by Emma Renshaw
I closed my eyes for a second as one of them gasped and nudged the other. They had spotted me. I opened my eyes and slowly rose from the chair, rubbing my hands down the front of my jeans.
I hadn’t seen Allison’s and Macy’s moms since a very brief visit in the hospital. Their funerals had been held while I was still in the hospital. I’d never seen where they had been laid to rest.
“Zoe,” Mrs. Reagan, Allison’s mom, whispered.
“Zoe,” Mrs. Boller, Macy’s mom, repeated.
“Hi,” I said lamely. My shaking hand came up to my throat, snagging on the peach charm on my necklace. I needed all the strength I could muster for this moment.
They stepped forward and scanned me from head to toe. I fidgeted under their gaze, but I resisted the urge to tug down my shirt and hide the small amount of skin that I was showing. The backs of my eyes pricked with tears, and my nose burned. A giant, burning hole filled with lava should have opened below my feet and swallowed me whole. I was standing in this shop and their daughters weren’t. I’d blocked so many memories of them from my mind; I couldn’t handle it. I was weak and undeserving.
Standing in silence in front of them reaffirmed that I needed to find the spot to lay Georgia to rest and leave town. For good.
“I heard a rumor you were in town,” Mrs. Boller said. “I didn’t think it was true. You left and forgot about this place.”
“I never forgot,” I answered in a shaky voice.
“Why are you here after all this time?” Mrs. Reagan asked.
I swallowed. “My aunt passed away and wanted her ashes spread here.”
Mrs. Boller sneered and my heart cracked in half. Before the sneer, they’d looked so much like their daughters. I missed them desperately. “Why? This was no longer y’all’s town as soon as you left it. The rest of us were left to pick up the broken pieces. Our girls would be ashamed of you for leaving.”
I gasped but nodded. These were words I’d told myself over and over again through the years. I wanted to humorlessly laugh. They didn’t even know it was me who’d started the collapse. If they had, this would be even worse. They’d chase me from this town before I could even string a sentence together.
“It’s hard enough to walk these streets knowing our daughters never will again,” Mrs. Reagan hissed. “Do your business here then leave.”
They turned on their heels and strode from the shop. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I knew other customers were staring at me. I could feel their eyes burning holes into my skin. I fell into the chair, still trembling. I grabbed a napkin to dab my eyes. Each breath rattled as it left my mouth. I was on the verge of a complete meltdown and needed to leave, but I wanted Mrs. Boller and Mrs. Reagan to have a chance to walk away before I ran into them again.
“Zoe,” Adeline whispered and kneeled in front of my chair. “Are you okay? They’re bitches. Ignore them.”
I shook my head and laughed once. “They’re not bitches. They’re right. I don’t belong here and I haven’t in a long time.”
Adeline grabbed my hand. “Listen to me. I know you lost your friends that night. We all lost something that night.”
I wondered what friends Adeline had lost. I didn’t know her well enough to know which of the thirteen names seared into my mind belonged to people she’d been close to.
“You aren’t the only person that left after the fire. A lot of people did. A lot of families did. Macy’s and Allison’s moms stayed and, while I didn’t know them well, they came into the shop every week for coffee. They were so different after the fire. They’ve closed ranks together and shut everyone out. They won’t speak to Makenna or her mom. In fact, Makenna’s mom had a knock-down drag-out fight with them on Main Street several years ago. My nose was pressed to that window watching. Ignore them, Zoe. I’m so sorry for what they lost, but they aren’t the only ones who lost someone, and it doesn’t give them a right to be rude.”
I nodded. I heard her, but I didn’t believe her. They had every right to be rude to me. “Thanks, Addie,” I said. “I need to get going.”
“Zoe,” she called after me, but I left, picking up my pace to get to my car. My gaze stayed down on the sidewalk until I reached the driver’s door.
A note was tucked under the wiper blade. I grabbed it and opened the folded note. I grasped the picture inside before it could flutter to the ground. For the second time in just a few minutes, my heart stopped for a moment before it began to race.
