Chapter 16
SCARLETT
“They’re here.” Luke stalked out of the dining room, where he’d been staring out the front windows ever since Emmett had texted that they were on their way.
They’re here. My heart jumped into my throat.
She was here.
Luke came into the kitchen and walked right for the garage door. “I’ll go outside and help them with the trailer. Then we’ll come inside. Hang tight.”
“Okay.” I nodded as he disappeared.
The second the door closed behind him, I sprinted upstairs for the office, taking my place by the window. I carefully peeled the shade away from the window, giving myself no more than half an inch to peer through.
A large black truck eased along the sidewalk and came to a stop. Behind it, on a long trailer, was an old rusted car that had seen better decades. My breath caught in my throat as the driver’s door opened.
Dash Slater stepped out, every bit as tall and built as I remembered from that awful night months ago.
Luke strode out of the garage, his gait slow and easy. From the outside, he looked so calm and collected. You wouldn’t know that he’d been restless since his meeting at the garage yesterday. Last night, he’d barely slept.
As had I.
I struggled to fill my lungs as the other doors opened.
Two men stepped out. One had dark hair tied in a knot at the nape. He was wearing a white tank top, his arms covered in tattoos. And there was a lot of arm to cover. I’d thought Luke was strong and muscular, but this man was like a mountain, sturdy and tall.
The other man was leaner, though still as tall as both Dash and Luke. He shoved the sunglasses off his eyes and into his messy blond hair, then shot a devilish grin over his shoulder at the truck.
Her boots came out first, one pressing into the blond guy’s ass before giving it a good shove to move him out of the way.
Then she hopped out, Presley’s hair reflecting the sun. She gave Luke a beaming smile as he put an arm around her shoulders for a hug.
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.
I hadn’t seen Presley since that night. Since Jeremiah had pulled the trigger. Luke had promised that she was okay. But not seeing her with my own eyes, it was hard to go on faith. It was hard not to picture her in that house, stuck in an endless nightmare.
Tears blurred my vision.
She looked happy. She looked healthy. Her smile was partly for show. Her eyes swept the house, searching. But even if her smile was fake, I didn’t care. My sister was here.
There were times when I’d dreaded this apology.
Probably because apologies had been associated with pain for the majority of my life.
The words I’m sorry brought back memories of my mother leading me into my father’s den, then leaving me to apologize for whatever thing I’d done that apparently deserved his wrath.
I’d swallowed my pride so many times it was a wonder I hadn’t choked.
But today, there was no dread. I wanted to apologize so badly, to make things right with Presley, that I felt like screaming it through the window.
Luke exchanged handshakes with the guys before the group clustered around the trailer.
Yesterday, they’d decided to bring a car over to Luke’s place as cover for this visit. The rusted junker would sit in the driveway and Luke would give the neighborhood a good show of tinkering on it occasionally.
If Emmett or Dash or Leo came over to talk about the Warriors, it would be under the guise of restoring an old car.
Maybe if Luke had hosted more barbecues with his friends, we could have just passed this off as a regular summer gathering, but the man worked too much to play host. If he did meet with his friends, it was at The Betsy, a place I wasn’t allowed to go.
Yet.
Work. Please, let this work. Anticipation and hope raced through my veins. Being on the river had given me a taste of freedom and now I was starved for it.
We had two big hurdles to leap first. The Warriors. And the FBI. But Luke’s meeting at the garage had started the race. And maybe, just maybe, I’d get my life back. No more hiding. No more fear.
Dash hopped up on the trailer and motioned for Luke to join him. The two of them walked to the hood and Dash popped it open, bending to point out certain things with the engine.
Luke nodded along, playing the part of an interested hobby mechanic. Then he nodded, held out his hand and shook with Dash before motioning toward the house. I read the word beer from his lips.
The men and Presley all followed him into the garage, strolling. Every step felt like twelve as I waited and waited for them to disappear from my view.
I set the shade to rights, careful not to move it more than necessary, then pushed out of my crouch and hurried down the hallway for the stairs. The door between the laundry room and the garage opened as I reached the balcony, and I froze at the railing.
Presley stepped inside first. She hurried to the kitchen, looking around the empty living room. When her gaze lifted to the stairs, finding me, she sucked in a short breath.
