Page 69 of Rugged

“Can you get her phone number from that hacker in Arizona? I don’t even know how to warn her. If that’s where she’s heading.”

Grim determination lit his features. “Yes. I’ll get it. You get moving, and I’ll text you that information, along with the contact information for the Two Marks enforcers.”

I was already out the door and running before he finished his sentence. Now I just had to get Boyd’s keys from him and get my mate out of possible danger.

Hold on, Lyssa. I’m on my way.

And nothing is gonna stop me from proving what you mean to me.

32

EMMA

It started rainingwhen I arrived back at Chapman’s ranch. Lyssa came sailing out of the mansion in some kind of silk print moo-moo. “Emmie!”

I started crying the minute I opened the truck door.

“Oh no! What’s wrong?” She wrapped me in a hug. “Where’s the hot cowboy? Did you dump him?”

I couldn’t even speak–sobs wracked my breath. I was so relieved to be with Lyssa, someone who knew the real me. Who loved me for who and what I was. But my heart also felt cracked wide open. And I ached for Johnny. I missed him fiercely, as if driving off ripped something in my heart.

Still, he’d used me. Worse, I let my heart get involved.

I wasn’t sure if I was mad at him or mad at myself.

“Come inside.” She tugged me toward the front door. “Before we get soaked.”

We ran inside with our arms around each other, my tears mingling with the rain.

“Here, come over here by the fire.” Lyssa deposited me in front of the giant hearth and hit a button to make the flames light up. This was the fireplace in a small sitting room, not the huge wood one in the main room. The one that had a two story river rock chimney. She wrapped a blanket around me. “I’m going to make us some tea, and then you can tell me what happened to hot cowboy and whether I should hunt him down and kill him.”

At the mention of Johnny–my hot cowboywolf–my heart broke open wide again. God, I missed him so much. The pain of being used filled me with shame and humiliation.

My phone buzzed in my purse, so I turned it off. I needed uninterrupted time with my sister right now. It could have been Stan at his new work, and he was the last person I wanted to hear from right about now.

“So what happened?” Lyssa asked, returning with two mugs of peppermint tea. She curled up next to me on the sofa, leaning her shoulder against mine in solidarity.

I swiped at my face then took a sip of tea. “Oh my God, it’s a crazy story. So crazy you won’t even believe it.”

“Last I heard you guys were going to break into that box of sex toys.” She grinned and waggled her eyebrows.

At the memory of that extremely hot night my stomach twisted up with pain. That was what I was giving up–the most incredible lover I’d ever had. “Yeah,” I sniffed. “That was awesome. It was all really awesome until this morning.”

“What happened?”

“Turns out, he was just playing me to get to Mitch Chapman.”

Lyssa’s brow furrows in confusion. “What?”

I took another sip of the hot tea. It helped calm me down, so I could think. There was so much to tell her. “Okay, so what I didn’t tell you is that…I was pretending to be you.”

I glanced away, suddenly ashamed.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…when I answered the door and found this hot cowboy flirting with me, I wanted to feel wild and reckless. I wanted to be more like you–taking risks and having sex with whomever I want. So I said I was you.”

Lyssa stared at me in confusion. “You’re not making sense.”

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