Page 69 of One Last Chance

Even as she stared at him, however—at the confusion on his face, the hurt that swept into his eyes, the way he startled at Axel, who’d taken a step toward her—it clicked.

Kennedy.

He knew her sister.

She just blinked at him, breathing hard, and thankfully Axel came to the rescue.

“Sully! What are youdoing? This is Flynn Turnquist.” He now had himself planted in front of her, a wall of red, literally, and well, it was sort of . . . sweet.

Even if unnecessary. She could usually—minus the knee brace—take care of herself.

“No, it’s not. That’s Kennedy. Wait. What?” Sully took another breath, wrapped both hands behind his neck, turned as if trying to walk off whatever stirred inside him.

“This is Flynn, Kennedy’s sister,” Axel said. “But more important, how do you know Kennedy?”

Sully rounded, clearly undone. Stared at Flynn. Shook his head. “She . . . she looks exactly like Kennedy. Except for the—” He pointed at his head, the location of the wound on her forehead. “Although, yeah, even that. That’s—you’re definitely Kennedy. What’s going on, babe?”

He took a step toward her.

Axel held up his hand. “We’re not prankin’ you here, Sul. Seriously. This is Kennedy’s twin sister. Identical twin sister.”

Sully stopped. Swallowed. “She did mention a sister.” He blew out a breath. “But she didn’t say twin.”

“Sorry,” Flynn said, and added a softness to her voice. Clearly this man was distraught.

And a witness. Possibly the last person to see her sister alive. Clearly very much alive because something,ahem, had gone down between Mr. Outdoors and Kennedy, the free spirit.

They were probably perfect for each other.

“Listen.” She stepped, or rather limped, past Axel. “Can we talk?”

Because at the moment, they had the arrested attention of the entire party, including Moose and London as well as Laramie and his dad, plus a handful of other fishermen.

“In private?”

Sully nodded, but she turned to Axel. “Except for you.”

“I wasn’t leaving even if you asked nicely.” He glanced at Moose. “Give us a few minutes.”

“I want to check out Laramie anyway,” London said and went back to the chopper to retrieve a med kit.

Flynn still couldn’t believe what she’d witnessed up there. Axel, dangling from a line no bigger than her pinkie finger, a hook on a line. And he’d brought up a scared kid like he might be Superman.

Okay, that felt dramatic, but still, seeing him at work, she got it.

A full breath.

Sort of like how she’d felt when she put the 1039 Killer and so many others under arrest.

A small piece of justice won, another light against the darkness.

And for him, maybe another soul brought back from the brink.

She slid her hand into Axel’s, feigning a need for help as they walked away from the group to the other side of the chopper, then down the riverbank.

Sully stopped, his gaze falling, then bouncing off their hooked hands.

She let Axel go and found her way to a boulder. “Did I hurt you?”

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