town?” he questions when I step into my bedroom from the walk-in closet.
I glance at my brother, stopping all movement because even though I’m not certain, I have a feeling I know what he’s going to say. “Who?”
“The Narros.” His voice is filled with caution when he says the name. It’s the same name that’s haunted my every fucking thought over the past five years. I wanted to find her, to tell her she had me, she was mine, but she was seventeen when she left, and I was far too fucking old for her. I didn’t want to end up in jail, so I let her go.
The night in question has played on my mind time and again. If it wasn’t for my father’s influence in this town, I wouldn’t be here. She was the one who didn’t stand up for me when I needed it. Even though I spent years looking after her.
She wanted me that night, and I could have taken her, claimed her, made her mine. But then I would’ve paid dearly. That still didn’t stop her from spreading a rumor, which was as dangerous as the belief her folks already had of me. They never did approve of me because they blamed me for her drinking and drug abuse, even though I was the one trying to keep her safe.
When they found the coke on her that day, I allowed them to think it was me. I let them believe I was the bad influence, not that their precious angel was doing that shit because she hated her life. And because of that, one night changed my whole life. When I arrived home that night, I found flashing lights and guys in uniform, and that’s when I learned who Kalyn Narro truly was—a fucking liar.
We used to spend our time talking late into the night. She immediately caught my attention back when I used to go to the school with Creed, a friend and one of the Havens, to pick up his brothers, not only because she was exquisitely beautiful, but because she had a fire that I’d not seen in many girls her age.
I was hooked.
Her mind worked in mysterious ways; she had a question for everything and anything. But then her grandmother died on her sixteenth birthday, and she broke. Something inside her shattered, and she turned to partying with the kids in her class.
“They’re arriving this evening,” Finn says suddenly, and I realize I didn’t answer him earlier. He’s watching me as if I were a bomb about to detonate. Perhaps I am. Maybe I’m going to explode.
And it will be all because of her—again.
“What?” The word tumbles from my mouth before I have time to think about what he’s just voiced. “Does that mean…? Is she here?” Once again, my emotions are showing, those same fucking emotions I promised myself not to allow to invade my life.
Finn nods slowly. “But there’s a rumor going around that something happened to her,” he tells me; his voice is low, merely a whisper, and tension coils in my gut.
“What happened to her?”
“Not sure what’s going on, I don’t have the full scoop, but you can be sure the moment I do, you’ll be the first to know,” he tells me, his focus holding mine. Then he continues, “Maybe the Hollywood Hills wasn’t the best choice for someone like her.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” My jaw clenches so hard, I can hear my teeth grinding as I attempt to keep calm.
He shrugs slowly, his head shaking side to side as if he’s about to tell me she’s dead. But then he finally whispers, “she’s… I think perhaps you should wait and see.”
When my hands fist, he’s on his feet, grabbing me around the middle with my arms locked against me. “Let me go,” I growl, but it’s no use. Finn knows the rage I’ve felt when I got back to the party that night. He saw the emotion I allowed to free itself from my usually stoic expression.
“She’s here, and you’re not going to lose your shit,” he tells me, keeping his tone calm, but it does nothing to satiate my need for violence. I’m usually the calm one of the three Thorne brothers, but with her, I’m volatile.
“Then tell me what the fuck is wrong with her,” I bite out as anger surges through me. I could take Finn down, and he knows it too, but fighting with my brother isn’t going to