That only added to my anger at him, because being mad at myself wasn’t something I was ready to examine just yet.
Annabelle drove for two hours up into the mountains, up the steepest, most winding mountain in the whole region, it seem
ed, before coming to a cabin at the top. The view took my breath away, but the realization that I was going to be there all on my own for Lord knew how long was starting to set in.
“Are their bears?” I asked her, looking around as if one were going to jump out at us and eat us whole any second.
“That is a big fat yes,” she told me with a grimace. “But the cabin is equipped with guns, and there is a CB radio that is already programmed so you can contact the local ranger station if you need assistance. The fridge is stocked, and either I or my daughter, Mieke, will bring you groceries every few weeks if you need it. This is my own personal cabin. Z and I bought it right after we got married, but you are more than welcome to stay as long as you want, sweetie.”
“Thanks, Annabelle. I really appreciate you lending it to me.”
“Ugh, I know good and well just how stupid guys can be, Kin,” she said with a twist of her lips. “Z and I spent seventeen years apart because he was such a dumbass.”
She opened her door, and I followed. “The garage has one of those caged ATV things. Everything you need for that is in there with it, including helmets. Z loves his big-boy toys just as much as Jaco does. It is actually the easiest and quickest way to get down the mountain, so if you need to go anywhere in a hurry, that’s the way to go.”
She showed me around the inside of the cabin, making sure I knew where the guns were and how to use the CB radio. Growing up, Carter made sure all of us kids knew how to use a gun. I knew how to handle one, but I wasn’t nearly as good as Angie, who scared the living hell out of even her dad when we were kids.
Cell service was pure shit, but the internet was fast, which would let me text everyone I needed to stay in contact with, or Skype with those most important to me—mainly Lucy and Angie.
After Annabelle left, taking my rental with her so she could turn it in for me, the house was too quiet. I hadn’t been this alone in my entire life, and it was definitely going to take some getting used to.
Exhaustion fully hit me as I dropped down onto the sectional in the spacious living room. My eyes felt too heavy to keep open and began to water when I tried to fight it. Pulling the afghan down off the back of the deliciously comfortable couch, I pillowed my head on one of the soft, fuzzy pillows.
As I finally gave in, letting my lids stay down, my heart squeezed painfully. Jace should have been with me up here in this mountain paradise. We should have been cuddled together, taking a nap together.
Instead, my heart was broken, and I was running away from the man I’d thought I was going to spend my life with.
Chapter 6
Kin
September
Pulling my Range Rover up in front of Lucy and Harris’s Malibu house, I leaned my head back into the headrest and closed my eyes.
Other than on Skype, I hadn’t seen my best friend in a little over four months. We talked every day by text, yet I was nervous as hell right then. Spending so much time holed up in a secluded cabin with only my manager for company had given me a bit of anxiety when it came to being around other people. Something I was going to have to get over quickly if I was going to be able to go through with the plan Aunt Emmie had for my career.
I sucked in a deep breath and met my own gaze in the rearview mirror. “Suck it up, Kin. You can do this. Get your shit together, and go see your best friend.”
My reflection only glared back, and I groaned. With a curse, I forced myself to stop hiding and get out of my vehicle.
The smell of the ocean filled my senses as I walked up the stone path to the front door. I could hear the waves hitting the beach that was Lucy’s backyard. I’d missed that sound. Having grown up in Southwestern Virginia, surrounded by mountains and hours from any beach, I’d never really thought about living anywhere else.
Until I was forced to.
I’d hated living with my father when I came to California at seventeen, but I fell in love with the ocean. The past few months, I’d missed it almost as much as I missed Lucy and Angie.
The door opened before I even made it to the front porch, and my beautiful friend came out, waddling only slightly from the extra weight of the baby girl growing in her belly. Tears filled her eyes when her gaze met mine, and seconds later, we were hugging.
“I missed you so much,” Lucy laughed emotionally as she hugged me tight.
I swallowed the lump trying to fill my throat and hugged her back. “Missed you too, Preggo.”
Stepping back, she grasped my hands and pulled me into the amazing house her parents and in-laws had given them as a wedding present. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? How was the flight? How is that Amara chick? Is she showing yet? Does she know what she’s having? Should we plan her a baby shower or something, do you think?”
“Whoa, sweetness,” Harris said with a laugh as he came down the stairs. Dressed in dark jeans and a black button-up over a gray T-shirt, he looked amused and maybe glowing just as much as his pregnant wife was. But he’d been doing that ever since the wedding. “Maybe give Kin time to answer one question before moving on to the next one.”
She grimaced. “If I don’t ask them all now, this stupid pregnancy brain will make me forget. It’s better just to get them all out of the way now, and she can answer them in her own time.”