I almost snorted.

It’s not like he could get lost since the town couldn’t have had more than three streets. I bet the jail only had one cell, no one ever bothered to use a turn signal, teachers called students by their older sibling’s name, and all the high school parties were held at “the lake” or in a cornfield.

We rode for a couple of more minutes before I shook my head when we passed some teenagers racing down the street on a lawnmower.

It was just after one in the morning when we arrived at a small hospital. Rich parked, and after sending a quick text, Braxton climbed out, and we followed.

I expected her to rush inside, considering her urgency to get here, but she just stood on the sidewalk, staring at the entrance while she breathed in and out deeply through her nose.

Turning her toward me, I noticed how her lips trembled and tucked her against my chest while Loren and Rich hovered behind her.

“This was a mistake,” she whispered. “We should just go back.”

Loren chose that moment to yawn as wide as he could with a look that said he wasn’t going anywhere but to a bed anytime soon. As he looked around, I could hear him talking shit in his head about being dragged to the middle of nowhere for nothing but wisely kept his mouth shut. He was always his bitchiest when he was exhausted, but we all were, so he’d just have to deal.

“Talk to me,” I urged Braxton.

She didn’t immediately jump at the chance, and I swallowed my wounded pride when I wondered why.

“It’s my sister,” she eventually mumbled against my chest. “She’s inside.”

Blinking at nothing, I was floored as I replayed her confession. Until now, it had never occurred to me how little we knew about her. She’d managed to get away with uncovering pieces of our past while giving away nothing of hers in return. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the time to ask her why or berate myself for not demanding to know more.

Later.

Asking if her sister was okay would have been redundant since no one goes to hospitals for fun, so I asked instead, “What happened?”

Before she could answer me, though, someone with a deep voice called her name.

I felt Braxton stiffen in my arms while her face stayed planted in my chest. She was taking careful, controlled breaths now as if she were psyching herself up to face an opponent in the ring. I was seconds from telling the older man dressed in brown corduroy and a plaid flannel who had her eyes to get lost when she lifted her head and turned her attention toward him.

“Hi, Dad,” she said brightly despite her trembling in my arms. “It’s nice to see you.”

He was lucky to be her father when he didn’t return her greeting or her sentiments. “Your mother sent me down here to see what’s keeping you.”

The look he gave me said he didn’t approve of me touching his daughter and the look I returned dared him and his mustache to do something about it. Braxton’s father was tall like me and well-built, so it would be an evenly matched fight if it came to that, but hopefully, it wouldn’t. I’d hate to fuck up my future father-in-law.

Braxton, noticing our silent pissing contest, pulled away before walking inside without another word spoken. I didn’t like how she seemed to make herself small as her father followed closely behind, so I added that to the growing list of problems to tackle later.

Since visiting hours were over and we weren’t entitled to the same perks Braxton got being a local, the three of us waited in the lobby while Braxton visited with her sister.

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who didn’t know she had a sister,” Loren blurted the moment we were alone. His frown was deep, telling me this bothered him as much as it disturbed me. “Did I miss something?”

“We all did,” I told him.

It didn’t make any of us feel better, though, since there were three of us, and we still sucked at this boyfriend thing.

Rich scrubbed a hand down his face as he stared off in the direction she’d gone. “What else don’t we know about her?” he mused out loud.

“If she’s secretly married, I’m kicking your ass,” Loren informed him. “That bit of karma’s all on you, bro.”

“More importantly, what’s been up with you lately?” I finally asked Rich. It pissed me off to see him pulling away from Braxton and not being able to do anything about it. We were supposed to be in this together, not to mention sharing her had been his goddamn idea.

For some reason, Rich tipped his head toward Loren as if that answered anything. “Ask him.”

“I’m asking you.”

Loren taunted Jericho with a Cheshire smile in my peripheral, telling me he had something to do with it, after all.

Nevertheless.

I kept my gaze steady on Rich, who sighed.

“Loren threatened to tell Braxton about Emily if I didn’t back off until I told her myself.”

My gaze immediately swung to Loren, who looked unapologetic as fuck. “Why would you do that? No, scratch that,” I said before he could answer me. “Why would you do that without talking to me first?”

“Because last I checked, my balls were attached to my body and not in your pocket.”

Closing my eyes, I blew air through my nose as I reminded myself that we were in a strange town in the middle of nowhere. Getting arrested because I put Loren in a hospital while in a hospital was not the way I wanted the rest of my weekend to go.

I decided to let it go for now and focus on something I could change. “When are you planning to tell her?” I asked Rich.

“He wants to wait until he’s actually divorced as if that will make any goddamn difference.” Loren rolled his eyes. “Actually, it will,” he quickly backtracked. “Because the longer he waits, the deeper her feelings get. Dip shit can’t see that, though.”

“How hard can it be to find one damn woman? And how much are you paying those detectives?”

“Finding her is the easy part,” Loren butted in again. The motherfucker couldn’t keep his mouth closed if someone paid him. “Getting to her before she’s tipped off and takes off is where he’s failing. If he would just do what I told him, we’d be square.”

“I’m not having her kidnapped,” Rich snapped, drawing the attention of the pretty receptionist a few feet away.

When she continued to stare, waiting to hear more, Loren immediately scowled. “Can we help you?”

She quickly looked away, and we made sure to lower our voices before resuming our conversation.

“Maybe it’s time you consider it,” I heard myself say. Normally, I would have agreed with Rich, but that was before Braxton. I didn’t give a fuck about that she-demon we warned him not to marry.

“No,” he said with a finality that left me no choice but to respect.

Loren, however, narrowed his eyes at Rich. “I’m starting to think you still have feelings for her.”

Rich never answered because his attention had been stolen by Braxton coming down the hall. She was alone as she walked with her head down like she was deep in thought as she stared at the freshly waxed floors.

Pick your head up. Give me your eyes.

As if she heard me, that’s precisely what she did. I just wasn’t prepared for the utter look of failure in them. Braxton looked defeated, something I once thought impossible even when I relentlessly pursued it for my own satisfaction. I didn’t know what to do as she came toward us. How could I when I didn’t know what put that look in her eyes?

Loren and Rich were frozen like me when she finally stood before us.

“We can go now,” she announced before turning toward the exit. She walked through it without looking back, expecting, or perhaps not caring whether we followed or not. Braxton moved like she was on autopilot—like she was drifting in the desert without a direction to go in.

We were supposed to be her compass.

There were no words spoken between us before we stood and followed after her.

When Braxton told us we were leaving, none of us expected her to mean California altogether. It was obvious she wanted to put as much distance between her and whatever happened as fast as she could. It took us putting our foot down when reasoning with our girlfriend hadn’t worked. She’d been reacting off pure emotion while Loren, Rich, and I were still scrambling to catch up.

Braxton was no help as we searched for accommodations. The brat sat and brooded in the backseat with Rich while Loren rode up front as I drove around aimlessly for half an hour.

I’d fix her, though.

Eventually, we found a motel near the airport ran by someone who hadn’t recognized us. The innkeeper smiled like he was in on the joke when I asked for one room, and he noticed there were three of us and only one of her.