Chapter 41
THEO
Iwas aware that I was insane, but Jesse was too, which was why I’d told him everything. We’d stood in his office at W&S and I’d come out with the whole sordid tale, ending with how I’d left at first light while Raquel had been sleeping soundly in my bed.
My brother had stared at me for at least a solid minute before he’d shaken his head. “Well, that’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”
Before I’d even had time to ask what he meant by that, he’d started helping. That was how I’d found myself in the back seat of Jacqueline’s SUV while she drove like a madwoman, her horn honking and her high heel pressed on the gas.
“Are we being chased?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder before looking back at Jesse in the passenger seat, looking as relaxed as if Grand Theft Auto: Westwood Edition was a normal day in his life.
He laughed and twisted to face me, a gleam in his eyes I hadn’t seen for a long time. Right now, he looked more like the Jesse we used to know before Jacque. The guy who’d always had the devil on his shoulder and mischief on his mind.
“We’re not being chased,” he said calmly. “Just trust us. We know what we’re doing.”
“Do you?” I asked, my eyebrows hiking up. “Is this what you two do for fun over weekends or something?”
Jacque didn’t glance away from the road, but a smirk appeared on her lips, her hands still white-knuckling the steering wheel as she wound through the traffic like a fucking Formula One driver dodging the competition.
“Nah. High-speed getaways have never been our thing,” she said calmly. “Hunting for chinchillas in South America, though? That’s always a winner.”
I blinked a couple times, beyond confused. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”
She laughed. “I’d tell you but we’re on a schedule here.”
“We’re also breaking at least six laws, but hey, who’s counting?”
“Me,” Jesse said mildly. “I think it’s closer to seven. We’re making good time, though.”
“It feels like you’re breaking me out of prison.” I glanced out the window, gripping the oh-shit handle when Jacque took another turn on what felt like two wheels. “Holy hell. I should drive with you guys more often. It’s actually kind of fun, assuming we survive.”
“Right?” Jacque finally took a quick look at me in the rearview mirror and grinned. “We are kind of breaking you out of prison, though. You need to be wheels-up before Alex realizes you’ve left the building. Literally and figuratively.”
“Your jet is fueled up and ready, right?” I asked Jesse, leaning forward slightly between the seats. “I wouldn’t put it past Alex to try to get the flight plan yanked if he figures out what we’re up to before we’re out of his familiar airspace.”
He checked his phone and nodded. “The pilot is just waiting for us, and don’t worry about Alex. He won’t know you’re making a run for it for at least a few hours. I’ve got Zach running interference for us at HQ.”
“You told Zach?” I groaned. “No. No, dude. Why?”
Jesse twisted to face me again, but this time only so I could see him rolling his eyes at me. “Do you honestly think I told him anything incriminating? Of fucking course, I didn’t. Have you seen that guy trying to lie? He’s terrible at it.”
“The worst,” Jacque agreed. “When he found out I was pregnant, it took Nate all of five seconds to break him.”
The private airport came into view up ahead and my pulse started kicking against my veins. This was actually happening. I was really doing this.
Right now.
It was crazy how fast it was happening, but I’d known as soon as I’d brought Jesse in that I had to be prepared for anything. The SUV rolled to a stop near the hangar and I tightened my grip on the giant duffle bag beside me. I had a carry-on in the back too, but that was it.
The sum total of possessions I was moving to another state with.
I opened the door before Jacque had even killed the engine.
“Good luck,” Jesse said when “How much do you want me to tell Alex?”
“That depends on how long we can stall him. But tell him everything,” I said, resolute in my decision but still nervous as shit about actually going through with it. “I’ll talk to him about it myself soon too. I just need to work out a few things first.”
Like Belle, I had a plan. Mine just wasn’t quite as meticulous. It was more of a broad-strokes outline than anything else, but it would work. It would be good. I was confident about that.
“Tell her the truth this time,” Jacque chimed in just as I opened my door. She spun in her seat as much as she could, given the size of her baby bump. “Call me if they need help with the estate stuff or anything else. I’m serious, Theo. The sooner you can get it in place, the better.”
I saluted her. “You got it. Give me a couple days at most. By then, I should have an actual update.”
She nodded, sending me a wide smile. “Give ‘em hell down there.”
“Will do.”
A few seconds later, I had the duffle swung over my shoulder and I was wheeling the carry-on behind me, jogging toward Jesse’s plane. As soon as I’d ascended the stairs, they lifted behind me, the crew already preparing for takeoff.
The engines hummed softly beneath my feet as I buckled into one of the leather recliners. We were just waiting for departure clearance. Then I’d officially be on my way back to her. My girl.
My stomach twisted itself into knots of excitement and terror. Alex was going to murder me when he found out, but while I would speak to him, I just had to get out of Illinois first. If I asked for permission, I wouldn’t get it.
Forgiveness, though, was a whole different ballgame.
When my phone rang with a call from Colin, I inhaled a deep breath, trying to center myself before I answered. “Hey, man. How’s it going over there?”
“Why were you living in a motel for so long?” he asked instead of greeting me. “I’ve barely been here twenty-four hours and do you know what else they’ve got here? Airbnbs. Dozens of them. Some are really nice, too.”
“So is the motel.”
