knowledge to myself so no one else could come along and snatch her away before I had the opportunity to convince her we were a better fit than anyone could imagine.
Chapter 8
Presley
Are you certain you’re ready to go back to work, Presley? You look terrible.”
I didn’t bother to hide my eye roll as I looked at my mother’s long-term nephrologist, Dr. Kemper. My mother had been under his care since my senior year in college. The man had watched me grow up. He was the one who broke the news to us that there was no hope. He was also the one who told me my mother had passed away. For a long time, he felt like an extension of my very small family. Then Hill Gamble and his partner confirmed that he’d helped Ashby fool me into thinking she’d been injured by whoever was stalking me. Now I realized he didn’t care about me or my mother in the slightest. I’d avoided this confrontation since her passing, because even though I’d gained the Lawtons, it was hard to lose the last person who knew me before my life had been flipped upside down. It was an impossibly bitter pill to swallow to know that the two people I’d trusted so completely when I was at my lowest had conspired against me.
I was here today because I was convinced this man had helped my former friend orchestrate my mother’s death. Part of me taking my life back was answering any lingering questions about the events that forced me into hiding in the first place. I’d never been the type to wade into a fight on purpose. I didn’t like to make waves. Now I wasn’t going to rest until I knew the truth. Now I was angry in a way I’d never felt before. I’d spent so long being calm and serene for the comfort of others, I’d forgotten how cathartic anger could be when it was called for.
I forced a fake smile and felt my fingers curl into fists where they were resting on my lap. My nails dug painfully into my palms, but the tiny sting kept me focused on the reason I was here at the hospital in Austin.
“I’m fine. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
That wasn’t a lie. I’d been uneasy being back at the apartment by myself. Every little noise and flickering shadow on the wall had me ready to climb out of my skin. On top of that, I couldn’t stop replaying the kiss with Shot over and over again in my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, the image of the two of us entwined would dance across the backs of my eyelids.
It was almost like it was my very first kiss. I didn’t lose my head over a romantic move like that. I didn’t lose control of my emotions or my body like that. I didn’t forget who and where I was because of a man. Not ever. None of the men I’d kissed before had ever made me tingle from head to toe by simply touching their lips to mine. No kiss had ever had me envisioning silk sheets and naked bodies writhing together. No kiss had ever had me ready to risk it all for a man who was so absolutely wrong for me. I always knew when to walk away, but last night, I knew I would’ve blindly followed Shot wherever he chose to lead me.
I knew Shot followed me home. I knew he waited outside my apartment until the sun came up because I was still awake in bed, tossing and turning, wondering what in the hell I was doing and when exactly I had lost my mind when I heard the thunderous sound of his motorcycle pulling away. I couldn’t deny that I wanted him, which was problematic in more ways than one. The existing relationships in my life often felt tenuous at best. I didn’t need the kind of emotional earthquake Shot brought with him to disrupt the uneven landscape I was already having trouble navigating.
Blinking back into focus, I watched the older doctor seated across from me in his pristine office. When I was younger I looked up to him so much. Now, I resented him, and his lies, with every fiber of my being.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve come to visit. I would’ve reached out after everything happened, but you know how busy I am, and frankly, I didn’t want my