Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
If it was true, though, it would throw this case completely upside down. The one person we were closing in on would be out of play, leaving us pretty much back to square one. All while the Pegasus continued to torment Blue Creek.
Fucking shit. I got back into my car and rested my head against the steering wheel. This wasn’t the lead I expected to uncover on my drive over here. Now I had to break the news to Matt, who had gone back to his place to give it a proper search. I grabbed my phone and went to call Matt when I realized there was another message waiting for me.
It was from Harry:
“I’m leaving town today. Can you and Matt meet me at Juno Pine’s? It’s really important that I talk to both of you.”
Well… fucking shit.
14
MATTHEW HALE
The wind picked up and swirled a mountain of orange and red leaves into the air, spilling them over onto the street. Rainy Ridge Road, one of the big main streets in Blue Creek, was buzzing with activity. People filtered in and out of the different shops, some walking out with new jewelry and others with pet supplies or Christmas decorations. A window display at a shoe store was built to appear like an avalanche had come down and crashed through the window and onto the sidewalk, pairs of sneakers and sandals placed strategically throughout the glittering fake snow.
The little town had a magic to it. Maybe it was the same magic that pushed Jason back into my life, something that really could only be explained through some kind of supernatural force.
Especially after last night… fuck.
I wanted last night to happen over and over and over again. If the sun never came up, I would have been perfectly fine with that. The crops, and the plants, and the rest of the people and animals could figure out what to do without the sun. I’d be fine. As long as Jason was in my arms, I’d be fine.
And yet I couldn’t let myself get carried away. I’d fallen into this trap once before and came out of it battered and bruised. I thought Jason and I would be together forever about five forevers ago. The last time I started daydreaming about white picket fences and a set of twins running around was the last time Jason and I were together before everything blew up. The night he had pushed me out of his house and told me that he’d never be able to love me.
That night hurt like an ice pick straight to the chest, and I was lining that needlepoint right up against my rib cage all over again.
Harry had feelings for me.
The revelation had hit me like a meteor, wiping out everything I thought I knew about our past. It didn’t erase the shit we went through—what Jason put me through—but it did help soften some of the edges around the jagged memories. Jason was trying to protect his brother by sacrificing himself—us. He sacrificed us so that his brother would never have to experience the heartbreak that seeing us together would inflict.
It was valiant and noble and something Jace would definitely do. He had the heart of a medieval knight bound to duty and honor. It was one of the (very many) things I liked about the man, except in this case it was one of the things that had torn us apart.
He should have told me back then, but then he’d be betraying his brother’s trust.
There wasn’t much use dwelling on the what-ifs. Especially since the two men in question were waiting for me at Juno Pine’s diner. Jason had sent me a text as I was wrapping up the search around my house, telling me that Harry wanted us all to meet before he left town. The timing of it didn’t escape me, considering how I could still taste Jason on my lips. Clearly, Harry had something he wanted to tell us—I had picked up on that from the moment we all sat down. I didn’t need to be a behavior analyst to see that. He acted in the same way he had when he came out as trans, a night I would never forget and one that guaranteed our bond would last an eternity and more.
I walked into the diner and spotted Jason and Harry sitting in a booth by the jukebox. The rest of the tables were all packed, the low din of amused conversation filling the space. I walked around the large tree planted in the center of the diner and waved as Harry spotted me, smiling.
Harry… damn. Why didn’t you ever say anything?
Harry and I went way, way back. We became friends in high school after working on a catastrophic biology project that involved getting attacked by a gang of very territorial geese and then falling directly into the murky lake water we were supposed to be taking samples from. It was a bonding experience like no other, leaving us with a chemically strengthened connection (from whatever the hell we ingested after accidentally swallowing the lake water) along with a strong aversion to any long-necked flying monster.