Page 8 of Aviator
Letting out a huge breath, I press a hand to my racing heart, then swipe up on my phone and open the app. “You’re so smart. This is why I keep you around.”
I can’t see Riley on the screen, but I hear her self-satisfied huff. “Damn right, I am. You’d be lost without me.” The sound of her smacking her lips echoes in the car as I scroll to find Kady’s phone in the list of devices I can access. “Well, what does it say?”
I study the app for a minute, trying to make sense of everything as my mind races. “Her phone isn’t currently picking up a signal, but her last location was in the mountains. Some cabin up near Thunderhead Mountain.”
“What the hell would she be doing up there?” Riley asks.
Thunderhead Mountain is a remote area in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There’s not much there, really, other than it being along the parkway and a center for tourists. I study the map, but nothing pops out at me.
“Kenna? You still there?”
I swipe back over the video chat. “Why would she be in Thunderhead Mountain?”
Riley’s expression grows serious. “Isn’t that where Jamie said he was from?”
I gasp, meeting Riley’s eyes. “Now do you believe me?”
That area of the mountains is a touristy area that caters to the nearby mountain resort imaginatively named Crystal Mountain Resort, named after the range where it’s located. During the peak of the winter season, they offer snowboarding, skiing, and ice skating. But the name rings a bell. Hadn’t Jamie said something about a friend living in Crystal Mountain? I’d thought it was weird at the time, considering they were no longer friendly.
Darren? Derrick? Dwayne? Something. Maybe he knows where they could be. Maybe he can help me find them.
“Don’t move a muscle. I’ll be there in twenty. And whatever you do, don’t listen to Garrett when he tries to tell you that you’re overreacting.”
* * *
A short while later, Fiona and Garrett arrive and walk into the office together, almost as if they’d planned it that way. The knot in my stomach unclenches somewhat at the sight of him. He’ll know what I should do next. No matter what Riley says about him, Garrett has always been there for me.
The frigid chill pierces the thin material of my scrubs and light jacket as I cut across the parking lot to the office. Neither of them seems to notice me as I increase my speed from a quick stride to practically a jog. They look so happy from a distance compared to how absolutely ragged I feel inside.
I’m not slated to come in until nine, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I have to talk to Garrett. Urgency propels me through the double door entrance and dark waiting room. Voices trickle down the hallway, coming from Garrett’s office.
Almost there.
“Hey, Garrett, I have to talk to—”
My question is cut short as Fiona and Garrett spring apart, their lips making an audible sound as they disengage. Fiona’s perfectly sculpted cheekbones go cherry red. Her blue eyes flash with feminine satisfaction at the growing horror on my face. She makes a show of wiping her mouth before sauntering past me as I stand frozen in the doorway with my heart stuttering to a stop in my chest.
Is it possible to die from a heart attack at twenty-nine? Because that’s exactly what it feels like as I stare at the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. The man I’d been with for most of my twenties. The man I thought loved me.
I just bought a wedding dress for him. The one thing I’ve dreaded most of my adult life. I was going tocommitto him. The one thing I always swore I’d never do.
He takes a step toward me, lifting a placating hand, and his mouth opens, but I slash my hand through the air.
“If you say this isn’t what it looks like, or it’s not what I think, then I’m going to kick you in the dick, Garrett Anderson.” My voice comes out throaty and thick with unshed tears, but I don’t dare let one of them fall. I won’t give him the satisfaction.
His mouth snaps shut, and my hand drops back down to my side as we stare at each other in silence. All the words, fears, and pleas for reassurance die in my throat, along with the life I thought we were making together. It hurts so much I’m terrified it will swallow me whole, but I can’t let it. I can’t let my grief consume me.
I have to think about Kady.
I grab onto that lifeline.Yes, think about Kady. My unshed tears dry as I tuck the hurt into a deep corner of myself. “I quit.” The words tumble between us like concrete blocks.
Final.
Resolute.
They sound a hell of a lot more confident than I feel. But I’m good at hiding when I’m hurt. I’ve had a lot of practice, after all.
Garrett’s eyes widen. “You can’t quit, Kenna.” He thrusts a hand through his hair. “We’re already hellishly short-staffed as it is. You know how much I rely on you. Please, you have to—”
