Page 70 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Run away.

You’ve done enough running, don’t you think?

Yes, I suppose I have.

Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I snag my car keys off the coffee table and walk out the door.

THIRTY-NINE

WENTWORTH

By the timeI had the situation handled, Kait was gone. I spent the next hour and a half combing the place for her. When the countdown to midnight started, I was convinced I’d find her with some other guy’s tongue in her mouth and then I’d go to jail.

Because if I saw some other guy with his mouth on my wife, I’d fucking murder him.

Kait’s not your wife. She hasn’t been your wife for a long time. She left you, remember?

How the fuck could I forget?

Just when it became obvious that Kait did what Kait does, and left—Patrick calls last call. Planting myself outside the door, I watch closely while people pour out onto the sidewalk, looking into the face of every dark-haired woman that walks by.

None of them are her.

Maybe the woman you saw wasn’t even her. Maybe the fact that you’ve been obsessively drawing her for the last six years has finally got you seeing shit. Maybe you justwantedto see herbecause the thought of another fucking year without knowing what went wrong was too much for you to handle.

Bullshit.

It was her.

I know it was.

As soon as the bar is empty and its patrons are poured into cars with their designated drivers or safely tucked into one of the Ubers or Lyfts waiting curbside, I went back inside

“I’m hungry,” Tess says to no one in particular while she wipes down tables.

“Sorry, Tessie,” Conner says from behind the bar. “I’ve got pancakes waiting for me at home.”

When he says it, Tess scowls at him. “Well, that doesn’t help me, now does it?”

“Tell it to your man,” Conner says on a laugh. “I relinquished my feeding duties when you two started bumping uglies again.”

“You’re gross,” she shoots back before looking at me. “You don’t have to stick around. If Grace wants to go to Benny’s, Dec and I can take her home after.”

Before I can answer her, Grace pipes up from the pool tables. “Did anyone see what happened to Kaitlyn? She said she was going to the bathroom but she never came back. I just figured she hooked back up with her friends but?—”

“She didn’t,” Tess tells her. “She left before midnight. Tore out of here like her hair was on fire.”

“She left?” Frowning, Grace reaches into her back pocket and pulls out her phone and starts to text while my heart hammers in my chest and my mouth goes dry.

“Who’s Kaitlyn?” I say, looking at Tess.

“Kaitlyn… Ryan’s nurse.” Tess looks at me like I just asked the stupidest question she’s ever heard. “You’ve never met her?”

“No.” I shake my head, ears ringing. “I don’t think so.” I’m about to ask Tess what this Kaitlyn looks like or if she knows herlast name, but before I can ask, Grace approaches while shoving her phone back into her pocket.

“She’s okay—she said she was feeling claustrophobic and went home.” Still frowning, Grace shakes her head. “I asked her if she wanted to come to breakfast with us—I even offered to have Went come get her but she said she’s already in bed.” Looking up at me, the frown on Grace’s face softens. “You can go home if you want—Tess and Declan will make sure I get home… unless youwantto come.”

Fifteen minutes ago, going home was all I wanted to do. Go home and try to wrap my head around the fact that Kait isn’t in Montana, living the life of a rancher’s wife, married to that piece of shit, Brock Morris. That when she left, Kait didn’t run back home, away from the unknown.

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