It was a picture of me walking with a large framed portrait in my hands. I was smiling and approaching Makenna, Allison, and Macy. It was the night of the fire. Who had taken this? Why did they have it? I lifted the typed note to read it.
You’re not wanted in this town.
Leave before you kill the rest of them.
19
Ridge
My tires squealed as I slammed my brakes next to Zoe’s car. She was sitting inside, hunched over the wheel, and her back was shaking. My chest clenched as I raced around and opened her door. She had called me ten minutes ago, explaining in a shaking voice that she had received some kind of note and didn’t know what to do.
I’d walked through my door only a few minutes ago after an overnight shift. I wanted to shower and crash in bed for a while before going to see her. When I saw her name flashing on the screen, I smiled, loving that she’d reached out to me first. She usually waited until I let her know that I was free.
I smiled until I heard the break in her voice. I was already walking back to my truck to head to wherever she was when she started to explain what had happened in a string of words broken by tears.
I hauled her against my chest and hugged her close to me, laying my hand on the back of her head. “What happened, baby? Let me see the note?”
She handed over the note without moving her face from my chest. Her breathing was slowly coming back under her control. I held it in front of me. It was on white computer paper and typed in a standard font. Anger rushed through me as I read the lies printed on the page.
I kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back slowly. “I’m going to call Colt.”
She leaned back, shaking her head. “No. I shouldn’t have even called you. I’m sorry.”
I cupped her cheek in my hand. “You did the right thing by calling.” I felt pride that she’d called me and told me. I wanted to be that man for her, the one she called without hesitation and knew would show up, no matter what. “What happened?”
“I came out of Joe & Pages and found that note on my car, under the wiper blade.”
“I need to call Colt. This isn’t okay, and it needs to be reported. There probably isn’t much he can do now, but at least there will be a report if anything else happens.”
She reluctantly nodded. I tugged my phone from my pocket and dialed Colt’s number.
“I just got off the phone with your chief, giving him an update,” he said. “The man you carried out is homeless. He confessed that he was paid by someone to stay inside while the fire started and to have a firefighter carry him out.”
“Why?” I asked, rubbing my free hand up and down Zoe’s arm. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her cheeks were filled with color. Even after crying, she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I leaned forward, unable to resist pressing a swift kiss to her lips.
“He doesn’t know. I reckon whoever started the fire and hit Foster over the head wanted to separate the firefighters that came into the building so it would be easier to subdue one of you.”
“Fucking bastard,” I growled. After the fire had been put out and the scene cleared, the other firefighters had found a bloody wrench. It was the weapon used to hit Foster on the back of the head. “Foster’s pissed he can’t work until his stitches are out.”
Zoe’s eyebrows pulled together and I shook my head, continuing to talk to Colt. “That’s not why I’m calling. Someone left a threatening note on Zoe’s car. I’m with her on Main Street, outside of Joe & Pages. W
ant to come down here and sweep her car for prints? Or want us to come into the station for a statement?”
“Fuck. I’ll be there in a few.”
I hung up the phone, stuffing it back into my pocket. I kissed the end of Zoe’s nose and leaned my forehead against hers. She wasn’t shaking anymore and there were no more tears, but I felt her pain and sadness as if it were my own. “He’ll be here in a few.”
“What happened to Foster?” Zoe asked, skimming her fingers along my chest.
“He didn’t want anyone to know.”
“I won’t tell,” she whispered. I kissed her forehead. I wasn’t able to keep my lips off of her. I wanted to wrap her up and slide inside her until she was screaming my name and forgot this note had ever existed. It was wrong. I wanted her here. I was going to prove to her that she was wanted in this damn town.
“We had a fire in an empty building a couple days ago. I carried a man out. Foster was the only one inside while the others were outside checking vents. When I left with the civilian, someone hit Foster over the head with a wrench.”
