Page 67 of My Three Mountain Men

“Is it hard on her?” I grumbled. “She seems to be leaving with a great deal of ease.”

Brooks’ scowl deepened. “You really think this is easy on her? On any of us?”

Below, I heard Ryder and the sheriff speaking, and I pushed out of Simone’s room toward the landing just as my older cousin ushered the lawman and our lover out the door.

Enraged at Ryder’s flippancy, I raced down the steps as he closed the door behind them.

“That’s it?!” I yelled. “You’re just going to let them go?!”

Ryder turned to face me. “As opposed to what, Knox?” he replied dully. “Force her to stay? Get myself arrested in the process?”

I grunted in frustration, feeling a gaping hole consume my chest. “We can go, too!” I yelled. “She needs support right now.”

“I offered,” Ryder said flatly, heading into the living room.

He was deliberately avoiding the front windows, but I needed to watch Simone drive off, to see if she would change her mind.

“She needs to take care of this, Knox. She doesn’t have a choice,” Brooks growled.

“She shouldn’t be doing this alone!”

“She doesn’t want us with her!” Ryder roared at me, bringing me back to reality. “Get yourself together, man. It’s done. It’s over. We knew it was coming, and now it’s here.”

My jaw slacked, and I looked to Brooks for help, but he turned away.

Fuck!! He agrees with Ryder! He’s just going to let her go!

“She wasn’t built for this,” Brooks mumbled.

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” I demanded.

“We have work to do,” Ryder told me flatly. “Stop wallowing and get your tasks done.”

He whirled away from us, leaving me trembling in the foyer as Brooks followed after him.

But that couldn’t be it. Simone couldn’t have just swept into our lives like a winter blizzard and thawed away in the spring. This couldn’t be happening to us, not again.

CHAPTER29

Simone

Irode in the back of the Jeep, and although I wasn’t handcuffed, I still felt like a prisoner.

“Explain it to me again,” Sheriff Connors said, peering at me in the rearview mirror.

I gritted my teeth. “What’s the point? You seem to have made up your mind about how everything happened already.”

“I’m an officer of the law, Miss Summers. I deal in fact, not social media fiction,” he scoffed. “To me, this seems like some kind of silly podcast come to life or whatnot.”

My eyebrow arched, and I swallowed a smirk. He couldn’t even get his terminology right, but I wasn’t about to correct him.

“I already told you what happened. I was in my hotel room when Aimee came to the door, angry.”

“About what?”

“She accused me of stealing her sponsorship with FlyGirl—”

“What’s FlyGirl?” Connors interjected, and I stifled another sigh.

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