The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,81

were still alive.”

I scoffed at the notion of Wren ever having a positive male role model in his life. From where I was standing, they’d all failed him. “If his father didn’t want him to be part of his world, why did he bring him into it?”

“After Pam died, he didn’t trust anyone but himself to keep his boy safe. Anything else?” he asked me a sneer.

Yes. “No.” I had a million questions swirling in my brain, but I doubted Bear would be willing to answer them all. Besides, the only person I cared to hear the truth from was Wren.

“Good. Now get out of my shop,” Bear rudely ordered as he regained his feet with a grace I didn’t expect.

My bladder chose that moment to protest, so I said, “Can I use your bathroom first?”

His only response was to toss his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the bathroom before disappearing behind another door. When I emerged from the bathroom, Bear was nowhere to be found. I was heading straight for the door when something shiny caught my eye. There was only a second of indecision. But my sore legs and feet and the fact that I still had more places to search won out over worry of Bear’s wrath.

After all, how hard could it be to drive a car?

Bear’s ‘car’ turned out to be a monstrous black pickup with a tint so dark I couldn’t see inside and a huge grill on the front. It was intimidating as hell, but it was too late to turn back now. I was proven right when I witnessed Bear storm from his shop seconds after I began carefully pulling away from the curb. Shrieking in fear at the savage look on his face, I slammed my foot on the gas, and the truck shot into traffic, narrowly missing the car parked in front of me. I screamed the entire time it took me to get the hang of the peddles. The truck would shoot forward only to jerk to a stop a second later when I hit the brakes. All the while, Bear chased me down the street shouting obscenities and threats.

Once I’d put enough distance between Bear and me, I pulled into a gas station and studied the list of locations I’d written down. All that was left was Sunset Bay, Blackwood Keep, and the mountains. And while the logical choices were obvious, my gut and curiosity chose for me.

A few hours later, and after getting lost a couple of times, I pulled alongside a small lake that shimmered under the sun, and for the first time since I started my search, I didn’t regret waiting to talk to Wren in person. I only insisted on doing so because he usually found it easier to tell me no when we were apart. He thought me naïve, and maybe I was, but I was also beginning to recognize the power I had over him and didn’t feel the least bit guilty wielding it.

If I had called Wren and told him what the Hendersons had planned, he would have let me go and made sure that I never saw him again. In his mind, it would have been all for me, but a little bit would have been for him, too.

But if he had to face me, he would never be able to say goodbye.

Hopping out of Bear’s truck with my camera in tow, I looked around in awe. The trees with their gold and red limbs were so tall that they seemed to touch the sky, and the grass was still a vibrant green even though it was the middle of October. As if suddenly reminded, I shivered against the cold seeping into my bones, but for once I didn’t mind. The air seemed cleaner up here, and the quiet was calming when it’d never been before.

Across the lake, I spotted a sizable cabin peeking through the trees and lifted my camera to get a better look. People were my chosen subject and Wren my favorite muse, but this was all too gorgeous not to capture.

I’d never known such peacefulness.

Unfortunately, it was shattered a moment later by a piercing scream.

I’D JUST HUNG UP FROM my fifteenth attempt at reaching Lou in the last hour when I heard, “You need to get your shit together.”

Looking up, I spotted Fox’s true pride and joy leaning against the doorjamb of the guest room. “Now isn’t the time for your shit, Royal. I’m