Page 131 of Choices

“Okay. No police,” I say.

Pulling up another number, I hit call.

Bear’s voice croaks down the line. “Rogue?”

“I want you at my wedding.”

“Okay.”

“You shouldn’t have kept a secret like you did, but I get why. I loved my dad.”

“I know you did. So did I.” he says, emotion deepening his voice.

“And I love you.” I sniffle.

“I love you too. I always have and always will.”

“Okay. Tell mom I love her.” I end the call and swallow past the lump in my throat.

I can’t call Callan. I don’t trust myself not to fall apart at the sound of his voice. When I get home, I’m going to tell him I just want to get married now. I don’t want to wait or mess around with this wedding stuff anymore. I want to go to the courthouse and just do it.

Headlights beam in front of me, and my heart pounds, settling when I recognise the SUV and Monster’s face comes into view through the windshield.

Slamming on the brakes, I leap out of the truck and race toward him as he flies toward me, Cutter and Kitty following suit. We collide in a huddle of limbs. I’m cocooned between their bodies, each of them muttering their relief.

“What the hell happened?” Kitty squeals when they finally release me. A shirt goes over my head, Monster’s scent engulfing me.

“We killed him,” I exhale, pushing my tangled hair from my face. Tears like waterfalls trailing down my cheeks.

“We?” they say in unison. Monster stares at my passenger, his eyes haunted, a frown tugging at his forehead. Looking over my shoulder, I nod and smile. “We.”

Rolling the truck into the brush, Monster ushers us all into the SUV. “I’m going to drop you back at the motel, and then I’ll return and burn the stable. It will have your DNA, and we don’t want cops to come sniffing around us.

“Callan’s been blowing up both Kitty’s and my phone. We should take them home.” Cutter declares, slamming the door as we all take our seats.

“You can. I’ll follow on after I take care of that barn.” Monster grunts.

“If we tell Callan what happened, he will kill us all.” Kitty states what we all know to be the truth. I can clean up at the motel, but the bruise on my cheek will be hard to deny, and the mute girl we have in tow will be tough to explain. But telling him, he will lose his mind.

“We don’t tell him,” I say firmly.

It would hurt him to know I’ve been keeping secrets and it will be a betrayal to learn that Monster, Cutter and Kitty were part of those secrets.

“How are you going to explain the face?” Cutter asks, tsking.

Dick.

“I’ll tell him you did it.” I jest.

Whipping his head around to look back at me sat between Kitty and the girl in the backseat, his mouth pops open like a gaping fish. Kitty’s laughter feels my chest. “She’s kidding.” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

“I’ll tell him I took a fall.”

“I don’t like it.” Monster grumbles, his eyes flicking to the rear view mirror, looking between the girl and me.

“Noted.”

Silence envelops the small space as Kitty attempts to talk to the girl but receives no response.

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