She sucked in a breath and gripped my biceps, her nails digging into my skin. “Is he okay?”
I nodded. “Had a concussion and needed a few stitches. He’s bitching that he can’t go on the truck until his stitches are out. He’s fine.”
She removed one of her hands, and I wanted it right back on my skin. I wanted her skin against mine, every inch of it I could get. Her soft breasts against my hard chest, her warm thighs wrapped around me. I didn’t know that I would be able to settle down after seeing the fear in her eyes until I had her under me with my hands on her body.
“I’m so glad he’s okay.”
“Me, too, clover,” I said softly as Colt pulled up on the other side of Zoe’s car. He was scowling beneath his aviator shades, and each long stride to us was purposeful.
“What happened, Zoe?”
She took a deep breath and explained about finding the note. She handed it over to him, and his eyes scanned the page several times. He went back to his car to grab a sealed evidence bag before returning to us. “Was there anything else with the note?”
Zoe swallowed and looked down at her hands, twisting in her lap. Her hands started shaking and her eyes closed.. “No, it was only the note.”
I had a feeling she was lying. I looked up at Colt, and I knew he thought she was lying too. But, why would she lie about that? What could’ve been with the note that she wanted to keep hidden?
“Are you sure?” Colt asked Zoe.
She turned her gaze to him and nodded. “I’m sure. It was only the note.”
“Fine,” he said, placing his hands on his hips above his heavy gun belt. “Are you able to leave your car here for a while? I’ll have the techs come out to sweep it, and you can get it later. I have your statement and won’t require you to stick around.”
Zoe’s eyes turned to me. “I’ve got you, clover,” I whispered.
“That’s fine,” she said to Colt. “I can leave it here. I didn’t have any plans today.”
I pulled Zoe from the car and loaded her into my truck. I turned to Colt and he spoke quietly. “She’s lying. Figure out what else was with that note.”
I nodded.
I rounded the hood of my truck but stopped short. “A lot of shit has happened, but don’t think we forgot about our pink shirts and surprise snakes.”
Colts lips twitched. “No clue what you’re talkin’ about, Ridge.”
20
Zoe
A glass of deep ruby merlot sat on the aged oak tabletop in front of me. Ridge stood behind me with his chest pressed against my back and his arms caging me in as if I were going to run away. The ice-cold beer he was drinking was sitting next to my glass of wine. Makenna was one side of me, Delilah was on the other, and Colt and Foster were on the opposite side of the table. I still wasn’t sure how I had ended up here.
I wasn’t in the mood to be out. The words typed on the page and the picture of me that no one knew existed were playing on a loop in my mind. But when Ridge dragged me from his bed, where he’d held me for hours after leaving Main Street, and told me to get my pretty ass dressed, I didn’t argue. The next thing I knew, I was going into The Watering Hole, a place I’d spent many nights, in my teenage years, trying to con my way into.
Conversation buzzed around me. Ridge swept my hair to one side and kissed my bare shoulder. Foster smirked from across the table, but he didn’t say a word as he raised his whiskey to his lips for a long drink. Makenna chuckled. She’d seen us leaving Gunner and Delilah’s party two weeks ago and had relentlessly questioned me for several days.
It seemed the only one who hadn’t known about my fling with Ridge was Delilah. She gasped. “What—when—how—when? When did this happen?” she stammered.
I felt Ridge’s smile against my skin and my answering blush spreading up my neck to my cheeks. Most of the time, I was happy with how I looked. I liked my pale, obviously-going-to-sunburn-easily skin paired with my shockingly red hair, but when it came time to hide my feelings, I didn’t like it so much. The slightest tinge of any feeling and I was lighting up like a Christmas tree, unable to hide.
“Your party,” Ridge answered.
“Are you staying?” Delilah asked.
I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and slowly shook my head. “No. We’re just having fun while I’m here.”
Ridge grunted and Delilah frowned. I changed the subject. “Where is Gunner this week?”
