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Maybe my welcome would have been warmer if I were a man, but that had never scared me and it certainly wasn’t going to today.
“What are you doing?” she whispered. “I have no fucking clue.” Then my lips were on hers.
I took one step closer to the edge. Griffin grabbed my hand, holding it tight.
And the place where I’d never expected to meet this intriguing creation.
Brave men, not only because she was wearing a gun, but because I was a possessive bastard. With one glare from me, they each dropped their eyes to the sidewalk.
“Thought it was pretty clever myself. Pretty nice pair of boots but way too small for my big feet. Found them on a trail a while back. Felt like a waste to throw them away, so I decided to turn them into my flowerpots.” My stomach dropped. “You found them?” “Yeah. Was out shed hunting.” “Where?” “Oh, I don’t know. Some trail not far from here.” A
She looked at peace. Maybe more at peace than she’d ever been, even in sleep. My heart skipped. The towel fell from my hand. My hand came to my sternum. She was perfect in that chair. So beautiful I wanted this view every night.
One morning spent in a rocking chair, and the world had shifted. Like going for a ride and veering off the main path to get a look from a different angle, and then discovering that the trail you’d been on was lacking in every way imaginable. I was in it with this woman. So fucking in it.
The Quincy rodeo was a standing tradition, much like Christmas or Thanksgiving. It was one of the few events we always made sure to attend together, even if that meant closing shop. Except that evening, surrounded by my family, a piece was missing. I hadn’t realized until late in the evening, when I’d glanced across the arena and found Winn at the fence, that the missing piece was her.
I stood from the seat, climbing off the machine to walk to the fence where a small cluster of wildflowers was tangled with the stalks of grass. I plucked a white one and a yellow one, bringing them to her.
I twisted, taking her face in my hands. Those indigo eyes seared into mine. They saw the fears. The doubts. The frustration. They gave me a place to put it all. A place to just . . . be real.
Eight years with Skyler. One month with Griffin. I’d choose Griffin every time.
“If you want to keep that hand attached to your body, you’ll take it off of her right now.” The deep rumbling voice behind Skyler sent a shiver racing down my spine. The thud of boots echoed before Griffin stepped onto the porch and came to my side. The glare he aimed Skyler’s way brought a smile to my lips. Jealousy on Griffin Eden looked incredibly sexy.
I love him
“I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing, but I’m having a conversation with Winnie,” Skyler said, standing taller. “And I’m here to give her an orgasm before dinner. Let’s find out which one of us she’d rather have stick around.”
“You lost her.” Griffin’s voice had an edge unlike anything I’d heard before. An edge that made me glad I was standing on his side, not the opposing. “You fucked up and lost her. She’s mine. And I won’t fuck it up.”
My phone rang in the living room, so I brushed past Griffin as he ordered pizza and hurried to the floor where I’d dropped my purse earlier.
Why did i think he was calling her phone hahahha
I plucked it from the purse. The zipper was open. Inside was a folded twenty-dollar bill and a driver’s license. Lily Green’s driver’s license.
Mom had told me once that we worried for those we loved most. For Winn, I’d always worry.
Wouldn’t there be a twist in my belly if I feared this man was a murderer? Wouldn’t there be a nervous zing through my veins? There was nothing. My instincts said that something about Lily Green’s death wasn’t right. Yet as I sat across from a man who shouldn’t have had her wallet, a man who lived the closest to the place where she’d died, not a single cell in my body warned that he was dangerous.
I think someone planted the belongings for him to find, knowing about his mental condition.. Like Frank
“When did you find this purse?” “What day is it?” “Wednesday.” “Sunday.” That was the day of the fire. “You’re sure? This past Sunday?” “Yes. I went for a hike early that morning. Came home. Put them on my bookshelf to sort out later. Went outside to do some yard work, and well . . . you were there.”
“Where did you find the wallet?” “Same place on Sunday. Both were together.”
Harmony Hardt had died years before Lily Green. Those pieces shouldn’t have been together.
And after Lily, we’d all gone around the area, looking for evidence. I’d spent hours up there searching for her shoes. The reason I hadn’t found them was likely because Briggs had beaten me to it. But I hadn’t found the purse or wallet either. Who else had been up on that ridge?
“The trail where you found these.” I gestured to the purse and wallet. “Is it the trail that leads to the cliff? The one from the road?” “No, they’re separate. You can get to the cliff from my trail, but it’s the long way around. There’s a cut across to the one you’re talking about that’s about two hundred yards from the cliff. I rarely take it because I head up higher.”
“The purse is in good condition.” I pointed to the handbag. “It doesn’t look like it’s been outside long.” “Probably hasn’t. Leather like that would be ruined in a spring rainstorm.”
Assuming that she’d tossed the purse and wallet aside before going to the cliff.
