Page 32 of Trig
She set her hand on my arm and our eyes met for a moment. “Why?”
I shook my head.
“We’re sisters now, remember?”
Sisters. Trig wanted me. So did Lainey. Ann, too. Hayes had called me “Sis.”
I knew walking–or running–away was going to be hard, that I could deal with it, but now? With Lainey’s puppy dog eyes?
“It’s complicated. I’m not–”
For someone who lived in Seattle for most of my life, I’d become very used to what a snowmobile sounded like. From the sound of it, this one pulled up right in front.
Lainey rolled her eyes. “Told you. Although it only took him thirty minutes.”
Then there were heavy footsteps and the front door being flung open. Trig stormed in, slammed the door shut behind him.
He looked angry. Wild. He wasn’t wearing a coat. Only boots and leather gloves.
His eyes found me immediately.
“Jesus, Trig, what the hell is wrong with you?” Lainey shouted, setting her hands on her hips. “We’re having a nice cup of coffee and you come in here and–”
“When were you going to tell me you were engaged?”
19
TRIG
I agreed–throughgritted teeth and with clenched fists–to let Conrad Trout walk through my house. I escorted him room to room, ensuring he didn’t touch shit. Colt and Lance Mann stayed on the porch. Colt trusted me enough not to kill Trout in my own fucking house, but it was a harder task than staying on the back of a bull for eight seconds.
He was an asshole. And he was engaged to Ellie.
Not Ellie. Ellis Mann.
When every corner had been checked, Trout stormed out of the house and back to the patrol car. Mann followed, halfway through his second smoke.
Colt remained on the porch with me. “Lainey’s?” he asked, wondering where Ellie was.
“Yeah.” Thank fuck.
“Let me get rid of these fuckers and I’ll circle back. There’s some shady shit going on with those two.” He put on his sunglasses and left.
I stayed on my porch while Colt yelled at Mann that he couldn’t smoke in the car, then he got in and drove his patrol SUV down the road.
It took me ten minutes to get to Lainey’s by snowmobile. Tomywoman.
Ellie set her mug on the counter with unsteady hands. Her face lost all color and she began to shake.
“You’re engaged?” Lainey asked, stunned. “Holy shit, it’s like I’m in a Spanish-speaking soap opera.”
“Lainey, shut it,” I snapped.
“Trig,” Ellie whispered, ignoring my sister, even though she was right next to her.
I cut across the room. “I gotta say, sugar, I was real mad when your daddy and Conrad Trout showed up on my doorstep earlier with the sheriff. Seems they’re real concerned for your wellbeing, since one’s your father and the other says you’re his fiancée and all.”
I was mad. Furious with her for lying to me. Even after all that we’d done. Especially after what we’d done. She might be carrying my baby while engaged to another man.
