Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
With a groan, Zach gripped the back of his neck with one hand, the tension knotting his muscles unbearable. “Because once I know, I’ll have to forgive her and I’m not ready.”
Remy nodded in understanding. “I get it.”
“I’m not sure how to explain it but she’s the sole reason my life took the turn that it did.” In his obsessive need to find her, he’d taken his computer skills from legit to the darker world of hacking.
With Remy’s help while in college, they’d come this close to breaking into a government database. Whether it had the information he’d needed, Zach didn’t know. Because the feds showed up on his doorstep before he’d hit paydirt.
“So we were arrested for hacking. Big fucking deal. It’s not like we went to jail. Not only did we end up doing government work, we also made the contacts to sell our anti-hacking software for a hefty fortune. Can’t say your life sucks,” he said, taking a long sip. “Neither does mine.”
Remy pulled out the bottle of bourbon they reserved for nights like this one. He reached for two old fashioned glasses and treated them each to a pour.
Zach lifted his glass and Remy did the same. “No, life is pretty damned good now. But if Hadley tells me about her past, at some point, I’ll need to do the same.” And that admission would reveal how desperate he’d been to find her.
Once they stopped hacking, he stopped searching. He hadn’t made peace with her disappearance and as time went on, knowing she could have reached out to him at any time had helped turn his obsession to find her into the anger he held onto now.
Once he spoke the truth to Hadley, he’d have to let that anger go. And the feelings he’d pushed down deep would resurface. Feelings she no longer deserved.
Needing both the fortification and the numbness sure to follow, he finished off his drink.
“So I take it I’m going to have to run that background check on her after all,” Remy said. “Now that I have her new name.”
Zach shrugged. “Do what you need to do,” he said, ignoring the guilt that statement brought.
Remy narrowed his gaze. “Or you could get the truth directly from her.”
“Even if I let her explain, I’d still want to verify and make sure she told me everything.”
Really? A voice in his head asked. Was he really that suspicious of Hadley? The self-protective part of him said yes, he didn’t know the woman who’d walked into his bar but the younger, less jaded side of him, told him he could trust her.
Which voice in his head did he believe?
Remy placed his glass on the table and rested one elbow on the bar. “She’s here of her own free will and scared out of her mind. I don’t think she’s going to be holding shit back from you now.” Picking up the bottle, he refilled both glasses. “I think she’ll be pissed if we dig into her past when she’s already told you she’s willing to talk. Why don’t you listen and decide afterwards if you think she’s revealed it all? You have good instincts. Trust them.”
Remy had a point. He needed to hear her out.
A decade ago, she’d upended his life when she disappeared. Now she’d done the same thing by reappearing out of the blue.
Remy went home to the house he had in East Hampton to get some sleep. He wanted to wake up early to drive back to the city. And Zach moved to a booth, settling in for the duration because he had no intention of going home until long after his houseguest was asleep.
He hadn’t had another drink since the two pours with Remy and he sat alone, watching the thickening crowd of people fill the establishment. He was happy they’d decided to open a second Back Door Bar in the Hamptons. It had been a solid business decision when Remy asked if he could buy in.
Soon his mind turned to Hadley puttering around his huge house, by herself. After two days of driving cross country to escape men who’d threatened her.
And he’d left her alone.
Fuck.
He pushed himself out of the booth and stopped by the office where Maddox sat at a desk, looking over what appeared to be inventory sheets.
“I’m out,” he told the other man. “We’ll get to the bottom of things. I’m sure it’s an accounting error. Or an employee who thinks we won’t miss a couple of bottles.” If that were the case, Zach had every intention of making sure the person was fired. He wouldn’t put up with someone stealing from him.
“Thanks. I’ll figure this out. It happened on my watch and that pisses me off,” Maddox muttered.
Zach inclined his head, respecting the man’s ethics. “See you tomorrow.”
“Night.”
Zach drove home from the bar and parked his car inside the garage. He let himself into the house and silence surrounded him. She was asleep, he thought, grateful for the reprieve. He strode through the hallway and walked into the large living area, taking in the muted lights he normally shut off before turning in for the night. Hadley must have left them on so she wouldn’t feel lost in the new-to-her house.