Page 41 of Outlaw Ridge: Griff
The kiss raged on for several more heart-thudding seconds—breathless, consuming, heat curling low in her belly—before Lily finally tore herself away.
She pressed a hand to Griff’s chest to put a little distance between them, even though her body had zero interest in stepping back.
She groaned. “That definitely didn’t help me keep my thoughts about you in check.”
Griff grinned, smug and devastating. “You have thoughts about me?”
She narrowed her eyes, breath still shaky. “Don’t get cocky.”
He leaned in slightly, just enough to whisper, “Too late. Trust me, I have thoughts about you, too.”
Before she could come up with a halfway decent comeback, or admit just how off-track he’d managed to push her, there was a knock at the door. And just like that, the moment was gone.
Lily stepped away from Griff, heart still pounding from the kiss, and turned toward the knock.
Griff opened the door, and Jesse stood there, with Margo right by his side. Margo looked paler than earlier, her jaw tight, her eyes skimming the room like she was bracing for a fight.
“She says she needs to talk to you both,” Jesse let them know.
Lily gave a quick nod. “Thanks, Jesse.”
Griff turned and tapped the control on the laptop. The digital board went dark, the glowing web of names, photos, and red-threaded connections vanishing into a black screen.
But not before Margo saw it.
Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, just enough for Lily to catch it. She’d seen something.
Maybeeverything.
Jesse gave Margo one last glance, then stepped back, pulling the door closed behind him.
Margo didn’t move at first. She just stood there, gaze fixed on the blank screen like it might still be flickering in her mind. Then her voice came, tight and slightly breathless. “Where did you get those pictures?”
Lily didn’t answer immediately. She studied Margo’s face, trying to gauge whether it was shock… or guilt.
Lily’s heart was still trying to calm itself after the kiss, but the moment Margo’s gaze landed on the now-black evidence board, a surge of something sharper took hold.
This is it,Lily thought.We might finally be getting somewhere.
She stepped closer, keeping her tone even. “Margo… did you take the photos?”
Margo opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her throat worked in a tight swallow, and after a long moment, she sank into the chair across from them, arms curling around herself like she needed to hold something in.
“I took them,” she said quietly. “Not the one of Hannah dying. I swear, I didn’t takethat.But the others… the ones of her with Bobby Ray. With Everett. Yeah. I took those.”
Lily’s pulse kicked harder, not from adrenaline this time but something close to hope. Finally, a thread. A real, tangible thread to pull.
Griff stepped forward, voice low and direct. “Why?”
Margo’s gaze dropped to her hands. Her fingers twisted together, silent for a moment too long.
Then, finally, she looked up, her eyes glossy but steady.
“Because Hannah asked me to.”
Lily felt the words land like a punch, heavy and unexpected.
“What?” she asked, frowning. “Hannahaskedyou to take them?”
