Rein In (Willow Bay Stables #3)(36)

“No, thank you,” Grant told her. “Listen, Tanya. Someone from over here, a girl, comes in to grab it, will you call me?”

“Uhh. Sure,” she said, and Grant rattled his cellphone number off to her before the call went dead.

My vision was hazy and yet crystal clear at the same time. It was unlike her to be so evasive, and my soul was a thundering storm without her here to calm it.

“Maybe they had car trouble.” Grant jerked his head. “Get in the truck, we’ll check the route.”

I jogged after him, heaving myself up into the passenger seat of his white pickup.

“Dirt hasn’t serviced that one-ton yet.” Grant spoke to himself, and my nerves calmed just a fraction. “Aurora’s always leavin’ that damn phone in some stall. I’m sure they’re just fine.”

I was unsure if he was reassuring me or himself, but honestly, I didn’t give a shit. My heart was dancing dangerously close to the edge of hysteria, and I didn’t want someone, anyone to pull me back.

The afternoon light suddenly seemed so black. It was like my nerves had clouded over the sun.

I hated it.

I hated that without her here, I somehow had ended up back in the dark.

My hands fisted in my lap as Grant’s truck roared down the highway. If they’d driven too far and broken down, they wouldn’t have been able to walk back in time.

“There!” I pounded on the dashboard.

We’d pulled off the highway and onto the back road that led into town. There was a truck about four hundred yards ahead pulled over on the shoulder.

“What did I tell you?” Grant laughed and my heart rate stuttered. “Glitch probably wanted to wait for someone to drive by rather than walk his lazy behind all the way back.”

It was still too far away to know for sure if it was them, but that would have made sense. We hadn’t passed anyone walking on any of the roads between here and the property.

As we got closer, I could tell the truck was white but my ease ended there.

The driver’s side door was ajar, and from what I could tell, the engine was still running.

Grant slowed down, pulling up behind the one-ton and I threw myself out of the pickup before it even had time to stop.

“Aurora!” I screamed, and my voice broke with the panic.

No response.

“Glitch!” I tried his name, reaching the back of the truck.

No response.

My hands slammed against the paneling of the truck, and by the time I reached the open door, I could barely breath at all.

“Aurora.” I swung my head into the cab and could have cried at the sight.

Empty.

The cab was f*cking empty.

My body shook violently. Grant yanked open the passenger door, and his face appeared in my line of vision.

I hadn’t stopped looking inside the cab. I looked and looked, praying somehow I’d made a mistake and she was actually there.

Grant leaned in and turned off the ignition.

He pulled out his cellphone, punched in a few numbers and put it to his ear.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

My eyes searched around the cab.

Ring.

Ring.

Grant leaned forward and stuck his head under the seat.

The ringing stopped.

When he stood back up, he held Aurora’s phone in his hand.

My knees buckled and bile rose in my throat.

I sunk to the ground beside the truck and ran my fingers through my hair.

No.

No.

No.

My mind was locking me out. I couldn’t feel anything but panic.

Slamming my fist onto the ground in agony, I felt something soft on my knuckles where gravel should have been. My fingers curled around it.

“Her backpack,” I whispered.

The door was open.

The truck was running.

Her phone was here.

Her purse was here.

No.

No.

No.

My muscles were a rage of outcry as I shot up from the ground.

“What?” Grant’s face appeared before me.

I tossed him the backpack and ran out to the road. My eyes couldn’t move fast enough, but when I saw it, I almost blacked out in pain.

There, just nearly ten feet ahead, were motorcycle tracks on the shoulder.

Not one or two but almost half a dozen.

My fear morphed into a more crippling emotion, one that had ruined me once before.

I closed my eyes.

“I love you.”

There she was, an angel, I could see her so vividly in my mind.

“Rhys.”

Her voice whispered.

I could barely hear the sound of Grant’s voice over the pounding of blood between my ears.

How could I have been so foolish?

The war they had waged and had not yet ended.

I didn’t even bother shutting the door when my foot slammed down on the accelerator.





“BABY GIRL?”

My eyelids felt heavy, so heavy.

“Aurora.”

Someone was calling my name but I couldn’t see them.

Everything was dark, so dark.

“I’m so sorry.”

I tried to blink, once and then twice, but I couldn’t see any light.

It was so dark.

My heartbeat pounded in my temples and my stomach turned.