Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“What did Greg do after he no longer had money to go to the island?” I ask.
“He had a nest egg of his own. For a while he got involved in drugs.”
“Oh my God. Did he happen to know a kingpin named Lucifer Raven?”
“I don’t know. I disowned him. I have no idea what he was into.”
Luke. Raven. Somehow I just know he’s involved in this.
More than he’s told me so far.
Hey, I get it. He wants to start a new life with Katelyn.
I had pledged to stay out of his way, but…
If he has information about Greg Wallace and how this all came about, I want it.
“I really should get to the wake,” Wallace says.
“We’ve got an appointment with you in a couple of weeks,” Aspen says. “It was the best we could do. But if possible, we’d like to talk to you more. Soon.”
He nods. Pulls a card out of his pocket. “Call this number. Tell them you need to see me tomorrow. I’ll make sure you get on the calendar.”
“Thank you,” Aspen says.
“Will you be coming to the wake?”
“No,” I say.
“I understand. I’ll talk to both of you tomorrow.”
40
ASPEN
Buck is angry.
Luke and Katelyn went ahead home after the funeral.
But now…
Buck wants to know more.
As soon as Harrison Wallace mentioned that his brother got into the drug business, I knew Buck was going to go for Luke’s jugular.
“Calm down,” I say as we drive back to the beach house.
“Calm down? Fucking Raven probably knows more than he’s letting on.”
“I don’t think so, Buck. He loves Katelyn, and Katelyn loves me. If he had any more information, he’d tell us.”
“Yeah? I will find out everything he knows if I have to beat it out of him.”
I bite my lower lip. How can I reason with Buck? All this time, he’s tried to get me to back down. To simply focus on healing rather than dredging up the past.
I couldn’t do it.
Seems the tides have turned now.
“Luke wasn’t Luke then, Buck. You know it and I know it.”
“Right. He was the guy who abused my sister, kept her locked in the very damned house we’re staying at.”
“I know. But that’s not who he is anymore, and Emily is happy. You said so yourself.”
“She is.”
“And so are you. We found each other. Just like Emily found Scotty. And Katelyn…”
“You know I adore Katelyn,” Buck says, “but for God’s sake. She can do better.”
“Not in her eyes she can’t. She and Luke are in love. You can feel it every time the two of them are together. They don’t take their eyes off each other, and they’re always touching in some small way. She’s happy, Buck, and I don’t want to take that away from her.”
He inhales, holds it for moment, and then exhales with a whoosh. “Don’t you want all the answers, Aspen? Isn’t that what you’ve been gunning for this whole time?”
“I know. But not if it’s going to hurt Katelyn.”
“For crying out loud, you were fine if you were the one getting hurt.”
“I suppose I was,” I say. “But maybe I was wrong, Buck. I dragged you into all of this. You, the man I love more than anything. I shouldn’t have done that. You got hurt.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yeah, you’re fine. Because Luke went to find you. You might’ve bled out on Gloria’s carpet otherwise.”
He stiffens a moment.
Good. He’s thinking.
“I still want to know what he knows.”
“Fine. I want to know as well. But don’t hurt him. For me. For Katelyn.”
He doesn’t respond.
And just when I think he’s never going to respond—
“Fine.” His lips are pursed into a line.
And that’s quite a feat for someone with beautiful full lips like Buck Moreno.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luke says.
We’re back at the beach house and out on the deck having a glass of wine—Luke’s having sparkling water.
Buck shakes his head. “Funny that I don’t believe you.”
“The underground drug trade is huge in LA,” Luke says. “I had never heard of Greg Wallace before I met Aspen, and I don’t know him by any other name either. Don’t you think I care about these women just as much as you do?”
Buck doesn’t respond.
“Buck…” From Katelyn.
“Don’t,” Luke says. “He’s never going to forgive me for what I put his sister through. And frankly? I don’t even blame him.”
“I think he’s telling the truth, Buck,” I say. “He’s been researching this thing using all his connections. If he had come across Greg Wallace, he would’ve told us.”
Luke nods. “Absolutely.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Buck takes a sip of his wine. “You got any bourbon?”
“Of course he doesn’t have any bourbon,” I say.
“Actually,” Katelyn says, “we do have some bourbon. We keep a stocked bar, you know, for guests.”
Buck rises. “Just show me the way.”
He returns a few moments later with a couple fingers full of bourbon, neat. He downs it all in one swallow.