Page 45 of The Two Last Moments

So. Tempting.

I’ve always thought of myself as a good man. I took care of my guys in the Army, and when I’m on duty with WOFD, I give the people of West Oaks my all. But with Lark, it’s way too tempting to be bad.

Because with her, I already know doing the wrong thing feels so damngood.

She’s more vulnerable now than ever. I need to be that big brother I promised her I’d be. Getting intimate with her will, at best, confuse her. At worst, it’ll be taking advantage.

“Lark, what happened between us earlier… It can’t happen again.”

Despite all my intentions, I’m slightly disappointed when she nods. “I know. Everything’s a mess for me right now. You and Nina are pretty much all I have.”

“We’re not going anywhere. But yeah, it’s complicated. I, uh, apologize for letting the moment get the better of me earlier in the car.”

She smirks. “The only thing I’m sorry about is that we’ll never get a repeat.”

My skin heats. My eyes trace over the shape of her lips. “You liked me kissing you?”

“I felt how muchyouliked it.”

Ughn. “I’m not denying it. Still can’t happen.”

“It’s for the best,” she agrees.

“Yep.” Fuck me. I want to kiss her again right now. “Maybe I should go to my own room,” I say.

Her grip tightens on my arm. “Stay until I’m asleep?”

Her request sets off a glow of pleasure in my chest. It spreads outward, filling my veins with warmth. I like when Lark asks for what she needs. I suspect I would say yes to pretty much anything she asked of me.

If she begs me to kiss her again? Take off her clothes and make her feel wanted? Cared for?

Shit. It’s a good thing that she doesn’t.

I stay there until she’s drifted off, but I still don’t get up. Instead, I watch her sleep. In a protective way, not a creepy one. I swear.

Back in the hospital, I promised I would help her. I didn’t fully realize what that meant until now. But I know what I have to do.

I might not be able to fix Nina, but I can do this for Lark. I’m going to be the good man—the hero—she needs.

I’m going to put her broken pieces back together.

17

Iroll over in bed and stare at the ceiling. The latest attempt to fix my brain was yesterday. It was hypnosis this time. The hypnotist talked me into a deep relaxation, and it felt nice. But when I came out of it, the massive black hole that is my memory remained intact.

I’m starting to wonder if anything will work.

It’s now been three weeks since I ran away from Kathy Sullivan and returned to West Oaks. The first few days, I was just trying to keep my head up. Finding out that Kathy had lied to me crumpled up my heart like it was an old piece of trash. I felt low. Lower than I even let Danny see.

He went with me down to West Oaks PD, and we spoke with Angela. She said that her department had been in touch with the police in Eureka, where Kathy Sullivan filed her missing person’s report about me. It seems she’s on the run after realizing she was found out.

After that, Danny hired a local company called Bennett Security to run a deep-dive background check on Kathy. That report was final only a few days ago, and I nearly threw up when I read it. Kathy has never been arrested before, but her online activities tie her to multiple fraud schemes. She has a husband named Ned, but he’s never even been to Alaska. He lives with her in Eureka and claims he’s never heard of me.

The images that Kathy showed me of my supposed bedroom in her house? She faked them. She’d tacked up pictures of me in her daughter’s room. Nearly everything that came out of that woman’s mouth was a lie. I assume her story about my boyfriend “Cam” was fake too. AndI fell for it. But that means that somebody gave her my school ID and those photos of me. Helped her make that story believable.

Kathy was hired to trick me into coming with her. Does that mean the person behind this doesn’t know I’m staying with the Bradleys? Or that he isn’t the same guy who tried to run me over on the street where the Bradleys live?

I have no idea. But since returning to West Oaks, I haven’t gone anywhere alone. It’s for my safety, but it’s also getting a little…confining.

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