Page 91 of Chaos

“Jacksons.”

“I don't know what that means.”

“Y’all are like one person in five bodies, Lot. I love my parents, I love my sisters, but we’re not like that. We’re close, but we’re notclose. And I guess I…” He drags the hand not clutching Gaia’s reins over the bottom half of his face before cupping his neck, shrugging. “I feel guilty, alright? Because I love where I grew up, but I love being here too. I love my family, but I’m still jealous of yours.”

That word.Like a damn pinball, it rackets around my brain, tickling a memory to life. “So when you called me jealous, you were projecting.”

His smile is soft. Rue and mirth. “You caught me. I wanna be a Jackson.”

My smile is… not soft. Not entirely a smile. An odd, panicked slash as I’m struck with the grim truth of him probably being more Jackson than I am these days. “So you’re staying here? Forever?”

“Guess that depends.”

“On what?”

“Lots of things.”

“Name one.”

Finn purses his lips, thoughtful again. Or maybe he’s just pretending to think. Maybe he’s actually just stalling, somethingI suspect more and more the longer his silence lasts—a suspicion that’s all but confirmed when he abruptly changes the subject entirely. “What’s that?”

I kiss my teeth, but I let the distraction attempt slide. Admittedly, I do actually get a little distracted as I squint into the distance. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Finn eyes me sideways. “This is your land, Jackson.”

“Don’t call me that.” I grimace as I click my tongue, digging my heels into Daphne’s sides to increase her pace. “It looks like… a trailer?”

“You got tenants I don’t know about?”

“No. Unless I don’t know about them either.”

Which, honestly, isn’t all that far-fetched of a concept, but something tells me it’s not the case. Something tells me that that trailer isn’t supposed to be here—perhaps it’s because it’s tucked away in the middle of nowhere, hiding in plain sight on a patch of land we clearly don’t venture onto a lot.

While I slip out of my saddle, Finn stays firmly rooted in his. “What’re you doing?”

Looping Daphne’s reins around her neck so they don’t drag, I blink up at him. “Checking it out. Obviously.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he says yet he still dismounts his own horse, he still follows in my footsteps as I beeline towards the trailer. “Lottie, slow down.”

If anything, I speed up.

“Hello?” I call out, the three rusty steps leading to a metal front door creaking ominously as I scale them. When I rap my knuckles against the door, it gives way with a groan, and while I don’t hesitate to step across the threshold, my partner-in-crime isn’t quite as brazen.

Hooking a finger beneath the waistband of my jeans, he tries to pull me back. “You can’t just go in.”

“Why not?” I smirk at him over my shoulder, head cocked challengingly. “It’s my land.”

Finn hisses my name, but I’m already inside—and dragging him with me considering he refuses to let me go.

Compared to the landscape surrounding it, this place is… uninspiring. Curtains pulled across every window like whoever lives here is afraid of a little sunshine, a stack of dirty bowls in the sink, a god-awful stench of dirty socks that makes my nose scrunch. Not a person in sight, no photos, nothing vaguely identifying in the slightest.

Kind of disappointed, I sigh. “Huh.”

Finn tugs my jeans firmly. “Can we get out of here now?”

“Jeez, cowboy. Who knew you were such a—”

The roar of an engine abruptly cuts me off. Acloseengine. Close enough to cause a startled whinny that makes my gut sink and leaves me completely unsurprised when I glance out the window to find my horses disappearing into the distance.

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