Page 67 of Rugged

I droveout of Cooper Valley and parked at a scenic pullout on the side of the road.

Thankfully, my cell had been in my purse when I fled.

I swiped at my face, wiped at the tears. Sniffed.

Called Lyssa.

“Emmie!”

The sound of my sister’s voice had tears filling my eyes again.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Back at the ranch. Where are you? I thought you were staying for a while.”

“Is Mitch Chapman there?” Iasked, first thing. If Johnny said he was a dangerous man… shifter, then I believed him.

“What? No. I got back from Ibiza last night.”

“Is the sultan with you?” I wondered. I wasn’t going to mess with her and her man.

“Raj? No, silly, we had our fun, and he’s on his way to some horse show in Dubai or something.”

Right. Raj was the flavor of the week, and she was done with that taste.

“So no one’s there with you?”

“All is quiet. Except we could be eating chocolate chip cookie dough and talking about boys if you were here.”

That sounded good. I missed my twin fiercely. Especially now after trying to be just like her the past few days.

“He hasn’t called you?” I asked, worried.

“Mitch? Why would he call me?”

“Because you’re his caretaker.”

“Of his place inMontana,” she said, her voice telling me she thought I was a dummy. “One of many properties. He probably doesn’t even remember he has a place here. It’s what they’re all like.”

I had yet to meet one of her rich employers.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I… I’ll be there in a couple hours, and I’ll tell you everything.”

She squealed with her usual perky excitement. “Good. I can’t wait to see you. You won’t believe what the sultan and I did on his private jet.”

That made me smile, just like she always could. Lyssa, the carefree one. The one who met a sultan from some far off country I’d never heard of, went to Ibiza, and did something probably pretty naughty on his private jet.Privatejet. And she was laughing about it.

Then there was me. I tried to be just like her, and I left the situation in a stolen truck, with a broken heart and no bra.

31

JOHNNY

Too agitatedto do anything else, I shifted into wolf form and ran. Fuck!

Fuckity fuck fuck.

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