Page 136 of Sinners Reunion

Well, shit.

“I went there to look for you first. You didn’t engage the after-factory locks again?” He tsks. “Such a shame. I thought you would have learned your lesson.”

His hand snakes lower, and I swat it away before it reaches my breast.

“Uh-oh, someone’s getting their strength back.”

“Why are you doing this? You had a fiancé, for fuck’s sake. This can’t only be because you’re obsessed with me.” The realization dawns. “You meant to shoot King, didn’t you?”

“I did. Swapped that silly prop gun for the real thing. I wanted my revenge, and I still want it, but now I want you too. And maybe a music contract in Nashville.”

My brain snags on that second thing. “Before you Coyote Ugly your way any further into your delusions, let’s back up. Revenge? For what? And against King?”

“You want to know why I want revenge?” He tries to turn my face toward his, but I can’t handle the breath again. Not when I’m trying to gather the courage to ram my knee into his balls. “It goes back a little further than my infatuation with you. Right now, you just need to promise me that you’ll stop King from telling everyone I fucked Charity.”

“I’ll do no such thing.”

“Oh, you will. Because if you don’t, I’ll tell everyone that King is actually Daddy Carter.”

My pulse thunders in my ears. The rush of blood sounds like ocean waves, and I’m drowning again. “Why would you think something like that?”

“I had my suspicions, but when King screwed up one night and broadcast his and Jim’s conversation to my CB radio, I knew for certain. Now I have all the proof I need.” He pulls the cell phone from his pocket—the one with all the videos on it.

Fuck.

“So like I said, you’ll agree to my terms, or I’ll end your geriatric lover’s life a few days prematurely.”

I push Blayne off me, but I don’t run. He has something much bigger than sexual assault hanging over my head now. I get to my feet and brush the dirt from my jeans.

“What do you want from me, asshole?”

He spreads his hands. “I told you. Convince your little boyfriend to keep what I did with Charity a secret. I don’t want anything messing up my plans for the last day.”

“What plans?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll find out.” He smirks and stuffs his hands into his pockets. “All in good time. For right now, just enjoy the time you have left with that British brute. Or don’t. If you want Bennett and Aven to take him out tonight, I can⁠—”

“No. I’ll get him to keep it a secret.”

“That’s not all,” he says, taking a step toward me. “You’ll keep wearing that ring. If I catch you without it, the deal’s off. At the end of this, I’ll get my revenge, and I’ll get you too.”

I roll my eyes and look at the stupid ring on my stupid finger. So what if we keep Blayne’s little secret a few days more? Once Aven and Bennett have swung to our side, I’ll tell them everything. Then they can have a field day with his entrails. Blayne really isn’t thinking this through. Because once the Carter kids know the truth, he has no leverage.

So I’ll play nice.

For now.

“Fine, you have a deal. I’ll keep King quiet about Charity, and you’ll keep his identity to yourself. On the last day, though, all bets are off. But first you have to tell me why you want revenge on King.”

“You really don’t know, do you?” He smirks and shakes his head. “Oh, you are in for a treat on the final day. You all are.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Josie

We pulled up to King’s lake house a few hours ago, which sits thirty miles from Lake Tahoe, tucked in some thick woods. The house isn’t as grand as the place where we started our journey. It’s a humble home, with four bedrooms instead of twenty and the cutest wraparound porch you ever did see. The one thing it has in common is the massive lake out front.

King described it as a little fishpond. Are we fishing for fucking Nessie?