Page 11 (1/2)

“How do you know?” Justin asked

Sometimes Gabe wondered what Heather had seen in Justin and yet she had dated hier So his ith her first The rest of the tih except when he wanted the floor and the spotlight, which was pretty hty percent of the time

“Listen, Justin We’re wasting time and every minute aste could be an extra minute the Vance brothers have to abuse Heather”

Bradley stuck his hands in his pockets “I’m with Gabe Let’s do this”

“Before anyone else asks questions, it’s been seven years” Draegan looked away from the map “I don’t knohat’s up there now When Mac and I came here before, we knew Markie was here and we knehy he was here We had one goal, kind of like today, search and rescue Get in Get out” He hesitated “The difference between our venture to save Markie and our effort to save Heather is the obvious We didn’t kno dangerous the Vance brothers were Noe do Noe have a new goal, too We want to leave as few casualties as possible More iive these boys any reason to co for us in Trouble”

Apparently Draegan believed that was a real possibility Mac McCall, Trevor Lamb, and Nicholas Speed had left toith their wo fathers were going up against the Vance brothers And Nicholas and Mac didn’t run from much

“Agreed,” Allister said “What happens here, stays here We don’t want anyone following us home”

“If rumors are true, they will shoot to kill” Curt looked at Gabe “Thatthem”

Gabe liked Curt He was a standup guy Like Gabe, Curt didn’t take a lot of shit Curt and Gabe didn’t go around and pick fights, but if they pulled a weapon, they kne to use it

In many ways Gabe and Curt were a lot alike As far as Gabe was concerned, the only difference between them here it counted Curt had been one of Heather’s first fucks and Gabe would be the last s

He almost felt sorry for Curt then Poor fellow had carried a torch for a gal he’d never have as his own

Gabe just needed to figure out a way to make Curt and Justin understand his intentions He wasn’t exactly the better man of the three but he was definitely the better man for Heather

With Heather, these situations could end up being the norer She was drawn to it like an addict was lured to a drug She craved adventure, had a real need for exciteave her orth the risk apparently Wherever she went, whatever she did in life, she would always yearn for that next satisfying fix

Gabe had co, too He’d had plenty of ti was certain—he would handle little Miss Heather A woman like Heather couldn’t be controlled To control her, to try and ta within a vixen was to kill her spirit

He didn’t want to harness that kind of recklessness Oh no He wanted to feed it