5. Colt

5

COLT

It didn’t matter that Trey had sent a text telling me my con woman was at the bar. My eyes would have gone to her instantly in a crowd. Those acres of blond hair tumbling down her back and over the back of the stool. The way her sun-kissed shoulders peeked out from some sort of tank top with too many colors to count. She oozed an effortless sort of beauty. But more than that, a light. From her golden hair to the fire in those blue eyes.

And that fire was currently pointed straight at me. And because I was a masochist, I liked it right there.

“Law Man,” Ridley greeted.

“Chaos,” I returned.

Those eyes sparked. “Chaos?”

“Can’t say you don’t bring that in your wake.”

Ridley lifted her glass, preparing to take a sip. “Or maybe you’re just boring as hell.”

Trey burst out laughing, and I leveled him with a glare. He held up both hands. “I didn’t say a damned thing.”

I pulled out the stool next to Ridley, sliding onto it. But the moment I did, I realized my mistake. A scent washed over me. One that was so goddamned her . Bright waves of orange but smoky somehow, as if the fruit had been singed.

Ridley pressed the glass to her lips, tipping back a sip. “You following me, Law Man?”

“Just having a drink at my friend’s bar at the end of a long day.”

Trey grabbed my favorite bottle of Ransom and poured it straight into a glass, sliding it across the bar. Ridley watched him with a fascination that had a niggle of jealousy settling in. And if that wasn’t fucking ridiculous, I didn’t know what was.

“Well,” she said with a sigh. “At least you’re not boring when it comes to beverages.”

Trey grinned like a hyena with rabies. “Ridley here’s partial to The Emerald as well.”

Fuck.

I did not need to know that this woman who smelled like smoky sunshine and looked like a walking temptation had a taste for my whiskey. So I just grunted.

“He’s a real winning conversationalist,” Ridley muttered.

Trey chuckled and leaned against the back bar. “I was just trying to convince Ridley to take a buddy when she hikes that waterfall trail. You know that trail pretty well, don’t you, Colt?”

My eyes narrowed on my friend since birth. What the hell was he playing at? But then the first part of his statement hit me. My head whipped in Ridley’s direction. “You’re thinking about doing that trail alone?”

She shrugged, the action making all that blond hair slide over her skin the way my fingers itched to do. “I’m a big girl. Done plenty of hikes by myself.”

My back teeth ground together. “Doing any of that shit alone is fucking stupid. But doing this one? It’s a death wish. There are too many places you could fall.”

Ridley’s gaze shifted back to Trey. “He’s a real charmer. I’ve spent a total of fifteen minutes in his presence today, and he’s threatened to tow my van, and write me a ticket, and now he’s calling me a moron.”

Trey’s jaw went slack. “You threatened to tow her car?”

I shifted on my stool. “I wasn’t serious.”

“Dude. Your prickishness is getting out of control.”

Trey’s tone was light, but it still stung. Because I knew he was right. I’d been a bear lately. It wasn’t like I was warm and fuzzy on a good day, but recently it was…more. I knew in my gut it was because the anniversary was approaching.

Every year, I checked in on the case. Went over every piece of evidence in lockup. Forced myself to read Emerson’s statements at least three times. It didn’t matter that going through it all ripped open that wound and made it so it would never heal. I owed it to her. It was the least I could do after failing her like I had.

But some part of me had always thought I’d figure it out by year ten. That I'd find the bastard and put him away so Em would finally feel safe again. That hadn’t happened.

The feel of eyes on me pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts. The stare burned, as if it was peeling back the layers I used as a shield. Seeking out the source of it, I found those blue eyes peering back at me. Eyes with countless questions.

Ridley didn’t fill the silence between us. She simply let those questions hang in the air. But I didn’t give her an answer either.

“If you two are done with your weird-ass staring contest, Ridley, do you need a refill?”

Trey’s voice was an unwelcome intruder, and I nearly growled at him for it.

Ridley slid off the stool at that. “I think one is all I’m good for if I’m going to get myself home.”

“Hope you parked that van in an oversized spot this time, Chaos.”

She sent me a droll look. “Rode my bike into town, so Bessie is safely stowed.”

My fingers tightened around my glass. “You. Rode. Your. Bike?”

“Aw, hell,” Trey muttered.

Ridley looked between the two of us. “Don’t tell me bike riding is illegal in Shady Cove or something.”

“You could get hit by a car or snatched by a goddamned biker,” I growled.

“Or abducted by aliens. Or clobbered on the head by Bigfoot,” she singsonged as she slid a worn brown leather jacket over her shoulders.

“Don’t be an idiot,” I gritted out.

Ridley’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not. I’ve taken plenty of precautions. But I’m also not going to live my life scared of every single thing that could go bump in the night. Now, unless you’re going to arrest me, I’ll be going.”

She started for the door, her jeans hugging her sinewy curves as she went. She threw up two fingers in a wave. “Thanks for the booze, Trey.”

I watched her until she disappeared, the same way I’d watched her van. It was as if she’d cast a spell on me and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do to stop it.

“There’s a story there.”

Trey’s softly spoken words had me turning back around. “What do you mean?”

He glanced over my shoulder to where Ridley had disappeared out the front door. “She asked about crime in the area.”

My skin prickled, a combination of awareness and worry.

“Could be her usual MO,” Trey went on. “Single woman used to traveling alone, wants to get a lay of the land.”

“Or something happened to her before, and she’s trying to make sure that never happens again.” The thought had a sick feeling roiling in my gut. Because I knew that it only took one moment for someone’s life to shatter into something unrecognizable.