Dark Horse (Aspen Falls Novel)

by Melissa Pearl

  Oblivious to her doubts, her mother grabbed Sally’s overnight bag and walked it to the door.

  “I’ll take this down for you. Hurry up and shower, get dressed and I’ll make you a peach and blueberry smoothie. You can drink it on the drive over.” Her smile was bright and sunny. “I’m so happy for you, baby girl. You deserve such a sweet, kind gentleman. And you’re going to have a lovely weekend.”

  Her mother’s wink stayed in her mind as Sally slipped out of bed and got ready. She didn’t linger in the shower, and although she wasn’t a huge fan of dresses, she didn’t hesitate slipping into her mother’s selection. It was just easier to go with the flow.

  Her family was right.

  Going away with Oscar for one night would be a good test and would hopefully help her sort out her feelings.

  She glanced at the phone on her rumpled bed, thoughts of Nate searing her.

  “You okay, sis?” Xavier popped his head into her room. “You look worried.”

  Forcing a bright smile, she crossed her arms. “No, I’m fine.”

  His keen eyes narrowed in on her. “Not having second thoughts about going away with King Clump Nugget, are you?”

  “Get out of my room.” She picked a cushion off the floor and threw it at him.

  He snickered and used the door as a shield, slamming it shut before the cushion could hit him.

  It fell to the floor and Sally stared at the colorful design—bright and happy, just the way she usually felt.

  Turning her back on it, she stared down at the phone and nibbled her thumbnail.

  Rusty, woken by the door slam, greeted her with a little whine. She grinned at him and walked around the bed. Sitting on the edge, she petted him until his tail was going crazy.

  “Everything’s fine, right, boy?” His tail thumped on the bed. “It has to be. I mean, what choice do I have? Calling Nate back is a bad idea.” At the sound of Nate’s name, Rusty’s tail picked up even more. He jumped to his paws and licked her face. She giggled and moved out of slobbering range. Standing tall, she held his face and reminded him, “I know you still love him. So do I. But calling would only open up a bunch of unwanted feelings. I mean, right? I’m trying to move on. That’s…that’s what I should do.” Her voice trailed off as she gazed around her room, suddenly pining for a different bedroom in a little bungalow for two.

  “Sweetie, Oscar’s here!” her mother called from the entryway.

  Sally could hear her mother’s joy, her anticipation. She could picture the look that would cross her mother’s face if she knew Nate had called.

  Rubbing her forehead, Sally whined in her throat and gave Rusty a quick kiss before heading for the door.

  She couldn’t take Nate with her to the cabin. So she left her phone beside her bed and walked down the stairs.

  Oscar was waiting for her in the doorway, a dreamy smile on his face.

  “You look amazing.” He pecked her cheek like a gentleman, then greeted Rusty. “Hello, boy. Mind if I borrow your mummy for the night?”

  Rusty barked his protest, which made Oscar laugh and quickly lead Sally out the door.

  Before she slipped into the passenger seat, her mother passed her a purple smoothie and kissed her cheek. “You have fun, darling.”

  “Will do, Mom.” She nodded, feeling like a ten-year-old being sent off to camp.

  Oscar finished his brief chat with her father before sliding behind the wheel. “Ready to be my navigator?” He grinned.

  Sally nodded and sipped her smoothie, licking the sweet milkiness off her top lip before looking straight ahead.

  That was what she had to focus on.

  Looking ahead.

  Not behind.

  30

  Saturday, May 26th

  9:45am

  Nate groaned and rolled over, the dreamy haze in his head shuffling from one image to the next.

  Vern Schnyder’s sobbing echoed in the back of his mind. His daughter’s skeleton danced in circles around images of Sally’s sweet smile. And then a gunshot rang out and Sally slumped to the ground, turning into a puddle of muddy snow that started to melt. Vern’s sobs became Nate’s as he dropped to his knees and tried to gather up Sally’s snow before it liquified.

  His movements became frantic as he wept.

