Page 137 of Hot Shot

“She’s at therapy with Wilder. What do you need?” My voice is calm, easy, fake.

He rakes a hand through his shaggy, dripping hair. “I wanted to say goodbye to her.”

Goodbye?“Are you leaving town?”

Trent shakes his head. “I just don’t know when I’ll see her again.”

Oh my God, is he going to kill himself?“I’m sure you’ll see her soon. I know Wilder’s tough, but if you two just talk?—”

“No! No. It’s not that,” he snaps, his mood shifting again. “I know he thinks I killed Ashley. He’s keeping Cricket from me because he thinks I hurt her mom, but I didn’t. I didn’t do it.”

Something in the way he says it shakes me. In that moment, I believe him.

“I’m going to prove it,” he continues, shifting again to solemnity. “And I just wanted to say goodbye. But she’s not here. Sorry to bother you.”

Trent turns to leave, and I panic, afraid of what he’ll do if he leaves, afraid of what he’ll do if he stays. “Wait!”

He stops on the stairs and looks back.

“They’ll be home soon. Do you want to wait with me out here on the porch?”

He looks off for a moment, but in the end, he shakes his head. “He’ll be pissed I’m here. I thought she’d be with you like she usually is this time of day.”

My stomach turns.He’s been watching us.

“He’ll be okay. Maybe you two can have a real talk.”

Again, he shakes his head. “I get it. I fucking hate him too.”

“But you love Cricket. Do it for her.”

That breaks something in him, his face cracking. “I do love her. But I can’t even fucking see her until I clear my name. So that’s what I’m going to do.” He turns again.

“What do you mean?”

“Tell her I said I love her, would you?”

I rush into the rain behind him.“What do you mean?”

“Just tell her, okay?”he shouts over his shoulder through the noise.

I stop in the yard under the deluge of rain, stuck to the spot from shock and confusion, watching him climb into his truck and back out of the driveway.

And then I call Wilder.

CHAPTER 50

SAY ANYTHING

WILDER

My windshield wipers can’t go fast enough, which means I can’t go fast enough as I rush toward the house.

“Daddy?” Cricket asks from the back seat, worry thick in her voice.

She sees you’re upset. Calm the fuck down.

I take a deep breath and uncoil my shoulders. “It’s okay, bug. Everything’s okay.”

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