One Last Shot - Excerpt
DEAN
Where-to next. That was the question. I liked to keep things up in the air, especially for the summers. Just seeing where the wind took me. Where inspiration might lead.
There was always a voice in the back of my mind whispering Hart County, but I knew that was a bad idea.
My best friend Owen constantly gave me shit about it. When are you going to get back here? Not like I miss you that much, but you do stir up a nice old-fashioned.
As I grabbed a book from my shelf, a folded piece of paper fell out. Already knowing what it was, I bent to pick it up. Unfolded it.
I’d printed out this photo at some point during a moment of weakness. In the image, Keira and I were standing with our heads together. Smiling.
I stared at it for a long moment, memories flooding my mind.
After tucking the paper inside the book and packing it away, I took out my phone and opened the photos app. There were other pictures I’d kept and only let myself look at on occasions like this, when I was transitioning from one place to another. When I let myself wonder…what if?
In one, Keira was making a face at the camera on the summit of a fourteener we’d hiked. Her dark eyes were bright with laughter, genuine and unguarded.
The way she’d looked at me before I’d ruined everything.
But I’d had to ruin it. I’d had no other choice. I’d stayed way too long in Hart County, telling myself it was because of Owen and the other friends I’d made there. Genevieve, Aiden, Jessi. Trace and Scarlett. Cole and Brynn.
When really, the whole time it had been her.
An awful, empty ache started in the pit of my stomach and spread outward. Two years, and it hadn’t faded. Two years, and I still saw her face when I closed my eyes.
That’s enough, I told myself. No more. No fucking more.
Ireland, I decided. It was incredible this time of year, based on my previous visits, and I’d probably be able to find enough work to occupy myself. A cash-only job that paid under the table. I’d already perfected my skill at pouring a Guinness.
Now that I’d decided, and the temptation of Hart County was past, I exhaled.
Forcing myself to close the photo app, I noticed a missed call. It was from Owen. Worst possible timing, given where my head was at.
Then I noticed it was two missed calls. From hours ago. He must’ve called when it was the middle of the night there. Dread made me go still.
I hit Owen’s name in the call log. Listened to it ring.
“Dean.” His voice was tight. There was noise in the background, like he was in a busy place. “Hey.”
“Owen, what’s up? Everything okay?”
“I’m sorry to call like this.”
That just freaked me out more. My pulse kicked up. “Did something happen?”
There was a pause that seemed to last a lifetime. Every instinct I had screamed that something was very wrong.
That everything was about to change.
“It’s Keira. She was attacked last night. She’s in the hospital.”
As he gave me a few more details, my back hit the bedroom wall, my knees going weak. “Who?” I managed to choke out.
That one question pulsed with the vein at my temple.
Fucking who had done this?
“We don’t know yet,” Owen said. “We’re going to find out. She’s in stable condition. I just wanted to let you know. Figured...” There was a hell of a lot in that silence.
“Yeah,” I managed to say. “I gotta go.”
My phone dropped to the floor. I grabbed for the cord around my neck. The rifle bullet bit into my palm. I squeezed it so hard the point dug into my skin, giving me something to focus on. But it wasn’t enough. Not like it usually was.
The rage built and built until I couldn’t take it anymore, and I exploded.
I twisted my body and drove my fist into the wall, hearing a scream of agony that could only have come from myself.
Fuck.
My knuckles were bloody, and there was a hole in the drywall. Some rational part of my mind said I’d have to explain to my roommates. Leave money to cover the repair. I felt shitty about making a mess for them, which was not the kind of thing I liked to do.
But I had to go.
I had to find the first flight that would take me back to Colorado.