Page 50 of Winter's End

I’d tell them both about my discovery … tomorrow.

I peeked over Drew’s shoulder to glimpse my satisfied best friend; her perky nipples, her relaxed body, the soft lines of a sated smile.

She caught my eyes, and despite the gleam in hers, I could read the message, loud and clear. Fifteen years of friendship meant we had our own language, and I knew what she was saying.

Despite how right everything just felt, that moment we’d just shared had been for Drew.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling we’d done it for us, too.

CHAPTER 14

DREW

Ianxiously drummed my fingers across the hardwood table as the kind librarian looked up the selection I’d requested.

The Sequoia County library was a massive Grecian-style structure in the middle of the city center, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been here.

It had been over a month since my last shift at the diner, and the feeling of being useless while everyone else continued on with their lives was making me feel extra shitty.

With all the new revelations with Travis and Cam and their family ties, Winter’s father’s shady agent girlfriend, and now Shane’s dad’s affair evidence, I had volunteered to do some research today while everyone else was tied up with work and final exams.

Last night, I had stayed the night at Shane’s for the first time; Winter headed home to finish prepping for her exam this afternoon, so the two of us threw on our boxers and settled in to watch the next hockey game on TV, cuddling on the couch until we moved to the bed to pass out.

It was different waking up in the firm hold of a man’s arms, instead of cradling a woman in my own, but I couldn’t have chosen a better option.

Sleeping with a man was not something I had considered until I’d gotten to know Shane, and now, now, I didn’t know how I could evernotwant him. Did that make me bisexual, or more sexually fluid? I had no idea, but it didn’t matter what the label was.

I was into Shane; I loved Winter. That I could have both of them in my life the way they were was some incredible twist of fate.

And last night … My sex life was currently a roaring blaze compared to the dumpster fire it had been before those two came into my life, but … fuck. Every time I replayed the scene of Winter beneath me and Shane behind me, I got an instant hard-on.

I was going to chase that feeling between them until the day I died. Given our current set of circumstances, I really hoped that wouldn’t be soon.

The librarian led me to a dark room at the back filled with rows of cabinets of microfilm reels. She stopped at the cabinet with the dates I’d asked for, and left me to my own devices.

My conversation with Mom months ago had been reactivated by Shane’s discovery. There were too many coincidences; each answer brought up four new questions, and it all seemed to stem from their shared past.

The pain in Shane’s voice when he shared his father’s betrayal, and witnessing how torn Winter had been over the past few months over her father’s life choices, was enough to spur me into action. I wanted to help. And I could—by figuring out what bound their fathers to Georgio all those years ago.

A person didn’t just start doing illegal shit out of some act of friendship or loyalty, unless something cataclysmic was on the line. I could be pushed to do a lot of things out of the love I had for my family, but to risk absolutely everything meant I would have to lose absolutely everything in return.

Why would Darren and Emmett, two otherwise upstanding citizens with a very successful business, hitch their wagon to the likes of Georgio? Stanley and Camden were far easier to believe; Winter had shared little, but I knew both Hillary and Logan had divulged horror stories about their fathers.

And bad guys rarely started out as ‘bad’ guys. I couldn’t believe Georgio was an evil teenage boy; my mom had her faults, but she wasn’t the type to fall in love with the villain.

It was only a theory, but I had a feeling whatever happened to the Shambala Society in high school was the catalyst for the mess everyone seemed in today.

So, with all of my free time on my hands, I was out to prove it. Or at least find enough evidence to know I was on the right track.

It was why I used that year as a benchmark; I’d confirmed the exact time period with Mom on my drive to the library. Now, I was standing in front of hundreds of newspaper articles on tiny little film disks, hoping one of them had one lick of an answer.

It was hours before I got my first clue: an obituary and attached story about the accidental drowning of a teenage girl, Cheryl Simpson. The article said Cheryl’s body had been found at the bottom of the Cascade Falls River basin, so badly beat up it took three days to identify her.

I looked up theobituary of Brenda Simpson on my phone as my mind raced with the new information. There weren’t many Simpsons in these parts, and I couldn’t believe that this was a coincidence.

It wasn’t. Brenda was ‘predeceased by her loving little sister,’ Cheryl Simpson.

Shit.

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