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I know it’s a threat, but I can’t help driving the thought home. “That’s the idea. That’s what you tell Charlene.”
Swearing under his breath, Monroe disappears into the trees, a phantom in the night. I keep the gun leveled at his exit. The others call mine and Rhett’s name on the wind. Satisfied Monroe got the message and has slinked off to lick his wounds, I wrap my grip around the warm silencer and twist until it comes off in my hand. I shove it in a pocket. I know the gun. It belongs to Anderson. I don’t like what that could mean. I’d hate to think my stepbrother was in on this plan. I pop out the cartridge, full except the one I expended. I slam it back in the base and tuck it in my waist band, careful to pull my shirt over it before I turn around.
I take a step toward the hill, determined to put this night behind me and forget everything that happened. It would be easy enough. I’ve done it before. But mid-step, I catch sight of movement, and I stop short. Rhett rises from the hill, easily concealed by the shrubs. By the look of astonishment verging on horror on his face, I wager he saw everything.
Rhett
“Did you guys hear that?” Carl jogs the rest of the way to meet me. “I swear that was a gunshot just a minute ago.”
Sunny looks at me with wide eyes, likely begging me to keep her secret again.
“Probably just a car backfiring.” I laugh the best I can and clap a hand over my brother’s shoulder. “Come on, it’s late. Some of us have to work tomorrow.”
I start walking for my truck, leaving Sunny by the log where everything was perfect. I can’t process what I saw. I thought I knew her, but when I used to daydream about what I didn’t know, I never imagined an assassin to be hiding in that slender body. The way she not only defended herself, but attacked with near lethal force, it’s beyond unexpected, it’s impossible. It doesn’t mesh with the person I thought I knew.
Smoke winds up from the fire where Nick has spread the coals. The girls take turns running buckets of water from the waves to the embers, giggles and chatter intertwining with the smoke. It feels wrong, like what happened in the cove and all this frivolity, it can’t exist in the same sphere. The contrast screams for justice.
Was I daydreaming? Did I imagine the whole thing? Why would I? A quick glance at the woman falling in step next to me assures me it happened. Worry stains her features in a way I haven’t seen since that first day I met her. The past caught her, but instead of dragging her away, she clawed her way back into my life. But why? It’s hard to reconcile the woman I kissed with the one who toyed with the life of a trained killer.
We stop outside my truck as I fish for my keys in my pocket. Glancing around, likely satisfied no one seems to be listening, Sunny sets a hand to my arm. I can’t help the way I tense. It’s impossible to unsee what I saw.
“Rhett. Let me explain.”
I shake my head, thoughts still swirling. “Not here. I can’t deal with this right now, Sunny.”
She flinches at the name I gave her. Is it because he used her real name? I didn’t hear it, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. Is she straddling two worlds right now? When she said she lied better than most, what was she referring to? Were her lies in her last life? Or was she lying to me this whole time to keep a home at the ranch?
Her hand falls away, and I feel its absence. I can’t turn the feelings off, not completely. I can’t forget that kiss, or the way her touch makes me glow brighter than Nick’s bonfire.
“We’ll talk,” I promise her before I unlock the door and climb inside. It’s definitely time to hash it all out, but I don’t know when, or how, I’ll manage it.
Chapter 24
Sunny
T
The ride back to he ride back to the ranch is nearly unbearable. Carl obviously knew something happened between Rhett and me. Each teasing unspoken inuendo drives a spike deeper into my heart. I had it all for a second, and then it was ripped away. I’d like to wallow in my own self-pity, but in reality, it’s Rhett who deserves the sympathy. I never intended for him to know about who I was before I came here. If only I’d told him earlier when I had the thought. He probably thinks I’m a trained killer. That story about being a spy looks all too accurate at the moment.
The truck jerks to a stop in front of the bunkhouse. We all pile out, but Rhett doesn’t go inside, and he’s not following me either. Without breaking stride, he starts for the barn.
Carl stops beside me. “What’s with him?”
“Not sure,” I lie. “I’ll go after him.”
A sneaky smile curves over his cheeks. “Yeah, you will.”
Ignoring Carl’s comment, I jog after Rhett, calling his name. But even when I’m still ten feet away, his speed hasn’t faltered.
“Rhett, are you listening to me?” I stop in the path, frustrated by the way the night turned out. “Let me try to explain.”
He whirls around, mouth parted with words that may never come. The confusion and betrayal spreads over his expression like thick tar. “I need some time, Sunny. Let me figure this out. Give me space, would you?”
Disappointment floods my veins. I don’t like my chances. Too much time to think, and he might see all the flaws he was willing to overlook before my run in with Monroe. It’s one thing to be a damsel in distress, but when he went from what he knew, to what I’ve been trained to do, the shift was more than he could handle.
I fall back a couple steps, heart still calling to join him, but Rhett’s figure disappears into the dark barn, and I have to give him what he wants. It feels like a long walk back to my cabin. I push open the door, but I can’t walk inside with my guard down. That’s what Monroe wants. I wish I’d kept the gun instead of stashing it on the beach. I grab a knife from the drawer and move from room to room.
Finally satisfied that I’m alone, I take a seat at the kitchen table. I lock on the empty chair across from me. It wasn’t long ago that Rhett was here. My feet kicked up, his securely and politely on the floor. I wish I had a time machine. I’d go back to that moment, back to a time when he still looked at me like I could do no wrong.
