Page 46 of Chasing Forever

Just like I knew they weren’t currently resting on the hood of my car because Warren was sorry about anything. They were meant to scare me.

Unfortunately for him, his little plan didn’t work. I was done letting him intimidate and threaten me. I was done letting him control me with fear.

I spun around, looking in every direction to see if I could spot him, even though my gut was telling me he was long gone.

“You sick, manipulative bastard,” I said on a growl. I snatched up the bouquet and beat it against the hood. The flowers exploded, raining torn and tattered petals all over the place, but I didn’t stop until all I was holding were six scraggly twigs. Just in case hewasstill around and was watching, I wanted him to see I wasn’t scared of him. I was pissed.

I was in the middle of stomping the stems and grinding them into the dirt as I let out a string of curses that would have made a whole boatload of sailors blush when the sound of a throat clearing broke through my haze of rage.

I looked up to find Raylan Bradbury, Rhodes’s brother and the excursion guide for the resort, watching me like I’d lost my ever-loving mind. “Those roses do somethin’ to piss you off?”

I blew at the hair that had fallen into my face and tried to catch my breath as I struggled to get control of myself. “Uh... h-hi.”

His brows winged up toward his hairline. “You okay, Merritt? You need me to call Tristan for you or anything?”

“No. I mean, yeah. I’m fine.” I pushed my hair back, my fingers catching on a tangle from the little jig I’d just danced on those rose stems. My tongue poked out to wet my suddenly dry lips. “Um... did you happen to see someone sneaking around out here who looked out of place?”

His expression changed from humorous to serious. “What’s goin’ on, Mer? Did something happen?”

I curled my lips between my teeth. “Well. Kind of. But it really isn’t a big deal. It’s just... I think Warren was here.”

In the blink of an eye, his jaw tensed and he stiffened like he was on alert. “He what?”

“Really, there’s no reason to make this a thing. I’m pretty sure he’s already gone, anyway.”

“What’s going on?”

God! Was everyone and their dog coming through here right now?

I looked over my shoulder as Lennix came up to join us. “Nothing,” I answered at the same time Raylan said, “Her fucker ex was here, lurkin’ around.”

Lennix’s eyes bugged out so wide I worried they were going to fall out of her skull.“Are you serious?” she practically shrieked.

“Len, why don’t you rein in the screamin’ before you bust someone’s ear drum and get Merritt inside where it’s safe while I take a look around to see if he’s still here.”

The attitude Raylan just shot her way had me sucking in a gasp. Lennix threw him a glare so vicious I was shocked it didn’t melt the skin off his face, but she did it while hooking her arm through mine and giving me a little tug.

“And how about, while you’re out here looking, you see if you can locate that stick that’s been shoved up your ass and yank it out?” she snapped. Before he had a chance to rebut, she jerked me around and pulled me toward the lodge.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder and saw Raylan still standing there, watching as she stormed away. Competing expressions of anger and torment tore across his face before he shook himself out of it and took off in the opposite direction.

“Um, Len, sweetie, are you okay?”

She muttered a string of curses under her breath as we clomped up the steps of the lodge’s back deck. With her free hand, she pulled her cell from her back pocket and dragged her thumb across the screen, typing out something with that one digit with more skill than I had using both hands to text. The message she composed whooshed off, and she stuffed it back into her pocket before turning to me with a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I’m good. He’s an asshole, don’t think about it for another second.”

The moment we hit the lobby, Ivy and Becky were there, crowding around us. “Oh my God. Merritt, are you okay?” Ivy’s words came out in a rush. I knew without having to ask who Lennix had been texting a second ago, and I had a feeling I was about to have a lot more company.

Sure enough, Lennix’s text had gone around like a game of telephone, and within a matter of minutes, Rae, her husband, Zach, and Zach’s parents, Rory and Cord, had gathered in the lobby at the lodge. Ten minutes later, Tristan came blasting through the door like a hurricane, his gorgeous face twisted up with fury and concern.

He didn’t stop until the tips of his shoes touched mine. He reached up and took my face in both his hands, bringing his forehead to mine, and inhaled like it was the first full one he’d taken in the past several minutes.

He held me like that for several seconds, like he needed to feel me to reassure himself I was here and I was okay before pulling back and scanning me up and down. He still hadn’t let me go as his eyes traced every single inch of me.

I wrapped my fingers around his wrists and pulled his hands from my face so I could twine our fingers together. “I’m fine. I swear.”

Zach spoke up then. The angry expression on his face was one I’d seen him wear frequently, but Rae had informed me it was all for show. He played at being grumpy, but really, he was as soft as fluff on the inside.

“Rest assured, this is never gonna happen again. I’m callin’ Rhodes tomorrow and havin’ security cameras installed around the property.”

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