to be a top-level competitor, I would have to learn to look the other way.”

The reporter shifted in her chair, her eyes sharpening like a hawk that had just spotted prey. Keegan stepped forward, the urge to protect Izzy stronger than his agreement to stay quiet. Xavier stopped him with a hand in the center of his chest and a shake of his head. “Was he implying others knew about his behavior and allowed it?” the reporter asked.

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