Plagued by nightmares of her father's imprisonment and Kellan's disappearance, Wren enlists the help of her friends to uncover the truth.
But can she be honest with herself? Promised in marriage, she faces the toughest decision of her life--which gu...
Hi all! It's Sunday, and another promised chapter is up for you to enjoy. This one was SUPER hard to write. Geez, I must have stopped and re-wrote sections of it like ten times. Hope you like the interaction between Wren and Jaxon here. Enjoy!
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Jaxon's hands balled up into fists. "You kissed him."
He paced a small circle, then hopped up, plunking his butt down onto the table edge. A distinct campfire scent singed the air when he lifted his hands from the table to rest on his elbows. Two blackened palm marks branded the wooden surface next to him.
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"When you put Sage's coat on, I thought I was seeing things. After everything we'd just been through, I guess I didn't want to believe you'd go behind my back and hookup with Kellan again." He waved a dismissive hand to the mark washing my chest. "But the proof's hard to ignore."
"Not that it matters, but I didn't set out to find him so he and I could make up." I started to shiver again, so I wrapped my arms around me and averted my gaze out the small window overlooking the valley below. "I felt obligated to say goodbye to him before I could make my final commitments to you."
"Well, you said a lot more than goodbye, didn't you? You also said, hello, how are ya, and an I love you to him too." Jax dropped his head into his hands and let out a groan. "Really, I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"Jax..." I shifted my stance and waited for his response as I studied him.
He glanced up, his eyes glassy and bright green. "What Wren? What are you going to say? That you love me?"
I bit my lip and rubbed my arms. The deafening silence in the room crushed his words with the truth.
"Yeah—I know you don't." He wiped his hands on his jeans. "At least you have the decency not to lie about it."
Lie—how could I? Kellan's ring was a flashing neon sign of evidence against me. I started to shake again with the lack of warm clothing and soaking wet hair. Even my teeth were chattering.
"It's only been th-three d-d-days since you convinced me there m-m-might even be something between us." I plucked Sage's damp coat from the ground and hugged it to my chest. "You c-c-can hardly expect m-me to all of a sudden start confessing my und-d-dying love and devotion."