She sighed as her frown deepened. “He’s in Ohio, then he’s off to New York next. This is the longest road trip of the season. He’ll be gone for twenty-one days. He wanted me to tell you, and I quote, ‘don’t listen to whatever fucker wrote that note, Zoe.’”
I grimaced. Ridge had been telling me since that morning that I shouldn’t think about it, but how could I stop? Weren’t they right? I knew they were. I didn’t belong here, and I knew I should leave. Each day I extended my trip it seemed harder and harder. I’d had every intention of spreading Georgia’s ashes and getting out of Hawk Valley, unnoticed, as quickly as possible, but my plans had gone to hell in a handbasket. I couldn’t leave Makenna right now. I needed more time with her. And I wasn’t ready to walk away from all that was Ridge. Ridge had bewitched me with his slow, deep kisses, rough hands, and sexy words.
“Thanks,” I said quietly. I wasn’t going to argue with Delilah, but I knew the truth. I didn’t belong here.
“Gunner’s right. Don’t believe that note or anything else that person might’ve left,” Colt said. I froze, staring at him with wide eyes. I tried to relax. He couldn’t know about the picture, could he?
Ridge’s hands coasted up my arms, and the tension mounting inside me eased under his touch. He gently whispered in my ear, softly enough that no one at the table could hear his words except for me. “You’re wanted, Zoe. We all want you here, clover. I’d fight anyone who tried to convince you otherwise.”
I shivered in his arms but didn’t respond. I wanted to believe him. I wanted so badly for it to be the truth. I wanted so badly for his words to be the only ones I believed, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t forget the original guilt that had pushed me from this place.
“Is it possible that whoever threw the fireworks also left the note?” Makenna asked. Her brow was wrinkled and lips pursed as she thought about it.
I hadn’t considered that. I’d thought the firework incident was random. In the last couple of weeks, I’d chalked it up to teenagers pulling idiotic pranks. My gaze snagged on Ridge. Someone had attacked Foster. Delilah and Makenna didn’t know about that, but I was now wondering if that could be connected too. It seemed strange, all these incidents happening so close together.
Colt’s eyes were cast down to the table but moving rapidly as he worked through that thought process. I wondered if he believed it had any merit. I took a long drink of my wine. If there was a chance that this was because of me, as the note hinted, then I truly did need to
leave town.
Ridge kissed my shoulder again. “Come on,” he said and squeezed my hip. I leaned to the side and looked up at him with an arched brow.
“We’re going to dance,” he said with a sly smile on his face.
I opened my mouth to protest, but he shook his head. “Yes, we are.” He grabbed my hand, dragging me from the chair, and pulled me toward the dance floor. He found an opening between the other couples two-stepping around the floor and spun me into his chest, leaving no room between us.
“Stop thinking,” he grumbled next to my ear. His lips were so close, his breath brushed over my skin.
I scoffed. “Sure thing.”
“Look, someone may not want you here, and I’ll bet their reasons are bullshit, but that’s fucking life, clover. You’ll never make everyone happy. The best you can do is live for yourself and the people you care about. The people you care about?” He paused, leaned down, and slid his lips over my exposed shoulder and up my neck to my ear. “They all want you here. Every person at that table is here tonight for you. They’ve been blowing up my phone all day to check on you. They’re here for you, not for some random night out. Not for a beer or a glass of whiskey, but for you, baby.”
My breathing hitched and I laid my head against his shoulder, listening to his heartbeat, as he swept us around the dance floor effortlessly. His voice became deeper as he talked, his desire to convince me laced in every word. My body shook with his conviction. “Some people may not want me here in this town. I don’t care. Makenna sure as hell doesn’t want Chase here, but that doesn’t mean he’s leaving. He’s finding a home with his new brothers and sisters at our station. You know what Gunner, Delilah, and Tuck went through just a few months ago. Put all those words out of your mind, because they don’t matter. The people who care about you matter, and we want you here. I want you here. Hell, I wish this weren’t a visit for you. I wish you were moving back.”
