Page 19 of Someone To Claim
Fuck.
It’s not her.
Avah stands in the hallway, looking like a blonde avenging angel as she glares at me from ice-blue eyes. The redhead from Sloane’s book club is next to her with an expression that’s almost kind. I still wouldn’t put it past her to shank me in a back alley if the moment called for it.
“I left her alone today,” I tell Avah, holding my hands up, palms out, before shifting my gaze to her friend. “We didn’t even walk past the bookstore.”
Avah doesn’t acknowledge my words, but her frown deepens. “Did youreallywrite that song for Sloane?”
“He did,” Cody shouts from behind me.
“Shut it,” I say over my shoulder, and then turn back. “I did. But?—”
“Can we come in?” the redhead asks. “I’m Molly, by the way. We didn’t officially meet when you crashed our book club meeting.”
“Sure.” I step back to make room. “And nice to meet you.”
“I’ll give you all some privacy.” Cody shoves past the three of us into the hallway with his phone in one hand and a pair of shoes in the other. “Text me when you’re done.”
“This won’t take long,” Avah tells him.
“That’s the rumor about him,” Cody says with a wink. “Don’t forget about the sock, Jensen.”
I bite back a groan as Avah raises a one-hundred-percent judgmental brow in my direction.
“Don’t leave the motel, Cody,” I tell the kid.
“Got it,” he calls, already halfway down the hall.
Molly tips her head toward the door as I close it. “Your friend is a bit extra, huh?” She looks a tick less judgy than Avah, which I appreciate more than she could know.
“Cody and I aren’t exactly friends.” I run a hand through my hair and try not to cringe at how that sounds. “It’s more like a babysitting arrangement. He’s harmless. Just needs to grow up a bit and learn some better boundaries.”
Molly’s mouth lifts at one corner. “And having him play wingman while you track down a woman who ghosted you is teaching boundaries?”
I huff out something that could generously be called a laugh. “I’ve left her alone. If she wants to find me, which I’m hoping she?—”
“She’s gone,” Avah interrupts.
I blink as the floor tilts under my feet. “What do you mean? Gone where?”
The two women share a look that says they shouldn’t be here, let alone tell me anything about Sloane’s whereabouts. But theyarehere, and that means something.
“Where did she go?” I ask again, trying to keep my tone more inquisitive and less sheer desperation.
“Montana,” Avah says.
My mind and heart reel with that piece of information. She ran. Again. “What’s in Montana?”
“More likewho’sin Montana,” Molly says.
My chest tightens. “Is it a boyfriend or?—”
“No.” Molly shakes her head. “Nothing like that. She’s on a quest to find an author who wrote a book that’s importantto her.”
I try to process those words. “Don’t most authors do book signings or events or whatever?”
“Most,” Molly agrees. “But this one is different, and she means a lot to Sloane, who has been through alotthis past year. You know she has cancer, right?”
