Page 4 of Fated Despite the Moon

"Don't call me that."

He squeezed her shoulder. "Do me a favor when you're there, all right? Look up Gia and Paige. Tell them… Tell them… Just make sure they’re okay." Sadness spread over his face. He'd loved Gianna and had wanted to marry her. Makayla remembered overhearing the long conversations between Colt and her father about it. But Gianna had been strong and had stood on her own two feet and told Colt to go back to Los Angeles after his summer there. So why was it now that she wanted the same thing Gianna had, they wouldn’t let her?

"I will," she said. If for nothing else but to garner an ally to help her.

Colt kissed her head and then led her to the plane. "I suggest you take a shower and change on the plane," he said. "Wouldn't want to scare your would-be husband with your club funk."

Makayla laughed and shook her head. "Maybe I do. Maybe I want to scare him all the way out of my life."

Colt pulled a small box from his pocket and handed it to her. "This is for you. It's from mom."

Makayla looked down at it.Great.A goodbye forever present.

"Congrats honey,I am so proud of you." Makayla's father looked over at her from the driver's side of his luxury Tesla.

"I'm pretty sure mom won't be so proud."

Her dad reached over and squeezed her hand. "You and your mother are like a snake and a mongoose. Ever afraid that if you give up the fight for one moment you'll be killed off. I don't understand it. But I do understand this. Your mother loves you more than anything. Even if she doesn't always tell you."

He looked over at her and smiled.

A hand shook Makayla's shoulder, and she started awake. "Miss, we're here." It was the stewardess.

Makayla glanced out the window to find the plane surrounded by towering evergreen trees.

Idaho.

Two men waited outside by a monstrous dirty pickup truck.

The tall dark-haired man with the scruffy beard and broad shoulders she recognized instantly as Jeremiah. Beside him stood a shorter blond in a thousand-dollar suit and expensive shoes. Logan. Logan had been the only fair-haired one of the three Reed boys. But from his clothes he looked more like he'd fit in with her Beverly Hills crowd than the backwoods of Idaho.

Jeremiah waved.

Busted.

She closed the shutter and blew out a breath then ran her fingers through her hair and swiped under her eyes, hoping to remove the worst of the mascara. She was pretty sure she might actually frighten them off with her morning breath, bedhead, and club funk. Maybe she'd get lucky, and they'd ship her right back to LA.

Makayla shut her eyes and groaned. No use prolonging everyone's torture.

The stewardess unloaded her bags, and the pilot thanked her then waited for her to deplane.

She picked up her purse and glanced at her phone. There were no texts. No missed calls. And no cell signal.

Great. Just great.

She descended the stairs of the plane and stepped down onto soft dewy grass, wrapping her arms around herself. For early spring the heat hadn't rolled in yet, and at ten a.m. a chilly breeze caressed her bare arms.

She squinted against the sun and took in the two men. Well, if she had to be married off to someone, she could have done worse than Logan Reed. The years had gotten him far from the scrawny teen that had chased her around the park trying to get her to flash her boobs.

Jeremiah strode forward. "Kaly girl. Long time."

She pushed her hair behind her ear. "Yup. And it's Makayla, thanks."

His jaw clenched but then he smiled. "I know this isn't where you want to be or what you want to be doing, but I think you'll be happy here, and we'll take care of you."

She nodded. "So I've been told. " She looked at her phone again. Still no signal. "Does this place get cell service?"

He picked up her bags as if they weighed no more than throw pillows. She hadn't really realized just how strong he was when she’d been a girl.

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