Page 39 of Wanting You
I lower my voice to a whisper. “You have no idea what she’s capable of, River. Come with me. I’ll fill you in.”
“I’m well aware of her…escapades.”
He doesn’t look even slightly surprised at my admission. “Are you aware that she wanted me to sabotage the cook-off so we would win?”
“Youdidwin.”
“Yes, but that’s not the point. She wanted to win so she could choose you as her date.”
“She didn’t choose me. She chose Brett. And you didn’t choose me either, Emily.”
“Because you were sitting at the table like a sullen child. You didn’t even give me a look.”
He lets go of my shoulders. “I don’t have time for this pettiness, Emily. You think I was acting like a child? You’re acting like a spoiled brat right now. This is important, and yes, Misty is involved.”
“But I want to help,” I say. “Please.”
Then his words from our last night together spear into my mind.
Not this time, Emily. You can’t help me with this.
He told me about the safe. About what was inside—things to remind him of what he’d lost, but more so of what he’d kept from his friends.
River was the one who brought Jake back.
Sod it!
I’m being a child. Poor little Emily who didn’t hear her lover say the three words back.
“If you want to help, go find Evangeline. We’re going to help Misty get back to the mansion.”
“I can get the doctor for you,” I say.
“The doctor?”
That’s right. River’s been gone. He doesn’t know about Darby. “Yes. She arrived earlier.”
“Fuck. Why are we waiting here, then?”
Alex helps Misty to her feet.
“I’m fine,” Misty says. “I can walk.”
“Lean on me,” Alex says.
She looks up at him adoringly.
Sorry, love. That one’s taken.
Of course she knows that.
I leave River and take Sienna’s arm. “Come on. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“I wish I were as optimistic as you are,” she replies.
“I wish I were too,” I say dryly.
I don’t know what’s going on. Or how Misty seems to have finagled her way into it. But I know one thing. I’m not walking away. Not from this, not from River, not from whatever game Misty thinks she’s playing.
