Wealthy and Wanted - Alexa Riley Page 0,9

hate losing this contact to my sister. For some reason, the phone made me freer, because now I’m beginning to feel trapped.

“Crap.” My stomach drops when I hear the familiar clicking sound coming from the engine. “We’re so close, please don’t do this to me.” The car starts to slow down on its own, and it’s quickly getting dark outside. I bite the inside of my lip, thinking without the car lights it’s going to be almost pitch black except for whatever light the moon has tonight.

Not really having a choice at this point, I start to pull the car off to the side because I don’t want it to die in the middle of the road.

It’s impossible to see what’s ahead, and I let out a scream when I feel the car drop. The sound of crushing metal fills my ears before everything goes truly black.

Chapter Six

Clay

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Otis says as I toss another tool in the box.

I make a grunting sound, grabbing the rest of the tools and hanging them up next to the workbench.

“She said she was just running to town.”

“Five hours ago!” I shout without realizing how angry I am.

“Easy, Clay, no need to bust a gasket,” Otis tries to reassure me, but it’s no good.

She’s probably out there with her fiancé fucking in the backseat of her piece of shit car while on my dime. God, why am I so angry? I’ve told myself a hundred times she doesn’t belong to me. Yet, all I can do is pray she comes back.

What if I scared her off and she decided she didn’t want the job? I went to her room, and her stuff was still there. When I saw her taking a selfie, I knew she was doing it for him, and I got angry. I’m not used to having to control my emotions, so everything is raw on and on the surface.

When I feel something, I let everyone know it, but from the moment she stepped on the farm it’s all been a mess. Emotions are bubbling up, and instead of letting them out, I keep on pushing them back down. Today some of that exploded and it sent her running for the hills. Literally.

“Her car isn’t safe,” I say as I slam the drawer closed a little too roughly. “Why’d you let her take it?” It’s easier to blame Otis than to face my own shortcomings.

“Seriously? It’s her car, Clay. She’s not a prisoner.” It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him he’s wrong, but technically she doesn’t have to stay here.

“She was paid to live here.”

“Before you lose your cool with me and regret it, why don’t you think about why you’re really angry?”

I ignore him and grab my empty lunchbox. I never thanked her for it, but instead stomped in the house and fussed at her like she’d done something wrong. I sigh as I walk towards the house, promising to myself to fix this. Tonight.

“I’ll stick around until she gets back,” Otis calls from behind me, but I just wave my hand in response.

When I get to the house, I drop my stuff and look out the window. It’s almost dark, and she still isn’t back. I drove that car to the barn, so I know exactly how unreliable it is, and we’re out in the middle of nowhere. If she gets stuck on a country road, it’s a long walk in any direction to find help.

Without thinking it through, I grab the keys to my truck and my jacket. Temperatures drop fast out here at night, and if she didn’t take one she could be freezing. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing as I get in my truck and take off towards town. What if she’s just eating dinner with her fiancé and I show up looking like an asshole? I guess it wouldn’t be the first time I looked like that, but seeing disappointment in her eyes is something I don’t think I could stomach.

But what if she’s in trouble? The thought keeps tickling the back of my mind, and it’s the reason I’m turning on the long stretch of road between my farm and civilization. What if she’s in trouble and I’m not there to save her? I have to go look, even if it’s to just find a pot of disappointment at the end of her rainbow of sunshine.

I’m lost in thought on the pitch-black highway just as something catches