But why would she do that
“I don’t think I hurt those girls.”
Aw i hope he didn't :(
You never knew what happened inside the walls of a home unless you lived there.
Except he didn’t leave me. His frame sagged and he tore off his baseball cap, sending it sailing across the room. Then he dragged a hand through his dark hair. “You’re right.” The relief was so profound I laughed. “I know.” He planted his fists on his hips. “I’m pissed.” “Deal with it.” “I will.” Griff’s arm wrapped around my shoulders and he hauled me into his chest. “Sorry.”
“You have me twisted up, woman. So fucking twisted up.” “Want to unwind? Call it quits?” He leaned away and his hands moved to my face, his fingers threading through the hair at my temples. “I don’t think I could quit you if I tried.” “Even if we fight?” “Especially when we fight.”
She’d told me that one day, she hoped I’d find a man who’d fight with me. Who’d love me even when he wanted to strangle me. Who’d never quit fighting because what we had was worth a few angry words.
“Lean on me.” He kissed my forehead, then hugged me again, squeezing so tight that if my knees buckled, I wouldn’t drop an inch. I leaned on him.
And for the first time in a long time, I knew the man holding me tight wouldn’t let me fall.
I liked that my house was becoming her place. A few nights this week, she’d beat me home. I’d find her inside, shoes discarded by the door and wearing one of my T-shirts, her own uniform top usually on the floor beside the hamper instead of inside it. One night she’d been on the porch, drinking a glass of wine. Sooner rather than later, I wanted this to be her only sanctuary. Considering that the rest of her furniture had arrived at her house in town but she hadn’t unboxed it yet, I was taking it as a good sign.
We worked together in the kitchen to unload. It was simple. Boring and dull. But something about going to the grocery store together, pushing a cart up and down aisles, about moving in tandem through the kitchen, made me fall for her just a little bit more.
“Mom said you were home and that she saw Winslow’s car here. So we’re invading.”
Why is that so precious
The Eloise Inn was the heart of Quincy. And Eloise was the heart of the inn.
“Eloise is my favorite sibling,” I told Winn. “Uh . . .” Winn’s eyes widened, looking to my other siblings. “Are you supposed to say that out loud?” “We all have favorites.” Knox chuckled. “Lyla is mine.” “Griff is mine,” Lyla said, popping the lid on one container, flooding the kitchen with a savory smell that made my stomach growl. “You all have favorites. Really?” Winn laughed, then pointed between the twins. “And you two aren’t each other’s?” “I love Lyla most because we shared a womb,” Talia said. “But my favorite is Matty.” “Where is Mateo?” I asked, keeping one arm around Eloise while
...more
I love all of them i could cry
I took Winn’s hand and led her down the hallway, past the living room and kitchen to our side of the house.
OUR
“I want to be there the day she finds out.” My heart swelled. “You will be.”
It was too soon to declare they’d be hers too. That tonight, each of my siblings had found a quiet moment, like Eloise had before falling asleep, to tell me they loved Winn.
“They’ve claimed you now.” She locked her eyes with mine. “Have they? And what about you?” “Oh, I claimed you a long time ago.”
Falling in love with her had been effortless.
“There were no fingerprints besides those belonging to Briggs,” I told him. “Not even the girls’ prints. Which leads me to believe that someone put them up there for Briggs to find.”
“For Lily, it’s probable. From everything you’ve told me, he’s slipping. But Harmony Hardt died years ago. I don’t think Briggs has been experiencing severe symptoms for long.
Pops and i thinking the same way
“The bar was packed and he’s not exactly unpopular. But I recall your mom made the comment that she wished you’d find a man like that. A sexy cowboy. Your dad teased her mercilessly for that. Said he was going to go home and buy a pair of boots to wear around the house naked.”
“Frank was just telling me about a few missing parts for the Jeep. Did you go wild cleaning the garage?” “Never.” She laughed. “This is his mess.” “Then how’d you lose a part?” I asked. “Driving,” Frank answered. “Somehow this summer, she lost a hubcap.”
Rain must have noticed it too. “Frank, close the door.” It took me three seconds too many to register that sentence. It took me three seconds too many to look between my lifelong friends and realize what I was seeing. Because in those three seconds, Frank punched the garage door opener clipped to the Jeep’s driver-side visor. And Rain lifted the mallet. It took me three seconds too many to shed my personal bias and grasp that these people—neighbors, friends—were not as they seemed. Three seconds too many. Before the lights went out.
HOLY SHIT
“The girls,” Frank whispered. My heart lurched. The girls. There was no question who he was referring to. I knew, deep in my soul, exactly which girls he meant. Lily Green. Harmony Hardt. Where the fuck was my Winn?
“Her Jeep is gone. Maybe she’s shopping. Let’s call her. See if she knows where he might have taken Winnie.”
So she kills them after he's done
