Flynn had just parked outside the hospital to pick up his mother when his phone rang.
“Callum, you get anything?”
His team was still helping search for the Brown twins. Neither boy had shown up yet. And every day that passed had Flynn thinking more and more that this wasn’t a simple case of the teenagers having some fun.
“We spoke to a couple of their friends this morning. They said the boys went to their car after the street party and were supposed to be driving to one of their places but never showed. We also spoke to Tom. He said there’s been no activity on their phones since that night. Both numbers are just going straight to voicemail.”
Shit. Something had happened to the boys. And the longer they were missing, the less likely it was they’d be found alive.
“We did learn something interesting though.”
Flynn took off his seat belt and climbed out of the car. “Tell me.”
“Their car was spotted on street surveillance footage driving down Highway 75 toward Bald Mountain that night.”
Flynn paused beside his car. “I’m guessing none of their friends live near Bald Mountain?”
“Nope.”
He shook his head. “I don’t like this. Any of it.”
“Me neither. We’re going to spend a few days searching the area, see if we can find anything. We’ll let you know if we do.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Before you go, got some more bad news for you.”
Dammit. Not what he needed today. “Hit me with it.”
“There were no prints on the note left for Carina.”
“So it probably wasn’t the twins, then.” Because they sure as hell weren’t smart enough to not leave prints. “And we have no other leads.” Fuck.
“Sorry, brother.”
“Thanks for looking into it.”
Tucking the phone into his pocket, he headed into the hospital and down the hall toward his mom’s room. The news about the note was annoying as hell, but he’d suspected as much. And the fact the twins were still missing… Yeah, that was worrying as hell.
Ideally, he would have liked to help look into the twins’ disappearance. But with Tom’s warning, and the mother still breathing down his neck, that was a no-go. Even if Tom hadn’t warned him, it was smarter for him to stay away from it and let his team take over.
He stepped into his mother’s room to see her fully dressed and standing by the window. Her silhouette took him back to his childhood. She used to do that often. Stand by the window, letting the sun wash over her.
He’d always wondered what she thought about when she stood there. He knew she loved nature, and she appreciated the little things that most didn’t pause to notice. The bees that congregated around the flowers. The way the leaves turned upside down before a storm.
He took slow steps forward, not wanting to pull her out of whatever she was thinking about. It wasn’t until he was standing beside her, and she didn’t react at all, that he suspected she’d known he was there the entire time.
“Did I make a noise?” he asked.
Her lips tilted up. “You’re my son, Flynn. I knew the second you stepped into the room, no noise needed.”
He wasn’t sure how that was possible, but he knew better than to question the woman. “How are you feeling?”
“Ready to go home.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
Her brows scrunched. “Little bits and pieces.” When she looked up at him, her eyes turned sad. “I’m sorry.”
He frowned. “What are you sorry for?”
“Every time I forget you, I feel like I let you down.”
Her words had his chest clenching. “Not true at all. You could never let me down, Mom.”
She smiled, but just like her eyes, the smile was sad. “That’s very kind of you to say, honey. Even if I don’t believe it.”
She obviously didn’t view her struggles the way he did. “You’ve looked after me your entire life. Now it’s my turn to look after you.”
She wrapped her fingers around his arm and squeezed. “I appreciate it. I appreciate everything you do for me.” She blew out a long breath before shooting a glance behind him. “Do you know when Carina’s due to arrive? Or is she meeting us at my place?”
Dammit. This was the part he’d been dreading.
He was careful not to react to her words, but before he could say anything, his mother continued.
“I like her. And I may be old and senile, but I know something’s going on between you two.”
Flynn looked out the window, trying to figure out a way to word it without his mother looking at him like he’d run over Bambi.
His mother angled her body toward him, already knowing something was wrong. “What is it?”
There was no best way to say it. Every option made him look like the asshole he was. “When we brought you in, a nurse saw some drugs in Carina’s bag. It was the same pain medication that you take.”
There was a beat of silence. Then, “Oh, Flynny. What did you do?”
Nothing good.
He scratched the back of his neck, not wanting to say it, because saying it made it more real. “I told her to leave.”
And that told his mother everything she needed to know.
There was a long sigh. He lifted his gaze to see her shaking her head. “That woman would not have stolen a penny from me, let alone my pain medication—which she’s always encouraging me to take.”
His jaw ticked. Yeah. He’d messed up big time.
“You’ve always had trouble trusting,” she said quietly. “Especially this last year. And I’m not saying I blame you. Being taken and going through everything at the hands of men who were supposed to be trustworthy…I don’t even have words.”
