She didn’t appear to believe me. “Sure. I know.”

I wasn’t in the mood to convince her. I handed her the phone and headed back to my temporary bedroom to pack some things.

Rush

Grant had finally given up on me and gone to dance with one of the girls who had been flirting with us since we walked into the club. He’d come here for some fun and I’d needed the distraction but now that I was here I just wanted to leave. Taking a drink of my beer I tried not to make eye contact with anyone. I kept my head down and a scowl on my face. It wasn’t hard to do.

Jace’s words kept replaying in my head. I was scared… No; I was terrified to let myself believe that she’d come back here. I’d seen her face that night in the hotel room. She was empty. The emotion in her eyes was gone. She had been finished‑ with me, with her father, with everything. Love was cruel. So fucking cruel.

The bar stool beside me scraped across the floor as it was moved back. I didn’t look over at it. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me.

“Please tell me that ugly scowl on your pretty face isn’t over a girl. You might break my heart.” The smooth female voice was familiar.

I tilted my head to the side just enough to see her face. Although she was older now I recognized her immediately. There are some things a guy doesn’t forget in life and the girl who takes his virginity is one of them. Meg Carter. She’d been three years older than me and visiting her grandmother the summer I turned fourteen. It hadn’t been a love connection. More like a life lesson.

“Meg,” I replied, relieved it wasn’t another unknown female here to throw herself at me.

“And he remembers my name. I’m impressed,” she replied then looked up at the bartender and smiled. “Jack and Coke please.”

“Guy doesn’t forget his first.”

She shifted on her stool, crossing her legs and tilting her head to look at me causing her long dark hair to fall over one shoulder. She still wore it long. I’d been fascinated with it back then.

“Most guys don’t but you’ve led a different life compared to most guys. The fame has to have changed you over the years.”

“My dad’s famous not me,” I snapped, hating it when females wanted to talk about something they knew nothing about. Meg and I had fucked a few times but she didn’t really know much about me back then.

“Hmmm, whatever. So, why you so glum?”

I wasn’t glum. I was a broken mess. But she wasn’t someone I intended to unload on. “I’m good,” I replied and glanced back at the dance floor hoping to catch Grant’s attention. I was ready to go.

“You look like you’ve got a broken heart from hell and don’t know what to do with it,” she said reaching for her Jack and Coke.

“I’m not gonna talk to you about my personal life, Meg.” I let the warning edge in my voice ring through loud and clear.

“Whoa there, handsome. I wasn’t trying to piss you off. Just making small talk.”

My personal life wasn’t small talk. “Then ask me about the fucking weather,” I said with a snarl.

She didn’t respond and I was glad. Maybe she’d move on. Leave me alone.

“I’m in town taking care of my Grans. She’s sick and I needed something new to do with my life. I just went through a messy divorce. A change of scenery from Chicago was what I needed. I’ll be here for at least six months. Do you think you’ll be ornery the entire time I’m here or are you gonna get nicer anytime in the near future?”

She wanted to see me. No. I wasn’t ready for that. I started to reply when my phone alerted me of a text message. Relieved to have an interruption so I could think about how I was going to respond to her I pulled it out of my pocket.

The number wasn’t one I recognized. But the “Hey It’s Bethy” caught my attention and I stopped breathing as I opened the text to read the entire thing.

Hey it’s Bethy. If you aren’t a stupid fuck then you’ll wake up and get with the program.

What the hell did that mean? What was I missing? Was Blaire in Rosemary? Is that what this meant?I stood up and put enough money on the bar to cover my beer and Meg’s drink. “I gotta go. It was nice to see you. Take care,” I said as an after thought as I stalked through the crowd until I found Grant having dry humping on the dance floor with some redhead.

His eyes met mine and I nodded at the door. “Now,” I said and turned to head outside. I was leaving him here if he hadn’t caught up with me by the time I reached my Range Rover. She could be here. I was going to find out. Asking Bethy what she meant by that jacked up text was pointless.

Blaire

I reached over and nudged Bethy’s leg to wake her up. She’d been asleep for the past two hours. We were just outside of Rosemary Beach and I needed her to drive so I could look for Cain’s truck at all the inexpensive motels.

“We there?” she mumbled sleepily and sat up in her seat.

“Almost. I need you to drive. I gotta look for Cain’s truck.”

Bethy let out a weary sigh. I knew she was only doing this in hopes of getting me to Rosemary and keeping me there. She could care less about finding Cain. But I’d needed a ride. I was going to drive Cain home. And he and I were going to talk. He had no business coming out here to see Rush. I only hoped he hadn’t told him about what he’d caught me buying.

It wasn’t that I wanted to keep it a secret from Rush. It was just that I hadn’t let everything sink in yet. I needed to process it. Figure out what I wanted to do. Then I’d contact Rush. Cain going after him like a crazy person was not what I wanted. I still couldn’t believe he’d done it.

“Pull over here. I need to run in and grab me a latte first,” Bethy instructed. I did as she asked and parked the car in front of Starbucks.

“You want something?” Bethy asked as she opened the door. I wasn’t sure that caffeine was good for the… for the baby. I shook my head and waited until she got out of the car before I let out the sob in my chest I hadn’t been expecting. I hadn’t thought about what those two pink stripes meant. A baby. Rush’s baby. Oh, God.

I stepped out of the car and walked around the front to get into the passenger side. By the time I was back in the car and buckled up Bethy was headed back to the car. She looked a little more awake already. I pushed thoughts of my baby back and focused on finding Cain. I could dwell on my future, on my baby’s future later.

“Okay. I have caffeine. I’m ready to find this dude.”

I didn’t correct her. I knew she knew his name by now. I’d used it several times. She was just refusing to acknowledge it. This was her form of rebellion. Cain represented Sumit and she didn’t want me in Sumit. Instead of aggravating me it warmed me. She wanted me with her and it felt nice.

“He left Rosemary because of the price of hotel rooms. So, he’s somewhere affordable. Can you take me to a few of those?” I asked.

She nodded but she didn’t look at me. She was texting. Great. I needed her to focus and she was more than likely telling Jace we were almost there. I didn’t really want Jace to know anything.

We drove around for thirty minutes with me checking parking lots at all of the cheap motels in town. This was getting frustrating. He had to be here somewhere. “Can I use your phone? I’m gonna call him again and let him know I’m here looking for him. He’ll tell me where he is when he knows I’ve driven all this way.”

Bethy handed me her phone and I quickly dialed Cain’s number. It rang twice.

“Hello?”

“Cain. It’s me. Where are you? I’m just outside of Rosemary and I can’t find your truck anywhere.”

There was silence, then “Dammit.”

“Don’t get all mad. I needed to check on you. I came out here to drive you home.” I knew he’d be frustrated that I came this close to Rosemary again.

“I told you I’d be home once I slept it off, Blaire. Whycouldn’t you have stayed put?” The aggravation in his voice annoyed me. You would think he wasn’t happy I’d come to check on him.