Cold Foot Komodo (Wreck’s Mountains Book 2)

Reed couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Sasha’s cheeks were a pretty pink color, and her smile lit up her whole face as she piled onto the inner tube with Katrina. She’d already skidded down the side of the hill four times with Reed, and filled this entire clearing with the music of her laughter. It echoed through the trees and settled something inside of him.

She had mentioned having a firepit night on his front porch tonight, and he already had plans to clean the snow off the chairs, hook up the firepit to a propane tank, and bundle her up while they sat out here.

Whatever would keep that smile he was so addicted to gracing her pretty face, he would do it.

In Cold Foot, he’d thought his life was over, but now? It felt like he was right where he was supposed to be.

“She smells like you now,” Cash said from beside him. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the girls disappear over the side of the hill. Their screams and laughter filled the woods.

Part of him hated that Cash had mentioned it, because it was none of his business, but a bigger part of Reed liked that she was so obviously claimed now.

“Good,” he said unapologetically.

“Saw that one coming from a million miles away,” Timber said as she approached from behind. A red folder was hugged tight to her chest. It matched her cherry-red beanie and gloves. “I have something for you.”

“What is it?”

“The answers you need.”

He frowned. “What do you mean? I don’t have any questions.”

“Don’t you though?” Raynah asked from where she sat on a fold-out chair on the other side of Cash.

Timber handed him the folder, and after a moment of hesitation, he flipped it open to reveal a cover sheet with two words that dropped his heart to the snow. Farrah Parker.

He jerked his gaze to Timber. “What is this?”

“My sister asked us to do some digging,” Timber explained.

“Us, who?”

“Me, Katrina, and Raynah, who was the MVP of this little detective game.”

“You mean internet stalking,” Cash said. “Dude, we know you asked one of your old friends to look into your ex, and that’s where you messed up. You gotta hand that stuff to the ladies. They’re smarter.”

“Thank you,” Raynah told him with a nod as she cradled the swell of her belly.

Cash grinned. “Smarter, but still not stronger. I’ll be able to take you after you poop that baby out.”

“Oh my word, there he is,” Raynah muttered with an eye roll.

Reed flipped to the next page, and there was Farrah’s information. Her birthdate, list of jobs she’d held, information about his old Bank, and the rankings. His name was still listed as Second. Shit.

“Who all knows about her?” he asked.

“Oh, all of us,” Timber assured him. “After your little call-out and murder mission the other night, this was something fun to figure out together.”

He didn’t like everyone knowing his personal business, but he had to admit, he was curious about their findings. He flipped to the next page, and it was a list of relationships. He was listed at the top with the years they dated. He was the longest relationship.

“It was off-and-on,” he rumbled, his blood chilled at the sight of their names linked together. “This isn’t accurate. Some of those years I wasn’t with her.”

“Oh, we figured,” Timber said. “Sasha explained the woman. She’s a mess, and it shows in her file. Keep flipping.”

He turned the page, and it was a list of traffic violations and arrests. That part surprised him.

“She went a little nutso after she got you arrested.”

Listed were several domestic assault charges, but she was the one arrested. There was a misdemeanor tampering with an investigation charge. Some fraud and petty theft. Two assaults on strangers rounded out the page of criminal records. What the hell had happened after he’d been locked up? She’d never had problems with the law before that he knew of.

The next few pages were collages of pictures of her and dates under them. She was rail-thin, and looked mean in every shot. Miserable, even. She’d lost the beauty that had allowed her to get away with so much of her atrocious behavior when she was younger, and the bitterness had settled so obviously into her face. There were no smile lines at all. She wore her dark hair in a mess on top of her head in every picture. Only her clothes changed. In none of the pictures was a man or child with her. On the next page was a selfie she’d taken, and her eyes looked empty. Her frown looked permanent. He flipped the page quickly, uncomfortable with old memories of when she’d begun to look like this—her true self. The last page held a list of her social media pages, and the second half was a copy of a birth certificate where she was listed as the mother. There was no father listed.

Chills, chills, chills.

He glanced at where Kade was dragging the girls over the top of the hill with the truck winch. Beautiful Sasha was wearing that heart-stopping smile, but it faded the second she set her eyes on his face.

This was the moment when everything would fall apart, and he was so sorry for it.

“Read the name,” Timber murmured softly.

“Ariette,” he said aloud. “Female,” he read on, confused. Farrah had said they had a son.

“Now read the birthday,” Raynah said.

The date of birth was three years ago.

Three years.

Chills.

He’d been in Cold Foot for ten.

“The child isn’t mine,” he uttered thickly.

“No she is not. Nor was Farrah allowed to keep her. The father intervened and is raising her.”

“Is this the only child?” he asked, too scared to hope.

“She’s only had one child, Reed. She lost your old Bank the year you were locked up. Some ran, and the rest revolted. I think they secretly avenged you. She is at the bottom of the Bone-Keep Bank now, and is not even allowed to live inside the housing park with them. She’s been pushed to the outside. Of course she would want you back. Of course she would say whatever she could to bring you back. Farrah has nothing left.” Timber turned his shoulders so that he would face her sister. “While you have everything,” she whispered.

He didn’t know why his eyes were burning. He didn’t know why his body dropped to the snow like this. On his knees, he set the folder down in the snow beside him. Red against white. Sasha approached slowly. She looked confused. Scared. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing’s wrong. The child isn’t mine.”

“Oh,” she yelped as she crashed into his arms, nearly toppling him backward. Sasha wrapped her legs around him and he could hear it—her hitched breath. “I knew it. I knew it.” She leaned back and cupped the sides of his neck. “Are you happy? Sad? Relieved?”

“Relieved. I want to be a dad, but not with her.” He nodded and kept her locked in his gaze, hoping to hell she understood what he was trying to say.

She did. She did understand. “Yeah,” she said, her eyes full of tears. “When it’s right, you will be a great dad. With the right person.”

He hadn’t had dreams or goals in years. How could he? Cold Foot had sucked the life from him, but here? Now? In the heart of Cold Foot Crew territory with his cabin behind him and Sasha wrapped around him, once again being understanding in a confusing moment—a new goal took hold of his heart.

He could imagine her holding his child on the couch inside of that cabin, cooing to their child as he sat at the hearth, watching her with a proud smile. It wouldn’t be right now. He was still adjusting to life outside of prison, and newly-invested in building the relationship with Sasha. He was still adjusting to the Crew and the people here. His life was in transition, but perhaps someday that vision might come to fruition.

That was the goal now—to prepare for someday with the right person.

With Sasha.

That red folder was full of his past, but tonight? While he sat with Sasha by the firepit, all wrapped up in blankets to make sure she was warm and comfortable, he would burn that red folder and all of its contents, and it would be done.

He would be eyes-forward from here on.