It was true. His entire life had been the military. He’d been a Delta Force soldier, only to get snatched from his hotel room before a mission by men who were former SEALs. Held hostage by a man who was a former military commander. It had shaken his trust in everyone.
“Eventually,” his mother said quietly, “you’ll need to decide. Give your whole trust to another person or live alone. Because I guarantee you, you can’t have both.”
His muscles twitched. She was right. He’d tried to convince himself that the decision not to trust Carina had been about his exhaustion, and it partly was. But it also wasn’t.
Just a few nights earlier, he’d told her he was all in. But when crunch time came, when he’d had to prove himself, he’d let her down. Christ, he really was an asshole.
“I know. I’m going to fix this.” He had to.
His mother patted his arm, and he glanced at the door just as Victoria passed.
“I’m going to talk to Victoria about your discharge,” he said, stepping away.
His mother scoffed, remaining where she was. “Good. Better you talk to her than me.”
He chuckled to himself, almost certain she’d given the woman hell today. She always did.
He moved into the hall just as Victoria fished her phone from her pocket and turned a corner. He trailed behind her and turned the same corner quickly enough to catch her slip into another room as she pressed the phone to her ear.
He frowned. No. Not a room. A supply closet.
He kept moving, stopping a few feet away. With his advanced hearing, he heard every hushed word she spoke.
“Hey. Just leaving a message to check in and see whether you want to grab a drink later. I need a big glass of wine after this week. I can’t believe it actually worked. She came in, and I just…did it. Kalli saw the drugs, and everything went to plan. Call me back.”
Disbelief and anger roared in Flynn’s blood.
The door opened, but before Victoria could take more than a step, he was in front of her.
Her eyes widened. “Flynn. Hi.”
“What do you mean, Kalli saw the drugs and everything went to plan?”
Her jaw dropped, and her face paled. And that was the last bit of confirmation he needed.
“You set her up,” he said quietly, his face heating with rage. “You planted the drugs in her bag. How?”
“Flynn! You know I wouldn’t—”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Victoria.” His voice rose, and it had her mouth snapping shut. He’d had enough. “I know you did it, and I want to know how and who you’re working with.”
Her back straightened, and the fear cleared from her face, replaced by a vicious sneer. “If you think I’m going to stand here and admit to a goddamn thing, you’re an idiot. Now get out of my way.”
“Tell me you didn’t do it, then.”
Her gaze skittered between his eyes. “I don’t have to do anything!”
She tried to walk away, but Flynn grabbed her arm. “Victoria—”
“Unless you want me calling security, take your goddamn hands off me.”
For a second, he stood there, fingers still wrapped around her arm, rage making him see red. But she was right. Unless he planned to force the words out of her right here in the hospital hallway, he had to let her go.
He’d find another way. There were cameras in this hospital. If she’d done something, they would have caught it.
Slowly, he released her. “This isn’t over, Victoria. I will find out what happened—and you will pay.”
Hypothetically, if she cried over spilled milk, did that mean her emotions were a mess?
Okay, maybe it wasn’t so hypothetical, but it also wasn’t just the spilled milk she was crying over. It was what she’d spilled it over. Flynn’s shirt. The one he’d given her the day she’d fallen off that box. She’d washed it a couple of times since he’d given it to her, but she’d still managed to convince herself the thing smelled of him.
Yep, it was ridiculous that she was upset. For one, his scent had disappeared after the first wash. Two, the shirt needed another wash anyway, milk or no milk. And three, she shouldn’t want a shirt that smelled of the man.
She wiped a tear off her damp cheek as she rinsed the shirt in the sink.
Big. Fat. Mess. That’s what she was.
For the second time since arriving in Idaho, Carina had spent the entire day searching for jobs. Only this time, she hadn’t looked for them in Cradle Mountain. Because she couldn’t. Even if there was another nursing job here, there was no way she could remain in the same town as Flynn. Seeing him every week but not being with him… It would crush her.
So, yet again, she needed a new start. And yet again, it was because she’d been accused of something she didn’t do.
She blinked away the tears. Once the shirt was rinsed, she took it to the laundry room and bent down to throw it in the washer. Her knee tweaked as she stood, and she cringed at the shot of pain.
Damn it. She really needed to remember to wear her brace, even if she was home all day.
Sucking in a few deep breaths, Carina moved into the kitchen. She was just about to start rinsing dishes when the doorbell rang, causing her to straighten.
