The Summer of Us (Mission Cove #1) - Melanie Moreland Page 0,79

have to find out. I need to get to him before he leaves, Abby, or I may never see him again.”

She pressed her keys into my hand. “Go.”

I drove up the hill, my heart in my mouth. Linc’s car wasn’t in the driveway, but the front door stood open. I ran inside, heading to the den. I stopped in the doorway, horrified at the sight before me. The room was wrecked—the desk overturned, the chair smashed. Pictures were torn off the walls, flung around. The fireplace was wet, rivulets of water running onto the expensive floors and carpet, a pile of sodden ash in the grate.

What the hell had happened here?

I dialed Abby, panicked. “He’s not here,” I gasped. “The den is wrecked, his car is gone.” A sob escaped. “He’s gone.”

“Wait,” she instructed.

I looked around the room, noticing the metal box Linc had dug my letters from open and lying on its side. I bent and looked inside. It was empty. Another smaller box was upside down on the rug. I didn’t touch it.

“Okay, we track each other’s cell. He’s still in the area. East of you. He’s stationary.”

“East? Oh god, I know where he is.”

“Go to him, Sunny. He thinks he’s lost you.”

“I’m on my way.”

Linc’s car was parked on the deserted area of land by the park. I hurried toward the ridge, frowning at the rhythmic sound that grew louder as I approached.

Linc was sitting in our hideaway, a pile of USB drives in front of him. He had a large rock in his hand, a look of determination on his face as he pounded the small pieces of metal into tiny, broken fragments. Soot streaked his face, one hand showing an angry burn. He was so focused, he didn’t even notice me at first. When he met my eyes, the heartbreak and pain in his gaze would forever be embedded in my mind.

“All gone. All of his dirty, horrible secrets gone,” he raged, his expression wild.

“Linc,” I murmured. “I was at the house—what happened?”

“I couldn’t do it. I tried—fuck—I tried. But I can’t.” He held up a mangled piece of metal. “I can’t be the kind of person who does these things to people. Lord their mistakes over their heads, makes them pay over and again for a moment in their life they want to forget.”

“I know,” I soothed. “It’s okay, Linc. You made the right choice.”

“We all make mistakes. He made mistakes, but no one ever took the great Franklin Thomas to task.”

“I know,” I repeated. “You don’t have to do anything for me, Linc, except be Linc.”

“It was never enough for him!” he roared. “My mother tried. Jesus, Sunny, I’ve remembered things—the fights, her pleading with him to come back to her. The way he would sneer and call her weak.” He rubbed his face, ignoring the fact that he smeared the soot even more. “And all the time he was fucking around on her.” His voice dropped. “And I don’t think it was only with the mayor’s wife.”

“You aren’t him,” I said and, with a bravado I wasn’t feeling, grabbed his hand, stilling his frantic movements. “You. Are. Not. Your. Father,” I repeated slowly.

He stopped, blinking. “No. I am my mother’s son.”

“Yes.” I dared to inch closer, pressing my knee to his. “You are. You are Lincoln Webber. You have so much good in you.”

“I’ll help if you let me, Sunny. I can wash walls, fix things. I’ll have my lawyer there when they come back, and we’ll fight it. Let me do that. Let me do something,” he pleaded. “Tell me I didn’t lose you.” He hung his head, his shoulders slumping. “I-I can’t take it if I did that.”

I took advantage of his sudden stillness and crawled into his lap. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him as tightly as I could. He buried his face in my breasts, enfolding me in his embrace. “Sunny,” he whispered brokenly.

I slid my hands around to his shoulders, running them up the tightly corded muscles of his neck. I cupped his face, forcing him to meet my eyes.

“I’m here, Linc. I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

He stared up at me, blinking. “You still love me?”

“I never stopped.”

He yanked me to him, holding me so tight, I could barely breathe. It was as if he couldn’t get close enough. I touched my mouth to his ear.

“I love you,” I promised, over and again. I had a feeling he needed to hear me