Page 61 of Wicked Union

He folded the paper in half and set it on the table. "For now. Willow is out with a friend. So are the twins. And Cole is… I’m not sure where.”

The waitstaff set our plates on the table.

“Did Rhys go back to California?”

He dropped the cloth napkin on his lap and shook his head. “No, he’s staying with a friend.”

I sliced into my steak and chewed, delighted by the tastiness of the meat. “I’m sorry,” I said between bites. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

“It’s not your fault.” He put down the knife and stabbed at the meat with his fork. “Rhys has always been a troubled boy. His family is… Well, I guess I shouldn’t make excuses for him. But Rhys doesn’t come from a loving home. He’s never been shown how to treat people properly. Still, that doesn’t excuse what he did to you. You have my sincerest apology.”

I didn’t understand why Mark felt so bad. The Marshalls had been nothing but nice to me.

“When is my dad coming to get me?”

Mark scooped the fluffy potatoes onto his fork, speaking between bites. “I’m sorry, Grace. But I have bad news. The Colonel’s mission has been extended by six months. So you’ll stay here until he returns.”

No.

Dad said he would be here at the end of the summer. I needed him. My stomach filled with dread, the food churning in my stomach. I put down the fork and wiped my mouth with the napkin, hoping I could hold down my food.

Cole stumbled into the dining room with a bottle of Macallan raised to his mouth. "I need to talk to you. Alone."

Mark glared at Cole as he pounded the expensive liquor from the bottle. "We're in the middle of dinner. Sit and eat with us. We can talk afterward."

"No." Cole’s jaw clenched, his grip tightening on the bottle. "We need to talk. Now."

"Excuse us," he said, then led a drunken Cole out of the dining room.

* * *

Mark left in the middle of dinner and never returned. So I spent the rest of the night in my bedroom reading. Whenever in doubt, I always turned to one of my comfort reads to take my mind off things.

I read half the book before I heard a disturbance in the hallway. It sounded like something slammed into the wall, followed by a thud.

What the hell?

I glanced at the clock, surprised it was well after ten o'clock. Time had escaped me. When I started reading, it was a little after seven.

I kept telling myself one more chapter. But the book kept getting better and better. I both loved and hated when that happened. Sleep was great, but so was getting lost in a good book.

Another loud noise made my heart race. The hairs on my arms stood at attention. I stuffed the bookmark into the fold of the book and set it on the nightstand.

Someone turned the doorknob. Cole had warned me never to open the door for anyone but him. He locked me inside each night for my protection.

Shoes tapped on the floor, moving away from my room. As they retreated, the tension in my body slowly faded. A few minutes passed without a sound. So I slid onto the mattress, grabbed the book, and laid my head on the pillow. I flipped to the last page I read and tried to relax.

My eyelids fluttered. I blinked a few times to stay awake, slowly drifting. And when I heard another noise in the hallway, I didn’t have time to react before the door flew open.

Cole stood in the entryway, dressed in jeans and a fitted black shirt that clung to his muscles. Even drunk, with one eye slightly closed, he still looked like a god, oozing sex appeal.

"What are you doing in here?" I demanded. "I'm sleeping."

He approached the bed. "You can't stay in Devil's Creek. You need to leave before he hurts you.”

“I know you’re mad about Rhys, but I have nowhere to go.”

Cole pressed his palms to the mattress. “This is all Rhys’s fault. I tried to warn you, Grace. You should have listened to me. What comes next could have been avoided. Rhys has sealed your fate.”

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