Great. Just what she needed—a visitor to see her red, blotchy face.
Scrubbing her cheeks, she went to the door and looked through the peephole, then immediately jerked back. For a moment, she froze, unsure if she had the strength to talk to him today. If she cried over spilled milk on his shirt, what would she do if he told her he’d reported her for stealing drugs? Or was he in the process of making sure she never worked as a nurse again?
She’d probably fall into a heap on the floor and cry.
The guy had already tried to call her multiple times. She hadn’t answered any of the calls or listened to a single message. Because she was a coward.
“Carina, can we talk?”
She bit her bottom lip, wrapping her arms around her waist. Even hearing Flynn’s voice had her body fighting between running and tugging the door open.
Maybe if she just ignored him—
“I can hear you breathing,” he said almost gently. “And your heartbeat.”
Her breath stopped, even though she knew it was too late. She couldn’t do anything about her heart though.
“I don’t blame you for not wanting to talk to me,” he continued, his voice pained. “I’m an asshole and wouldn’t want to talk to me either. But I need to apologize, and I want to do it in person.”
“Apologize?” she asked quietly, all too aware that if he were a normal man, he wouldn’t have heard.
“Yeah, honey. Apologize.”
Maybe it was the endearment. Or maybe it was because she was feeling weak. But she took a small step forward, opening the door.
“There you are,” he said quietly, a sad smile on his face.
“What do you want to apologize for?”
His hands were shoved into his pockets, and his biceps rippled as he spoke. “I was wrong. So wrong that I don’t know how to make it right.”
“Wrong about what?” She knew. But she needed to hear him say it.
“You didn’t do it. Victoria slipped the drugs into your bag. I don’t know how—”
“She bumped into me in the hall,” Carina interrupted. “I’ve gone over and over it in my head, and I’m almost certain that’s when she must’ve slipped them in.”
She’d replayed her movements that day a hundred times, and if it was true that Victoria hadn’t been alone in the room with her purse, the bump in the hall was the only time she could have done it.
His jaw ticked. “I’ll see if I can access any video footage.”
“So you can confirm I’m innocent.”
“I know you’re innocent.”
She tilted her head. “How do you know?” Because he certainly hadn’t known the other day.
“I overheard Victoria saying everything with Kalli went as planned. She didn’t admit to it specifically, but she may as well have.”
The small hope in Carina’s chest died. He hadn’t come to this conclusion on his own. He didn’t really trust her. He’d simply found evidence.
Her face must have shown her devastation, because he took a quick step forward, his hand rising. She took an equally quick step back. She couldn’t allow him to touch her. The second he did, she’d give in.
Another click of his jaw. “But even if I hadn’t heard what she’d said, I would have come. The second I got some sleep, I knew I’d messed up.”
His smell intoxicated her. Drowned her.
“I was exhausted that day,” he continued. “My body can survive on little sleep, but after two consecutive nights of no sleep at all, my head was a mess. And it doesn’t help that I struggle with trust. I’m sorry for that. It’s something I promise you I’m working on.”
She swallowed. “You said you were all in. But you weren’t. I can’t just forget that.”
She couldn’t just…trust again. Trust that he’d have her back next time. Because that’s what a relationship was built on. Trust. And no matter how tired a person was, if they loved you, they trusted you.
“I know. And I’m not asking for you to forgive me. Not yet.” Her heart gave a little thud at the way he said yet. Like it was a promise that the time would come when he would ask for her forgiveness. “But I’d like you to come back and work for my mother. I’ve got a second nurse lined up for the times you can’t be there. But she needs you, too.”
For a moment, Carina didn’t speak. If she stayed, there was every possibility she’d fall even harder. Because this was Flynn. The man who’d pierced her heart in only a couple short weeks.
But he was right about one thing. She wasn’t willing to forgive and forget. Not yet.
This time, when he lifted his hand, she didn’t step back. Instead, she let the heat of his skin penetrate her flesh as he caressed her cheek.
At that single touch, it was like the little fractured parts of her soul realigned. That was his effect on her.
“Please stay,” he whispered.
It took three seconds to gain the strength. Three seconds to come up with words that made sense. Finally, she stepped back, letting his hand drop. She didn’t miss the hurt in his eyes or the way the muscles in his arm tensed.
“Okay. I’ll stay. But only for your mom.”
The lie was like a whisper in the air. A lie she had to pray he didn’t call her out on. Not now, when her mind was jumbled, and her heart was hurting.
