Page 58 of Beautiful Ruins
I’d already been chewing too close to the bone. Sadie. Logan. The mayor. Now this.
I pushed to my feet, running a hand through my hair as I paced the small office space. “I don’t trust it. But what else have we got?” It was a lifeline, even though the rope was frayed and about to snap.
Bear let out a long breath, crossing his arms tighter over his chest. “Who do you think it is?”
“Could be anyone.” My voice betrayed my impatience as I tapped my fingers against my thighs. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere with one thing, another load of shit decided to stink up the place. “Maybe someone did see something that night.” I shrugged. “Could have been too scared to say anything beforehand, especially if Snake and Nicky were the ones asking the questions.”
“If they were scared then, what’s changed now?” Bear watched me, unblinking.
He was gauging how far I was going to spiral over this. It was pretty fucking far, if I was being honest. But I had to appease Iron. If I didn’t so much as kick a rock in that direction, he’d have chewed off my arse quicker than it would have taken for me to blink.
I stopped for a second, considered his words, and then kept moving. “Don’t know. But if there’s a chance we finally get some answers, I have to take it.” I raked a hand down my face like I could somehow rub off the invisible dirt this town had stained me with.
It might have been a setup, a bad fucking joke, but the promise of knowing—it was like a drug, and I was already hooked.
Bear didn’t say anything, just nodded. He had my back no matter how close I was to losing my shit. The silence that followed was dense, almost too heavy to breathe.
Scout only broke it when he appeared at the door, breathing heavy. Jesus. Had he run the entire way here? What the fuck happened?
“VP?” He hovered, eyes wide as he bounced from foot to foot.
The way he stood there, like he was afraid to come any closer, had my heart pounding against my ribs.
I took a step towards him, forcing myself to stay steady. To stay fucking calm. “What the hell is it?”
Bear shifted in his seat, tension threading through him, mirroring my own. I stopped at the edge of the desk. Scout still hadn’t dropped whatever bomb he’d brought with him, and the waiting was practically burning its way through me.
Scout pressed a hand to his chest, struggling to suck in enough air to speak. His breath hitched as though he’d sprinted through hell just to reach me. He could’ve been dying. Didn’t care. I needed to know Sadie was safe.
With one last glance over his shoulder, he had enough sense to speak. “We have a problem.”
Was that it? Obviously, we had a goddamn problem. Did I have to shake it out of him?
“Get to the point, Scout.” My hands clenched into fists at my sides as I took another step forward, impatience clawing at me, ready to tear me apart if Scout didn’t spit it out fast enough.
But I didn’t have to wait for his response.
Sadie shoved past, ready to tear into me herself. Maybe part of me wanted her to—it was safer than having her hold me like she had the night before.
“You had Scout follow me? Are you serious right now, Rowan? After last night?” Her voice cut through me, her cheeksflushed.
Still, I couldn’t ignore the accusation in her tone. It was the kind that twisted my gut.
Bear’s gaze shot to me, a silent question written all over his face. I knew what he was asking—what the hell happened last night? I gave the slightest shake of my head and glared at Scout.
It was only a matter of time before he gave himself away. Still, I had hoped it wouldn’t have been on his very first assignment. What a circus this was turning out to be, and I was just the clown standing in the middle while everyone pointed fingers and laughed.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Your point?” The words came out flat, the need to fight with Sadie all but gone.
Any bonding we had done the previous night while she had cried into my shirt and stained it with her heartbreak, had shattered into oblivion. I was still trying to pull the shards from my skin at her outburst.
Sadie’s mouth dropped open as she stared at me. Did she expect me to grovel? To fall on my knees and bleed for a woman who didn’t even know what I was trying to protect her from. I wasn’t about to beg her to see my side of things. Everything I was doing was to keep her safe, and I wasn’t in the business of apologising for trying to keep the people I loved alive.
Ungrateful. That’s the word that came to mind.
“My point,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, “is that I’m not a child. I don’t need babysitting.” Her hair whipped around as she tossed a glance back at Scout—who looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. “Especially not by someone who looks like the human form of a golden retriever.” She lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. “No offence, Jesse.”
Scout released a shaky breath, his cheeks flushing. “Nonetaken,” he mumbled, while Bear’s laughter erupted, echoing off the walls and filling the room.
