Page 60 of Cold Foot Komodo

“She smells like you now,” Cash said from beside him. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the girls disappear over the side of the hill. Their screams and laughter filled the woods.

Part of him hated that Cash had mentioned it, because it was none of his business, but a bigger part of Reed liked that she was so obviously claimed now.

“Good,” he said unapologetically.

“Saw that one coming from a million miles away,” Timber said as she approached from behind. A red folder was hugged tight to her chest. It matched her cherry-red beanie and gloves. “I have something for you.”

“What is it?”

“The answers you need.”

He frowned. “What do you mean? I don’t have any questions.”

“Don’t you though?” Raynah asked from where she sat on a fold-out chair on the other side of Cash.

Timber handed him the folder, and after a moment of hesitation, he flipped it open to reveal a cover sheet with two words that dropped his heart to the snow.Farrah Parker.

He jerked his gaze to Timber. “What is this?”

“My sister asked us to do some digging,” Timber explained.

“Us, who?”

“Me, Katrina, and Raynah, who was the MVP of this little detective game.”

“You mean internet stalking,” Cash said. “Dude, we know you asked one of your old friends to look into your ex, and that’s where you messed up. You gotta hand that stuff to the ladies. They’re smarter.”

“Thank you,” Raynah told him with a nod as she cradled the swell of her belly.

Cash grinned. “Smarter, but still not stronger. I’ll be able to take you after you poop that baby out.”

“Oh my word, there he is,” Raynah muttered with an eye roll.

Reed flipped to the next page, and there was Farrah’s information. Her birthdate, list of jobs she’d held, information about his old Bank, and the rankings. His name was still listed as Second. Shit.

“Who all knows about her?” he asked.

“Oh, all of us,” Timber assured him. “After your little call-out and murder mission the other night, this was something fun to figure out together.”

He didn’t like everyone knowing his personal business, but he had to admit, he was curious about their findings. He flipped to the next page, and it was a list of relationships. He waslisted at the top with the years they dated. He was the longest relationship.

“It was off-and-on,” he rumbled, his blood chilled at the sight of their names linked together. “This isn’t accurate. Some of those years I wasn’t with her.”

“Oh, we figured,” Timber said. “Sasha explained the woman. She’s a mess, and it shows in her file. Keep flipping.”

He turned the page, and it was a list of traffic violations and arrests. That part surprised him.

“She went a little nutso after she got you arrested.”

Listed were several domestic assault charges, but she was the one arrested. There was a misdemeanor tampering with an investigation charge. Some fraud and petty theft. Two assaults on strangers rounded out the page of criminal records. What the hell had happened after he’d been locked up? She’d never had problems with the law before that he knew of.

The next few pages were collages of pictures of her and dates under them. She was rail-thin, and looked mean in every shot. Miserable, even. She’d lost the beauty that had allowed her to get away with so much of her atrocious behavior when she was younger, and the bitterness had settled so obviously into her face. There were no smile lines at all. She wore her dark hair in a mess on top of her head in every picture. Only her clothes changed. In none of the pictures was a man or child with her. On the next page was a selfie she’d taken, and her eyes looked empty. Her frown looked permanent. He flipped the page quickly, uncomfortable with old memories of when she’d begun to look like this—her true self. The last page held a list of her social media pages, and the second half was a copy of a birth certificate where she was listed as the mother. There was no father listed.

Chills, chills, chills.

He glanced at where Kade was dragging the girls over the top of the hill with the truck winch. Beautiful Sasha was wearing that heart-stopping smile, but it faded the second she set her eyes on his face.

This was the moment when everything would fall apart, and he was so sorry for it.

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