Then we were both running.
I flew down the stairs, my hand gliding over the banister as my feet nearly tripped over themselves.
She bolted through the living room, passing the couch just as I leapt off the last two stairs and collided with my sister.
We’d always hugged tight, but this one was like a vise. Between us, we could have pressed a lump of coal into a diamond.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted at the same time she asked, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, hugging her tighter. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” she whispered.
“Everything. For not leaving Chicago when you begged me to. For ruining your wedding. For Jeremiah. All of it. It’s my fault and I’m sorry.”
Presley let me go and leaned back, giving me a smile. “Have you been beating yourself up about this for months?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Luke spoke from across the house. “Yes.”
I shot a glance over Presley’s shoulder at the audience of handsome men watching. My cheeks flushed but I ignored them, focusing on my sister. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re forgiven.” She waved it off like it was nothing and with the gesture, I caught a shiny glimmer on her left hand.
She wasn’t Presley Marks anymore. She was Presley Valance.
And I was supposed to act surprised.
“What’s that?” I pointed to the stunning ring on her finger and the wedding band resting beneath it.
“Shaw and I got married.”
I feigned a gasp. “Shaw Valance?”
“I didn’t want to plan a wedding. Not again. Not without you there. So we flew to Vegas and got married. Just the two of us.”
I’d missed it, being here. I’d missed a milestone in my sister’s life. But she was so happy, I didn’t care. “Congratulations.”
I pulled her into my arms once more, our embrace fierce. Maybe if I didn’t let go, maybe if I held on long enough, some of her strength and resiliency would soak into my bones too.
“I missed your hugs,” she whispered.
“And I missed yours.”
My mother used to tell us that we were born hugging, that we’d come out of the womb together. We both knew she’d been teasing, but part of me had always wanted to believe it was true.
My earliest memory was of hugging Presley. We’d been huddled in the kitchen, on the floor beside the fridge, clutching one another. Dad had just come home from work and he’d had a bad day.
That was the first day I could remember hearing the smack of his palm meeting my mother’s cheek. I was sure I’d seen it before as a baby, but that day, something about the sound had made it stand out. It was like the crack before a boom of thunder.
Presley and I had held each other through the whole thing, and I remembered knowing that if I had her, we’d survive it together.
I’d believed it then.
I believed it now.
We’d survive it together.
“Pres, you want a beer?” Luke asked, opening the fridge.
“No, thanks.” She let me go and stepped deeper into the living room, plopping down on one of his couches and looking around. “You rearranged things. It’s so much better.”
I covered a smile with my hand. Luke caught my eye, giving me a slight headshake as he took beer bottles from the fridge and handed them out to the guys.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the living room. “I need to grab something.”
He brushed past me, bending enough to drop a kiss to my hair, then jogged up the stairs.
I walked into the living room and took the seat beside Presley, inching close so Luke would have plenty of room.
“Uh . . . you’re together?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “He’s one of the good ones.”
“I know.”
She took my hand, holding it as the guys came into the room.
Dash sat first, lifting a hand as he sank into a chair. “Hi. I’m Dash.”
“I remember.” I nodded, meeting his gaze with a silent thank-you.
He tipped his beer bottle my way before putting it to his lips.
“Emmett.” The large man with the dark hair came over, hand extended. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I returned his shake with my free hand, which was childlike in his grip.
Emmett sat in the chair beside Dash as the blond man came into the space, giving me a wave as he perched on the stone ledge in front of the fireplace.
“Hey, I’m Leo.” He shot me the same grin he’d given Presley outside by the truck. It was sexy and a little bit mischievous. This guy was the playboy.
Wait a minute.
Recognition dawned. The night I’d come to Clifton Forge, the night I’d gone to The Betsy instead of finding Presley, he’d been the man who’d kept pointing at me in his drunken haze. He’d been the guy who’d kept saying her name to my face until I’d finally gotten the hell out of there.
Luke jogged down the staircase with a manila envelope in his grip. He sat beside me, putting the folder and his beer on the end table. Then he put his hand on my knee.
That was my cue.
I sat straighter, holding on to Presley’s hand. “Where should I start?”
“The beginning,” Dash said.
“Okay.” And I did just that.