Then I remember Cricket’s wedding.
“What am I going to tell Cricket? I can’t—”
Jackie shakes her head. “We’re not going to worry about that now. Just go. We’ll figure it out later.”
I take her keys and rush out of the locker room, hoping like hell I don’t see anyone else who might recognize me on the way out.
As if I could be so lucky.
23
Lincoln
My sister’swords repeat in my head as I bolt for the private exit from my office.
“The ambulance is coming. Mother had another episode with her heart. It happened after she saw Whitney Gable in the spa.”
It’s like the past repeating itself, and part of me wonders if it’s real or fake this time. A good son would take the information at face value, but after years of my mother’s manipulations, I find it difficult to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Her cardiac episode ten years ago triggered by seeing Whitney and me together was real, according to the family’s doctor. This one? Fuck, who knows.
Her hatred of the Gable family will never die.
I reach the parking garage and jump in my Range Rover and haul ass out of the lot, tires squealing, barely waiting for the barrier to open completely. Two minutes later, I reach the resort road and take the back entrance. The sensor in my SUV triggers the gate.
I fly up to the front and slam on the brakes before throwing it into park and jumping out to head for the employee entrance.
The door flies open and a dark-haired woman rushes out, not looking where she’s going. She slams into my chest.
“I’m so sorry—” She looks up, and it’s another punch to the gut.
“Whitney.”
All the blood drains from her face. “I swear I didn’t do anything. I didn’t. I—”
My instincts kick into overdrive, and I wrap my arms around her. “Shhh, Blue. You didn’t do anything. I know it’s not your fault.”
Her entire body shakes in my hold. “She hates me so much. I should never have come home.”
I squeeze her tighter, and everything about having her in my arms feels so fuckingright. “It’s going to be okay. This isn’t your fault.”
She lifts her blue eyes to mine, and the sight of tears flooding them guts me. “It doesn’t matter where I go. I ruin everything.”
I don’t know what makes me do it, but I cup her cheek like I used to. “You ruined me, and I don’t even fucking care.” I lower my mouth to hers as a tear tips over her lid.
When our lips meet, it’s like being thrown back ten years into the past. Like there’s never been a single moment in time that she hasn’t been mine. My need for her is still as strong as ever. She’ll never be out of my blood.
Whitney shoves at my chest and tears out of my arms. “Don’t. I can’t.”
She runs for the parking lot, and I remember that my mother is awaiting paramedics.
I’m a shitty son.
Regardless of what happens to my mother, as I watch Whitney run from me again, I vow it’ll be the last time.
This isn’t over.
24