Page 100 of Dirty Little Mistake

"You know guys like him don't usually walk away that easy."

She nodded again. "Yeah," she said. "I'm figuring this isn't the last I've heard of him."

"What's your plan?" The question hung between us, heavy with everything unsaid. Everything that could happen if she stayed.

Syn traced patterns in the wet sand with her toe. Once. Twice. Three times before answering. "Jax and Kaia offered theirplace." The words came slow, testing the weight of them. "Kaia needs help with the baby, and Jax..." She swallowed. "He said he'd front the money. For my own tattoo shop if I moved with them."

"And?" I watched her face, reading the micro-expressions I'd learned from years of being her brother. The slight furrow between her brows. The way her teeth worried her bottom lip.

"And what?" False lightness. A deflection as familiar as breathing.

But deflection meant she was considering it. Meant she was scared enough to consider it.

That, more than the blood or the bruises, made my stomach turn.

"You should go. Put some distance between you and Sebastian. Plus, I'm not going to be here much between recording and touring."

"What about Camryn?"

"She finishes school this year." I kicked at a broken shell, sending it skittering across the sand. "I'm hoping she'll go with me."

The corners of her lips lifted into a grin, the first real one I'd seen all night. "Then you need to lock that shit down." She bumped her shoulder against mine, momentarily forgetting her own troubles. "Let her know this is real. That you're serious?" Her eyebrows raised. "Well, if you are serious?"

"What, you mean like marriage?"

"That is the end game, right?"

"Honestly," I sighed, "I love Cam. The thought of losing her again makes me sick to my stomach, but marriage terrifies me."

"Because of Mom and Dad?"

I nodded, my jaw tight.

"You and Cam aren't Mom and Dad." She stopped walking, forcing me to face her. "I don't think our dad was really capableof loving Mom—not the way she deserved to be loved, but you..." Her finger jabbed into my shoulder, punctuating each word. "You are capable of loving Cam the way she deserves to be loved?"

She was right, but she was also the queen of changing the subject to take the heat off herself. "I will definitely think about it, but back to you and moving."

"I don't know, Tryst. My whole life is here."

"Do it for a year, and if you hate it, you can come back?" Her eyes met mine. "Do it for me?"

"I'll tell you what." Her artist's eyes traced the ink visible on my forearm. "I'll go with Jax and Kaia if you'll be my first customer when I open my tattoo shop."

The corner of my mouth lifted. "You want to give me another tattoo?"

Her fingers sketched invisible designs in the air between us.

If letting her give me a tattoo meant she moved as far away from Sebastian to safety, then I would do it in a heartbeat. "Okay, deal." I caught her hand, squeezed once. Promise sealed.

Chapter 49

Camryn

Sitting on an extra large beach towel with Trystan's arm wrapped around my shoulder, I watched as the sun slowly set, and for the first time in a long time, everything felt right. Like I was exactly where I was supposed to be with the exact person I was supposed to share this moment with.

It was our last night here. Everyone else had returned to reality, but Trystan asked me to stay one more night with him, and there was nothing else in the world I'd rather do. Tomorrow, we’d return to the reality of our lives, and who knew what would happen? But tonight, none of that mattered. Tonight, there was only him and me.

"So Jax and Kaia are leaving for Red River in three days, and Syn is moving with them?"

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