  “No, no, please. No!”

  Nate’s eyes flew open and he swallowed down his gasp. His heart was thundering and it took him a moment to register the sunlight, Dad’s guestroom, the soft pillow beneath his cheek.

  He sat up, trying to swallow the boulder in his throat. His heart pounded, and a fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead.

  Snatching his water bottle, he guzzled it down then checked his phone.

  No reply from Sally.

  And oh shit, look at the time.

  Throwing back the covers, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and tried to motivate himself to stand. His body was heavy with exhaustion, his insides a restless torrent.

  He didn’t know how he’d face the day.

  For the first time since becoming a cop, he didn’t want to go in. He didn’t want to catch any bad guys.

  He just wanted Sally.

  His phone vibrated with a text.

  He jumped at the sound and snatched it, hoping to see a message from Sally, but it was from Cam.

  Where the hell are you? The raid starts in 15.

  Nate frowned, trying to decipher the message.

  “The raid?” he muttered under his breath, and then his eyebrows popped high. “Oh shit! The raid!”

  She’d told him about it the night before, called him just before he fell asleep. They were busting into the warehouse she’d been surveying for the last few days. Her contact had come through and it was happening.

  Nate said he’d be there.

  “Fuck.” Grabbing a pair of jeans off the floor, he hopped around the room, shoving them on and grabbing a dirty T-shirt draped over the edge of the laundry basket. He smelled it, wrinkled his nose, but then threw it on anyway.

  It was a raid. The smell would be hidden under his Kevlar jacket.

  He yanked his leather jacket off the back of the chair and threw it on while he rushed down the stairs.

  Checking the time, he muttered another curse while shoving the phone into his back pocket and jumping on the bike. His boots weren’t even on properly, but he’d do them up once he got there.

  Cam would be pissed.

  Screaming out of his driveway, he tore through town and arrived with five minutes to spare.

  He parked the bike away from the scene and jogged two blocks down to the meeting point—a cruddy-looking warehouse with a rusted tin roof and cracks in the windows. It used to be a storage facility for some medical device manufacturer. They’d opened a new warehouse closer to the cities and this building had been abandoned ever since…until it had been turned into a drug lab. At least according to Cam. The raid would prove it.

  Nate’s boots crunched on the loose gravel as he snuck down the driveway next door.

  Everyone was already there, suited up and checking their weapons.

  “About fucking time, Nate.” Cam threw him a Kevlar jacket.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, pulling off his jacket and putting on the Kevlar without any more explanation. He shoved his leather jacket back on and zipped it up.

  “I’m sending Higgs and Jessica around to the northeast side of the building. Mick and the rookie will come in from the west, and I’ll take the front.” Cam pointed over her shoulder. “Holly and Stan are covering the south exit in case anyone tries to do a runner.”

  “And where do you want me?”

  “Keep yourself available to run backup where needed.”

  He nodded as he pulled out his gun and checked the magazine. Thoughts of Sally rushed him. He was usually able to control that kind of thing at work, but after his dream she was all-consuming. Her sweet smile, her tears…the way she’d turned into a pile of dirty snow. The complete grief he felt at losin
g her.

  Since breaking up, he hadn’t let it take him. But time had obviously run out and he couldn’t keep ignoring the pain radiating inside of him. It was hot and fierce.

  He felt completely lost without her.

  And doing this raid, catching these guys, wasn’t going to make him feel better. It wouldn’t satisfy. It wouldn’t bring his mother back. Nothing ever would.

  But he could do something about Sally.

  He could get her back.

  “I’ve gotta go.” He clipped the magazine back in and shoved the gun into his holster.

  “What?” Cam frowned at him.

  “You don’t need me. The entire building is covered with competent police officers. You don’t need me for this raid.”

  “But…” Cam shook her head. “You always want in.”

  He cringed. “Yeah, I know. But I don’t always need to be in.”

  Cam let out a confused scoff. “Have you got somewhere better to be?”

  His lips twitched. “I gotta get Sally back.”

