Wild Cowboy Nights (Foolproof Love 1-3)

She was never going to fight for this. For him. She was always waiting for the other foot to fall, to prove that it would never work and give her an excuse to run.

Knowing that didn’t make the loss easier to bear.

“Quinn?”

He turned around, harsh disappointment searing through him when he recognized Hope walking down the row between vines to him. Not Aubry. Hope. It wasn’t her fault he had been under the apparently insane assumption that maybe Aubry had changed her mind and come after him.

Why would she, though? He closed the door pretty fucking firmly on her. She had no reason to think he’d welcome her if she did come after him.

He tried to put a smile on his face, but the expression never made it. “Hey, Hope.”

“Are you okay? I saw you head into the vineyard and…” She trailed off with a shrug. “I know I don’t exactly deserve your secrets, but if you want to talk, I’m here.”

He did, but dumping his shit on her wasn’t fair. “Nah, I’m good.” He turned back in the direction he’d come from. Missing his sister’s wedding because he was throwing a bitch fit wasn’t an option, which meant they both had to head back now. “How are things with you? I haven’t seen you since…” He realized what he’d been about to say and stopped cold.

“Since the car accident that killed my brother and put me in the hospital for ages? I know.” She laid a hand on his forearm. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago. I mean, I still miss John.”

“I do, too.” He didn’t normally carry around the guilt that Daniel did, but standing here in front of John’s little sister made it hard to remember why. They should have kept better tabs on Hope. Tried harder. Something. “I know it’s been said before, but I’m—”

“Don’t.” She shook her head. “Don’t apologize to me again. I’m walking, which is better than they’d hoped for after the crash. Like I said, it was a long time ago.” She hesitated. “How… How is Daniel?”

He couldn’t tell her the truth—that Daniel was a mess. It would just hurt her, and if she’d actually managed to move on with her life after what happened thirteen years ago, she deserved better than to be brought down by the fact that her ex—and her brother’s best friend—didn’t walk away from that night and that car crash whole any more than she did. The only difference was that Daniel’s scars weren’t physical. “He’s doing okay.”

Hope frowned. “You just lied to me.”

Fuck. He’d forgotten she had a knack for reading people. Luckily, they reached the end of the row before he had to answer. He looked around, but Aubry was nowhere to be seen. “Let’s get in there before Jenny starts panicking that she’s missing half the wedding party.”

Hope’s sigh was nearly inaudible. “Yeah, let’s do that.” They walked across the lawn and into the lobby, retracing the path he’d taken following Aubry out.

Quinn didn’t respond, too focused on searching the crowd for her. Nothing. Maybe she went back to the room to lick her wounds. Yeah, that had to be it. He eyed the elevator, silently debating whether he had enough time to get up and back before someone came looking for him.

Brad appeared, deciding that for him. “There you guys are. We’re about to start corralling people into the chapel. Hope, Jenny is looking for you.”

Hope gave him one last significant look and then disappeared through a gap in people. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be seeing the last of her anytime soon. He had bigger things to worry about. Like his sister’s wedding.

Like the fact that he had no fucking idea where Aubry was.

The entire ceremony passed in a blur. He knew he should focus on what was going on at the altar, but he kept searching the crowd for a distinctive head of red hair and coming up with nothing. And why wouldn’t he? The only reason she’d come to the wedding was because he’d convinced her to. If she wasn’t with him, she wouldn’t be here. Knowing that didn’t stop him from looking for her, though.

The problem was he had no idea what he would say when he did find her. Nothing had changed, not really. They still had too many issues to be able to iron things out. She was still too determined to sabotage things. He was still too stubborn for either of their own goods.

It seemed like he blinked and it was time for the reception. Quinn took the opportunity to make his excuses about forgetting something in his room and heading upstairs. He doubted he’d fooled anyone, but it didn’t matter because he was going to figure this shit out. Somehow.

He’d spent so much time building up what he was going to say—or trying to—that it took him a full ten seconds to register that their room was empty. More than empty. When he looked closer, he realized her suitcase and laptop bag were gone.