Chapter 36
CY
James pulled the plug on the movie before I left Texas.
And the contract for the reunion tour and documentary are sitting in my inbox.
Fantastic.
Not only did I lose out on my movie, but I get to spend vast quantities of time with an asshole in close quarters. While we’re forced to make a tell-all documentary.
Is this hell?
“This fucking sucks.” Slumped over the island, I scroll through the contract on my phone and nurse my fifth cup of coffee for the day.
Turns out, I sleep like shit when I’m not with Sydney or not drunk off my ass.
After the attitude I got from Mama and Gramps the morning after Sydney left, I realized the ranch wasn’t the best place to lick my wounds.
I wouldn’t find any sympathy there.
Though my house isn’t much better.
“Language,” Lois admonishes from the other side of the kitchen island.
I roll my eyes, deciding not to mention that I’ve heard her drop an F-bomb or two. That would only earn me a fight I can’t win, and I’m tired of losing.
“Are you planning on moping around here for long? Or do I get the house to myself while you go make another movie?” She arches a brow at me as she wanders to the fridge.
“I’m not moping,” I deny.
I’m just sad. For no reason.
Really? That’s the way you’re playing it? For no reason?
She snorts a laugh.
“I’ve got eyes. You’re moping like a lovesick puppy dog.” She pulls out a bottle of water and wags a finger in my direction.
Fuck. Is it that obvious to everyone?
I ignore her comparison and focus on her second question.
“And to answer your other question, no on the movie, but I am leaving”—I scroll through the document until I find the dates—“in three weeks.”
Jesus. Twenty-one days until I have to see Soren again.
She frowns. “For what?”
Fuck. Who’s the boss and who’s the employee? She acts like this is her world and I’m just lucky she lets me live here too.
“Dust off your dancing shoes, Lois. Boys Next Door starts their reunion tour next month.” Can she hear the complete lack of excitement in my voice?
Her eyes narrow as she studies me. “You’re serious?”
I wish I was joking.
“Unfortunately.”
“After Soren’s book came out, you told me that you, and I quote, wouldn’t be around him again even if he was the only cure for certain death.”
She’s being kind. What I said was that if he were on fucking fire, I wouldn’t waste my spit.
“I—”
The doorbell rings, cutting me off. And a rapid pounding on my front door follows.
What the hell?
Leaving Lois in the kitchen, I rush to the foyer. The doorbell echoes off the tall ceiling a second and third time before I can get there.
“What the—”
I throw the door open, and the words die in my throat.
Her strawberry blond hair is in a messy bun on the top of her head. Her face is devoid of makeup, making the dark circles more prominent. And the emerald-colored eyes are a punch to the gut.
Because she’s looking at me like she loves me. Drinking me in, like she’s memorizing me. At the same time, I can’t stop staring at her either.
Dammit. I know better.
Do you?
“What are you doing here?” I cross my arms to keep from reaching for her.
Everything in me wants her back. In my arms, in my bed, in my life.
“If you answered your phone once in a while, I wouldn’t have had to show up here,” she says, barging past me.
“Hey!” I slam the door and whip around, following after her.
I haven’t missed any calls, but I have a call screening feature that doesn’t allow any numbers not programmed into my phone to ring through.
In the middle of the living room, she spins around, and I nearly collide with her. Staggering back a step, I cup her shoulders to steady her, though when electricity arcs between us, I drop them quickly.
“I know who Scarlett is,” she tells me.
A light burns in her eyes. An excitement I haven’t seen from her before. Proof that she loves the work she does, I assume.
It makes her even more stunning.
I want to know more. Learn more. Ask questions.
But she broke my heart.
I fell in love while she was pretending to be somebody else.
She lied.
Are you sure about that?
Sure that she lied? Absolutely.
About everything?
Gramps didn’t think so. Neither did Mama.
Is now really the time to be debating this?
Fuck. It’s like my brain short circuits when I touch her.
I step back and gesture to the couches, silently inviting her to sit.
She shakes her head, pacing to the windows and back.
With a sigh, I drop onto the couch cushion. “Who—”
“You know I work for SAFE Haven Security. And that I’m really good with computers. I’m their hacker. But I couldn’t bring my full setup with me to the mansion. Have you ever tried to hack using an iPad and phone?” she asks.
Rather than wait for a response, she turns and paces, continuing on.
“Not super easy. I was able to remote in a few times, but it wasn’t enough. And Cole doesn’t know enough about the systems to do what I do.”
Finally, she takes a breath, giving me an opportunity to ask a question.
“Cole?”
She nods, her lips pressed together. “He works at SAFE Haven too. He and Sawyer usually handle the security. He’s a security threat analyst, though I call him a security guard because it pisses him off.
You probably didn’t need to know that part, but anyway.