  “Right now?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “Right now.”

  31

  Saturday, May 26th

  10:35am

  He drove like the devil was chasing him.

  Any cop on patrol would’ve pulled him over, but he managed to avoid them and screeched to a stop outside Sally’s house. He still thought of it as theirs, which was why he hadn’t been able to drive past it since the night he moved out.

  Leaping off his motorbike, he ran to the front door and pounded the wood.

  “Sally, we’ve got to talk!”

  It wasn’t until his fist started hurting that he realized his approach was probably way off.

  Turning up like an angry madman? Was he nuts?

  He stepped back from the door with a heavy sigh, and croaked, “Sally, please…let me in.”

  Her reply was silence.

  He squeezed the back of his neck and cursed under his breath.

  She was ignoring him, because she didn’t want to see him. She wouldn’t give him a chance to make it right.

  Dammit!

  “Or maybe she’s just not home, you idiot,” Nate muttered.

  As his frantic brain calmed, his logical senses kicked back in and he made a quick call to the hospital to find out if she was at work.

  But Sally was off for the weekend.

  So where the hell was she?

  With an irritated huff, Nate walked around the property to double-check that the bungalow was empty. It actually had the feel that it’d been that way for a while. The back lawn was long and unkempt, and a peek through the window showed thick layers of dust on the furniture. And there were zero signs of Rusty’s antics anywhere.

  How long had they been gone?

  Shuffling to his Harley, he sat on it for a few minutes before starting up the engine. His brain ticked through the places Sally could be living—her parents’, her sister’s, Lena’s, Chantel’s, Bridget’s…Oscar’s?

  His stomach rebelled at the idea and he revved the engine, heading to her parents’ place first.

  They wouldn’t welcome him, but he didn’t give a shit.

  He needed to talk to Sally.

  He needed her to know that he’d finally figured it out.

  As his Harley rumbled through the open gates, nerves attacked him. He’d been so set on seeing her that he hadn’t come up with anything to say. What did he start with? Would she even listen?

  Sally was the world’s most patient, compassionate woman.

  She’d listen. Of course she would. Which meant he had to express himself pretty damn perfectly in order for her to hear what his heart was so desperate to say.

  “Sally, I love you,” he whispered as he hopped off his bike and pocketed the keys. “I miss you. I’m lost without you.”

  It was all so generic and borderline cheesy. Like something out of the romance novels she loved to read.

  He had to be better than that.

  She needed honesty—raw and ugly…but real.

  Swallowing down the last of his tattered pride, he knocked on the door and stiffened the second it swung open.

  “Nathan?” Michael Richmond’s face puckered with annoyance before smoothing out with a professionally tight smile. “What are you doing here?”

  “I need to see Sally.”

  “She’s not here.” The man gave him a polite nod and went to close the door.

  Nate shot out his hand to stop him. “It’s important, sir. When is she getting back?”

  “Not today. She’s away for the weekend.” With a short huff, Michael gave up fighting Nate for control of the door. Nate was stronger and, in that particular moment, far more determined. Scratching his forehead, Michael let out a resigned sigh. “Look, Nathan, I really don’t think it’s a good idea, you trying to see her again. She’s moving on and you need to let her do that. She wasted a lot of years on you, and I don’t want you messing with her when she’s close to being happy again.”

  The words were like poisonous darts, hitting Nate’s chest in quick succession.

  The venom soaked into his bloodstream, trying to numb his heart, warning him to give up.

  She was happy again. With Oscar. Which meant she was happy without Nate.

  Dipping his head, he gazed down at his boots and could barely muster a nod. “I just thought…”

  “You had your chance and you blew it,” Michael clipped. “If you love my daughter, leave her alone and give her the life she deserves.”

  Nate couldn’t argue with that. He did love Sally and he desperately wanted to give her the life she deserved. But with him.

  “Goodbye, Nathan.” Mr. Richmond closed the heavy door with no more fight from Nate.

