I heard the bathroom door open and raised my head. The rays of the setting sun streaming in through the windows shone brightly on Rebel, making her look even more beautiful than I remembered. Long, wavy brown hair framed the delicate features of her face, and her blue eyes mesmerized me as much today as they had the night we met.
While she wasn’t as tall as me, her legs still looked miles long in the tight black jeans she had tucked into black military-style boots. The thin black shirt she wore, exposed a hint of her tummy, and what little I could see of it, looked as ripped as mine used to be—before I spent several weeks not doing much more than sitting on my ass.
“Hey,” she said, pushing up the sleeves on her black denim jacket. “Sorry about that. I had a little bout of self-pity. Which leads me to…I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Edge. Getting me out of jail and all, but the truth is…I don’t know how to say this.”
“Just say it.” I walked closer, shoving my hands into my pockets to stop from reaching out to touch her.
“Okay…
well…I need to go back.”
I couldn’t help myself. I took my left hand out of my pocket and brushed her hair from her face. “Back where?”
She bit her bottom lip. “To the jail.”
“Why? Did you leave something there?”
She shook her head. “I just need to go back.”
Thinking that maybe whatever she wanted to return for was something she didn’t want to talk about, I agreed to take her without asking any more questions.
“I need to stop by the main house before we head into town.” I pulled up, cut the engine, and walked around to open her door. “Come on. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
“Edge…”
I took her hand and pulled her out of the truck. “It’ll only take a minute, after which we’ll run your errand.”
“Errand?”
“You know, whatever you need from the jail.”
“I think you misunderstood—”
“It’s okay. Whatever it is, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Hey, Edge,” I heard Shadow holler as she came down the steps of the front porch. “You must be Rebel.”
“This is Shadow—Darrow. Darrow, this is Lucy…Rebel.” I was embarrassed. “I’m sorry, which do you prefer?”
“Rebel.”
“It’s nice to me you, Rebel,” said Shadow. “Please come in. Edge tells me that you need a few things to tide you over.”
“I don’t understand.” She looked between me and Shadow, who tucked her arm through Rebel’s and led her inside.
“Listen, when I first visited the ranch, I had nothing ‘appropriate to wear,’ in the words of my dear husband. Fortunately, my sister-in-law had closets full of clothes that fit me perfectly. You look to be about my size too.”
Rebel stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned around to face me. “Thank you, but I’m going back to jail. To stay.” Her cheeks flushed red when I stepped closer.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Before this goes to trial, me and the boys will figure out who killed Possum. You aren’t going to spend another day behind bars. I promise.”
“Will you excuse us?” she said to Shadow; I followed her back out to the front porch.
“I know this may be hard for you to understand or even fathom, but I have nothing, Edge—literally nothing. Understand? I have no family, no home, no money, I don’t have any clothes other than what’s on my back. I don’t even know where my car is. For all I know it’s been—”
Not knowing how else to stop her from talking, I grasped the back of her neck and covered her lips with mine like I’d wanted to the night we met. I pushed my tongue into her mouth and her back up against the porch post.
Once I started, I didn’t want to stop. For the last few weeks, thinking about kissing her got me through most days. Imagining that one day I’d come back and do to her body all the things I’d wanted to that night, kept me moving forward when I felt like giving up.