Page 52 of Unleashed
"This was easier than I thought," he says as I climb in.
"What did you think would happen?"
He laughs, then he slides in behind the wheel, shuts the door, and locks it.
Both doors.
"I'm not going to jump out of the truck," I say.
He glances at me. The humor drains just enough to remind me who his family is.
"I don't know you. I don't trust you." He starts the engine.
Fair enough. I don't trust him either. But I trust the process. I trust that Hunter Sterling is methodical, that he wouldn't send an idiot to handle this, and that this man is probably far more competent than he's letting on.
We pull away from the diner. The town slides past. Main Street, the hardware store, the little shop where Ace and I got our piercings. I look away from that one. Because even now, I get that pang in my chest.
Five minutes in, my leg starts bouncing. Ten minutes, my heart is racing. Because I know this route. I know these back roads, these fence lines, these hills. I spent years driving them with a boy who kept one hand on the wheel and one hand on my thigh.
"A-are we going to his ranch?" I ask quietly. Because if we are, this whole plan falls apart. I fall apart.
I’m “fake” engaged to Hudson. I have to get information for Gianna. Ace cannot get messed up in this with me.
He shakes his head. "Nah. Mine. Half hour away."
Relief. Then confusion. His ranch?
He turns up the music before I can ask anything else. And proceeds to sing for the entire drive.
By the time we pull up to the Lawson Ranch sign, two things have happened: I've remembered who he is, and I've developed a headache.
The crazy cousin. It floods back to me.
"You're Jett? Right? Or Tate?"
He laughs. "Jett."
Jett Lawson. Ace's cousin. I’ve only ever seen him in passing when I was younger. Although I always heard the Lawson brothers were completely unhinged.
He pulls up outside a large wooden barn, kills the engine, and jumps out. Comes around and opens my door.
"Now," he says, adjusting his hat. "This is where things get a bit tricky."
My feet hit the dirt. "Tricky how?"
"I'm going to need to tie you up in there."
My mouth drops open. I take a step back. Then another.
"N-no. Call Hunter."
He shakes his head. "No can do. I got my orders. Someone's coming by to see you in—" he checks his watch, squinting at it, "thirty minutes. I wasn't expecting you to be a woman, but I ain't going to hurt you. Just gotta protect my family." He holds my gaze. "You understand?"
A man, my ex-boyfriend's cousin, in a bright flamingo shirt with a bruised eye, is telling me he's going to tie me up in his barn.
This is the stupidest thing I've ever agreed to.
But then I think about Gianna.Don't let me down, Harper. I don't give second chances.I think about the burner phone in my bag and the engagement ring in my purse. I think about the Greeks building an army near Ace’s land. I think about theSterlings, who don't know that I'm the only person standing between their secrets and a woman who could burn them all to the ground or become their greatest ally, depending on what I bring back.