  Clenching his jaw, Nate kept staring down at his boots. He watched them walk to the motorbike as if they were detached from his body. He’d been so certain the night before when he called Sally. So determined when he drove here to win her back.

  But was that fair?

  She hadn’t returned his call.

  She’d gone off for the weekend, no doubt with Oscar, and she didn’t need him.

  His stomach clenched like there was a fist inside of him, trying to squeeze him dry.

  “Hey, asshole.”

  Nate closed his eyes, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder with a snarl. Fuck off, Xavier. The words were right on the tip of his tongue.

  “She’s gone down to the lake house with the douche nugget,” Xavier told him.

  Nate could barely swallow past the bile surging up his throat. He gripped his hands into fists and kept his back to Sally’s younger brother.

  “You know, it wouldn’t hurt, man. The worst she can say is no, right?”

  Nate blinked. It took him a second to register Xavier’s words. Then he frowned and spun to face him. “What?”

  Xavier grinned, sliding his hands into his pockets just the way his father did. “If you show up at the cabin, she can tell you to piss off or…you know…lovingly fall into your arms.”

  Nate scoffed and shook his head. “From what your dad just said, I doubt she’s going to do that.”

  “Dad doesn’t know shit. And if you’re standing here believing what he just told you, then you’re just as stupid as he is.”

  Nate worked his jaw to the side, anger bubbling inside of him.

  “Listen to me, man.” Xavier glanced over his shoulder as if he was about to share the world’s greatest secret and didn’t want to get caught. Stepping forward, he waited until Nate was looking him in the eye before emphatically stating, “You were all she ever wanted…when you showed up.”

  Nate grimaced, disgusted at himself for being so fucking blind for so fucking long.

  “I wouldn’t be out here talking to you if I didn’t think you were meant to be together. My family may not love you, but Sally has always adored you. I don’t know how the hell your grumpy ass does it, but her heart is yours.”

  Nate blinked in surpr
ise, his lips parting. It was all he could manage with the emotions raging through him. Speech seemed impossible.

  “Look, go to the lake house, apologize for being a selfish prick and tell her you love her.” Xavier slapped him on the shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “Oscar will probably hate you for it, but we can deal with that shit later. Just don’t fuck this up, and you may graduate from asshole to dude.”

  Nate snickered at Xavier’s wink and shot out his hand. “Thank you.”

  “I’m doing it for Sally, but you gotta promise me that if you get her back, you treat her like—”

  “I will. I promise you.” Nate’s voice was husky with conviction as he squeezed Xavier’s hand. He didn’t know what his eyes were doing, but it made Xavier smile and nod.

  “Go get her, asshole.”

  Nate didn’t need to be told twice.

  Throwing his leg over the bike, he started it up and tore away from the Richmonds’ house. He didn’t want to think about the fallout of Sally taking him back. All he could focus on was the idea of seeing his woman and telling her that she was everything, and he’d never fail to realize that again.

  32

  Saturday, May 26th

  12:05pm

  The drive to the lake house was quiet, but pleasant. They stopped at a grocery store on the way to get supplies, and Oscar had gone overboard with treats and delicacies—cheeses, crackers, wine, grapes…even caviar. Sally didn’t have the heart to tell him she hated the stuff.

  She didn’t have the heart to tell him much, actually. She wasn’t in a talking mood. So Oscar filled in most of the space, chatting between songs on the radio. When they lost reception, he plugged in his phone so the silence between them was veiled by the strains of upbeat music.

  Sally watched the countryside flash by, a palette of spring and summer greens. The calendar might not say it was summer quite yet, but Mother Nature did things on her own timetable, and the heat and warmth told Sally her favorite season was already here. She loved the feel of the hot sun kissing her skin, the fresh breeze in her face. She loved the shocking contrast of jumping into the lake and cooling off. Her mother would move into the lake house for at least a month every summer, and the family would join her for portions of it. They always ended with a full family weekend away before Sally’s parents took off for a week of romance somewhere in the world.