He snorted. “Yeah, if we were in the eighties. Speaking of which, what exactly is wrong with Frieda? She cornered me for forty minutes while insulting my haircut and telling me that my shoes were impractical.”
“They probably are, but yeah. Frieda is honest to a fault. You’ll learn to love her, though.”
“I very much doubt that,” he said. “Also, who exactly is Raquel? I have no why you didn’t even mention her. She’s fucking stunning, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Oh, I noticed.” Hearing her name made my heart do these crazy somersaults that could not have been good for my health.
I leaned back in my seat as the jet started taxiing and closed my eyes, a relieved smile spreading across my lips.
“You found her then, huh? I’m glad. She’s a safer bet to talk to than Avery. ”
“So I heard,” he said, then paused for a long beat. “She asked about you. There’s a lot more to this story than you trying to help a family who won’t help themselves, isn’t there?”
“Yeah,” I finally admitted. “There really is.”
“Well, are you going to tell me?”
“Do you want me to do it over the phone or in person?” I asked. “I should be there in a few hours.”
“You’re coming here?”
“Yes.” I looked out the windows as the engines whined, preparing for takeoff. “I’ll be in the air within the next few minutes.”
“Then I suppose you’d better start by telling me everything.” He sighed. “Does Alex know?”
“No.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered, but as he listened to me explaining what had happened, I slowly started winning him over to my side, and in the end, he was fully onboard. “Okay, so you’re coming here to confront Avery and fix things with Raquel. I’ll meet you at the airstrip. Where to first?”
“Raquel,” I said without even having to think about it. “Thanks, buddy. I’ll see you soon.”
For the rest of the flight, I was torn between sending an email to Alex to explain and trying to figure out how the hell I was going to deal with Avery. Big brothers, man. They’re the worst.
Either way, by the time the plane began its descent toward the private airstrip about an hour outside of Quartz Pass, I was ready. The sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, the desert landscape painted in vibrant pinks and oranges.
Colin stood next to a rental SUV when I disembarked, his expression caught between disapproval, resignation, and excitement. I strode across the tarmac toward him, breathing in the warm air and knowing everywhere inside that this had been the right call.
“You’re insane,” he said as he popped open the trunk for my bags. “Alex is going to kill you and Jane is probably going to kill me for being an accomplice.”
“Tell her I threatened you with a coyote?”
He laughed. “A coyote?”
“When I’m the one who’s supposedly threatening you, it’s more believable than a shotgun.
” I tossed my bags in the back and strode to the passenger seat, the sense of home now that I was here so intense that it was almost overwhelming.
“Although I suppose if I’m going to be living here, I’ll probably have to get a shotgun. ”
He snorted as he dropped into the driver’s seat beside me. “You’ll need a whole collection.”
He started the engine and took off toward Raquel’s horse farm.
I kept my gaze on the beautiful, barren landscape outside, genuinely surprised by how at peace I suddenly felt.
The nerves and the anxiety over the two angry brothers I had to deal with was still there, but at the same time, I felt alive again.
Until we pulled into Raquel’s driveway to find it empty. The lights were off in the house and the Airstream. I frowned, glancing toward Colin. “Damn it. She didn’t mention having to go anywhere, did she?”
“Oh, sure.” He snorted. “We have a shared calendar now. I mean, one meeting and we’re besties. Relax, man. Maybe she’s just working or went to get a burger.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Or maybe I’d just missed my chance. The mere thought made me feel physically ill, but I blew out a deep breath and rallied. “Okay, well, let’s just go back to the Blossom Ville. I’ll try calling her in the meantime, but it’s no use hanging around here when she’s obviously out.”
“You got it.” Colin backed out, turned around, and drove us into town while I repeatedly tried calling Raquel, but there was no answer.
When we pulled into the motel parking lot, Frieda’s cigarette glowed in the semi-darkness near the office, but it disappeared before Colin had even parked. Her door slammed shut behind her as I climbed out of the SUV.
As much as I’d missed her too, I was kind of happy she didn’t know I was back yet. Her to-do list could wait for at least a few minutes. I tried Raquel again, and this time she picked up instead, a little breathless as she said my name.
“Theo?”
My eyelids slammed shut at the sound of her voice, my heart doing truly unacceptable things in my chest. “Hi, baby. Yeah, it’s me. Where are you?”
“Where are you?” she replied.
I frowned. “Why?”
At the exact time, she asked the exact same thing. “Why?”
She huffed out a breath. “Because I’m in Chicago!”
“What?”
“I’m in Chicago,” she repeated, frying my brain with just those three words. “I only realized when we landed that I don’t know how to find you.”
I shoved a hand into my hair and inhaled a deep, calming breath, but before I could explain that I was in Quartz Pass, headlights swept across the motel parking lot and I glanced at the truck they belonged to on instinct. My stomach sank immediately when I realized I recognized it.
Avery rolled to a stop near Frieda’s office and the driver’s door opened. He spotted me as he climbed out, his features instantly dropping into a tight scowl. Fuck.
“Stay there,” I said into the phone. “You’re still at the airport, right? So just stay there. I’m sending someone.”
I hung up without explaining or waiting for her to ask any questions. Then I slipped the phone into my pocket and turned toward Avery. If I was really going to get my girl back, I would have to survive her brother first.