” She waves a hand dismissively. “We investigated all the contestants. Even the ones who left. Scarlett told you she would be on the show, so we assumed she would be a contestant. Only Cole kept running into dead ends. I kept running into brick walls. Nothing made sense. Cole’s actually in Seattle tracking one more lead on Jade, but—”
Confusion rushes through me. “Jade?”
For the first time since she showed up at my house, her eyes dim, her mouth turning downward.
My gut twists at the pain there. What’s that about?
“If she’s the one you chose, I’m sorry. But whatever Cole finds no longer matters because we know for certain that Jade isn’t Scarlett.”
Unease rolls through me. She thinks I chose Jade?
No, she said “if she’s the one you chose.”
Holy shit. She thinks I picked either Josie or Jade.
She has no idea that I didn’t pick either.
That I couldn’t.
And her presence here, standing so close, is another smack upside the head.
I love her.
Fuck. I force myself to get back on track. “She isn’t?”
She shakes her head. “No. But I finally know who is. The cabin was the key.”
Her cheeks flush a pretty pink and I’m transported back to that night, my dick reacting predictably in my jeans.
“The cabin?” I ask, my voice dropping to a growl.
She nods, her tongue peeking out and slicking along her lips.
Lips I want to kiss.
“What about the cabin?” I ask after several heartbeats.
“The cabin…” She shakes her head, like she’s found herself under the same spell I’m controlled by and is trying to break free.
“Wait, the cabin. That’s right. Featherlight rented out the whole ski lodge.
Including the cabin. Scarlett set up the cabin for you and her.
That’s why she tried to run me over with the four-wheeler. ”
My gut plummets. “She did what?” I surge off the couch, closing the distance between us.
Chill out. It’s not like the four-wheeler is in your living room.
Those moments replay in my head with perfect clarity. The headlights aiming right for Sydney. The cool air that swirled around us as I rushed her, pushing her out of harm’s way.
“That’s what she said in the note she left for me at your parents’ house.”
I blink, stunned. Fuck, I’m chasing the circles she’s running through, but I’m barely keeping up.
“She left you a note at the ranch?”
“Yeah. Well, it was more of a threat, really,” she says. “And some blackmail pictures—”
I take a step closer. “What pictures?”
And why does it feel like I’m seven steps behind?
Motherfucker.
“Pictures of you and me in the cabin. She set up cameras. Probably to get images of the two of you in a compromising situation. Instead she ended up with images of us and told me that if I didn’t leave, she’d send them to the tabloids.”
Is it inappropriate for me to ask to see those pictures? Asking for a friend.
On the heels of that ridiculous thought, the meaning behind her words hits me.
She had to leave.
But did she want to?
“Are you going to tell me who Scarlett is?” I ask.
“I’m getting to that,” she grouses. “So that cabin. It was rented along with the rest of the resort using a Featherlight credit card. Which meant that it had to be someone working on the show. So I ran social media scans on the whole crew and started diving into financials. That’s when I found it.
She hasn’t used a debit card or credit card in over six months.
” She puts her hands on her hips, frowning. “Who does something like that?”
I press the heels of my hands into my eyes and groan. I’ve gotten lost somewhere along the way.
“I have no idea.”
“Someone who doesn’t want to create a trail. Because they aren’t who they say they are. And social media confirmed. The deleted images I found were a dead giveaway. Mara Langford is a blond-haired, blue-eyed forty-something.”
I huff a breath. No. Mara Langford is brunette. With dark eyes.
Granted, it’s not hard to change hair color. But eye color?
“When I found the deleted photos, I ran a few of the images still posted on the profile—images of the woman we’ve met—and did a reverse image search.
Our Mara’s real name is Mary Rowan. Mary has been arrested a dozen times for stalking.
Six months ago, her online presence vanished.
That’s when she assumed Mara’s identity. ”
Mara? Mara sent me those pictures? And the notes that made my skin crawl?
The hair on my nape stands on end.
“Where’s the real Mara Langford?” I ask.
What did Mary do to her?
“That’s the part I don’t know. Sawyer is putting several other members of our team on it. And Cole, once he gets back from Seattle. But he’s still focused on Mara. The police showed up at her apartment, but she wasn’t there.”
“She’s supposed to come here. Tomorrow afternoon,” I tell her. “She said she has some documents I need to sign.”
Gooseflesh ripples down my spine.
Mara is really Scarlett. No, not Scarlett. Mary.
The smile Sydney shoots me is lethal.
And fucking sexy.
Really? We’re still on this?
Why wouldn’t I be? For the first time since Sydney left the ranch, I’m not absolutely miserable. She’s here. And I’ll do whatever I can to keep her here.
She lifts her chin. “How comfortable are you with being bait?”