Page 176 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
“That’s what I thought,” Cash grunted.
River shifted forward in his chair, voice dropped low in both urgency and encouragement. “You need to get her back to her home, Theo. Figure out a way to help her reconcile with her parents. Because this is no life for someone like her, and if you’re not careful, she’s going to become a permanent part of it.”
Theo lifted his attention back to the bar. Toga slanted him a look of challenge before he returned his attention back to Scarlett.
Discomfort dripped from her as she glanced back at Theo.
Nausea roiled in his stomach.
He was so damn torn.
Insides ripping and thrashing.
Wanting to be something different.
Wanting to be someone better.
But he was sure, sitting there, that he was never going to be.
He glanced around at his crew, and his teeth gnashed as he said, “I’ll handle it.”
THIRTY-FIVE
PIPER
Bright,wintry rays of sunlight poured in through the picture window that overlooked the lake.
The horizon was painted in that striking, fathomless blue.
A promise of peace and opportunity drawn in the peaked summit of the mountains in the distance.
While I stood biting my lip and pacing the kitchen, rereading the texts that had come in after I hadn’t responded to Raven’s confirmation text asking if I was coming to her house that came in earlier this morning.
Raven
Don’t make me chase you down.
Charleigh
Believe me, I know from experience, she is not joking. You’d better show or else you’re going to end up in her trunk. Gagged and bound, her prisoner forever.
Raven
I think it’s Theo who wants to gag and bind her and keep her his prisoner forever.
Emery
Fact. He showed up at the store yesterday to whisk her away in a car he bought for her. The man is done for.
Wait, what? Bought? That car was a rental.
And Theo had all but told me last night that he had nothing to give me. The cavern of secrets and shame carved in the middle of him was too deep for us to ever cross.
No way for us to meet in the middle.
Which nearly freaking killed me.
I’d tossed all night, silently begging him to change his mind and come to me. To offer me the same that he was asking of me.
