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Did he know the truth, too?
Did everyone know the truth except me?
“Did you hear why she was upset? What Allen did?” I asked. At this point, Colby was pretty much the only person I trusted to tell me the truth.
“It just sounded like she was in trouble and that was why Calder brought her here. It’s really the only reason Calder would bring anyone here,” she answered honestly.
“Yeah,” I croaked bitterly. “It’s why I’m here.” I dropped the towel on the counter, fresh anger clawing over my skin.
“Oh, no.” Her head whipped wildly. “You’re not here because you’re in trouble, Lara. You’re here because youaretrouble ... for him.”
Trouble . . . for Calder.
“I have to go. I’m sorry,” I said, bolting for the door.
Calder had no idea what kind of trouble was headed his way.
The storm that coalesced over the sequestered ranch was fresh with fury. The hollow winds sharpened through the mountain peaks, cutting my cheeks with cold. Peals of thunder erased the sound of my footsteps on the gravel while a gossamer of lightning seemed to rend open the whole sphere of the sky. It was as though Mother Nature, like the rest of us, had lost her shit at the end of a hard day.
The disquiet spurred my walk to the Airstream, my tears masked by the torrent of rain.
What happened that night?
And why had Rachel lied to me about it?
Like something that’s too hot to the touch to tell whether it’s hot or cold, anger and pain churned inside me to the point where it was impossible to know where one emotion stopped and the other began. Even the burn of my legs up the last hill didn’t make a dent in the band of hurt ratcheting through my chest.
The cracks of lightning reflected off the Airstream’s polished silver exterior as I approached the door, looking like some kind of alchemy had occurred within. Wiping the coating of rain from my face with the end of my equally wet sleeve, I banged loudly on the door.
There was a shuffle, and a second later it swung open, Calder looking far too large for the frame and glaring out like a reincarnation of Zeus, wondering who dared to bother him on Mount Olympus.
It was a poor consolation that he was still dressed from dinner, in dark jeans that fit snug on his hips and a tee hanging like a stage 5 clinger to the topography of his shoulders and chest as his arms stretched across the doorframe.
“Lara? What the hell are you doing?” He went to pull me inside, but I stepped out of his reach.
“I want answers.” I backed into the familiar madness of the rain.
“So do I,” he growled, stepping outside like the survivalist he was: one utterly unaffected by a little water. “And as soon as Cal—”
“I’m not talking about now. I’m talking about what happened the night you brought her here.”
“Lara, that was twelve—”
“I know about Allen,” I blurted out, and the look on his face screamedDing, ding, ding! You hit a nerve.
“How?”
“I saw the name in Dr. Julia’s notes from her sessions with Rachel.” When his brows rose, I offered, “I took them from her RV that night because I didn’t think ... She never deserved my sister’s trust.”
“What did they say?”
I scowled. “Why? So you can decide what lie to tell me?”
His jaw locked. “I’ve never lied to you.”
“You’re right. You just carefully decide how much of the truth to reveal so you candirectthe situation.” I hated the bitterness that soaked into my voice, but I couldn’t stop it any more than I could stop the rain from soaking my clothes.
“Dammit, Lara—”
