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It was a candid shot, a tall, dark-haired man standing beside a horse.
Asher’s father. Momentary elation faded quickly when another realization set in.
This was it. The end of the road for me and Asher. He won’t need me anymore.
“I left Asher a message to call me,” Alan said, “but he hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”
“I’ll do it. Let me tell him,” I heard myself say.
Alan raised an eyebrow at me.
“I mean, when he calls, just make something up. I want to be the one to tell him…it’s big news,” I murmured, my heart racing.
Alan nodded slowly. “Fine, whatever you say, boss.”
“Thanks.” I got up and took the photo of Asher’s father and the slip of paper with the man’s address on it, carefully placing them in my bag to keep safe.
I had to tell Asher. He’d be so happy. His lifelong search had come to an end.
And me? I was going to be left behind again.
Just like always.
I’ll tell him, but not yet, the small voice in my head rationalized. A few days wouldn’t make any difference. Right? Right. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. I just needed a few days before I was alone again. Just a few days.
Winter
Bright and early the next day, I knocked at Selena’s mom’s front door. She let me in and directed me upstairs to Selena’s room.
She was an unmoving lump under the covers.
“Rise and shine,” I said, taking off my shoes and jacket and getting into the opposite side of the bed.
“Why are you here?” Her voice was muffled.
“Because you’re here and you’re my friend and I wanted to see you.” I reached out and tugged at her thick hoodie. “Please talk to me.”
Silence fell for the longest time before she spoke. “Has Trent been to see you?”
“Yes, he came to the game the other night, talking all kinds of crazy shit.”
Selena turned over. “It’s not crazy. I mean, it is, but it’s real at the same time. Did he threaten you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t care if he does. What’s he going to do?” I muttered. Trent’s words echoed in my head. Threatening my loved ones was more of a worry.
Selena swallowed hard. “He does that. He uses info on people you care about. When it seemed sketchy at the Cove, and I wanted to leave, he threatened Cici.”
My stomach turned. Selena’s little kid sister.
“He uses that to make sure you can’t go to the cops. If you could find one he hasn’t corrupted, that is. They have all angles covered.”
“I don’t understand what The Cove is,” I confessed.
“It’s everything. A gambling den, a place to buy and deal drugs and flesh. The women there — I don’t think they want to be. It was hell on earth. I thought he was going to kill me, or one of the other men would—” she broke off into sobs.
One of the other men?
I pulled her close and stroked her hair. A deep and striking terror hit me. Trent and his dad were crazy, but they were powerful. It sounded like they had a lot of money, muscle, and influence at their disposal. They weren’t the kind of people you wanted to get on the wrong side of.
