had passed as quickly as it had come on, it had been bad for anyone who’d experienced it. People would be talking for months about what had happened.
Mitch hadn’t realized Garth was behind the illnesses until Skye had called him that morning. Now he was going to confront Garth and put a stop to what was going on.
He heard a car pull up and walked out of his office. Garth got out of his Mercedes.
“Do we have a problem?” the other man asked.
Without thinking, Mitch hauled off and punched him. Garth staggered a step, then steadied himself.
“I take it you got sick last night,” Garth said, rubbing his jaw. “Sorry. I should have warned you.”
“I didn’t eat anything, you bastard.”
“People are calling me that a lot these days. Word must be getting out.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do something like that?” Mitch demanded.
“I told you I was going to take down Jed and his daughters. Last I heard, you liked the idea. You wanted to help.” He touched his jaw. “I take it this means you’re not working for me anymore?” He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got my bases covered.”
Mitch clenched his fists. “I never worked for you.”
“I didn’t pay you,” Garth corrected. “That doesn’t mean you weren’t spying for me.”
“Whatever,” Mitch muttered, not sure why Garth was being so pointed. “You’re wrong about all of it. Take down Jed if you want, but his daughters aren’t a part of it.”
“They are for me. Besides, you only care about Skye. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late for that.”
Mitch didn’t know what he meant, at first. Then he heard a sound and knew.
Dammit all to hell, he thought as he turned and saw Skye standing behind him. She looked horrified and beyond hurt.
“You were working for him?” she asked, her eyes wide, her skin pale.
Mitch would have given his other leg to have the past five minutes to play over.
“Skye, no.”
She ignored him and ran. Ran hard and fast, probably knowing there was no way he could go after her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“I’M FINE,” Skye insisted as Dana foamed milk at the espresso machine on the counter and Lexi and Izzy both hovered close by. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
She didn’t have to look up to know her sisters and Dana were exchanging looks of disbelief. It was her own fault, she thought grimly. All of this. Getting involved with Mitch. Believing him, trusting him. He’d shown her his true self the first day he’d come home. He’d made everything clear and she hadn’t listened. She’d wanted him to be more and he’d been willing to play along, but he hadn’t changed. He still resented her and wanted her punished. Now he was not only angry about the past, but about Erin. She’d brought this on herself and only she was to blame.
Dana poured the steamed milk into a mug and handed it to her. “Want some whiskey for that?” she asked.
Skye looked at the clock. It was barely noon. “No. I’ll be okay. I just need a minute.”
“What you need is Mitch’s head on a platter,” Izzy said, sounding furious.
They were in the big kitchen at Glory’s Gate. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday. Sunlight pooled on the floor. A warm breeze whispered. Normally that was enough to brighten Skye’s mood, but not today.
“I can’t believe it.” Lexi took the second mug Dana offered. “He seemed like he was really happy to be back. He was so…nice.”
“When did you talk to him?” Dana asked.
“Last night, at the party. I thought he still cared about you.” She looked at Skye. “I’m sorry.”
“He played us all,” Skye told her, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice. “We all fell for it. Me more than most. I was so worried about him, about how he was healing and fitting in. I felt awful when he thought Erin was his. I ached for him when he found out the truth. Now I think it was just more of Garth’s games. Mitch probably never thought anything about Erin. It was just one more way to suck me in.”
“Do you know how long he was working for Garth?” Izzy asked.
“Does it matter?”
“It might,” Lexi said. “If this is a recent development, then maybe it’s not so bad.”
Skye raised her eyebrows.
“At least he wasn’t lying before,” Dana added, then shook her head. “Sorry. I’m trying to be supportive, but I’m just too cynical. Mitch turned into a real jerk and I’m sorry about that. He used to be one of the good ones.”
Before, Skye thought angrily. She would bet that if they were to talk, Mitch would blame all this on her. He would say she’d earned it.
She could accept that he’d slept with her to lead her on and punish her. She could accept a lot of things. But she’d gone to him and asked for help. He’d agreed, the whole time knowing he was going to betray her. He’d set her up.
“He’s not the man I thought,” she whispered. “That’s what gets me the most. I was wrong about who he is on the inside.”
He used to be so honorable, she thought sadly. So earnest.
“I really don’t like this,” Izzy grumbled. “I had a crush on him and now he’s an asshole.”
“Because it’s all about you?” Dana asked.
“Well, yeah.”
Lexi chuckled. Skye tried to smile and failed. Then she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the ring she’d dug out of her jewelry box that morning. She tossed the ring onto the kitchen table.
The diamonds glittered in the overhead light. The gold still gleamed. All four women stared at the ring.
“It’s beautiful,” Lexi said.
“It was.” Skye sipped her coffee. “The one Ray gave me was bigger, but this is the one that mattered. Mitch and I were outside. We’d been riding and the clouds had come in. I said it was going to rain and we should get back. He teased me about not wanting to get my hair wet and while we were laughing, he pulled out the ring and dropped to his knees.”
The image was so clear. She could smell the cut grass, see Mitch’s dark eyes, his gaze so intense. She’d stopped breathing and all she could hear was the pounding of her heart.
“He told me loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He said that I was the best thing that ever happened to him, then he asked me to marry him.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks as she remembered how much she’d loved him. How she’d known they would be together forever.
“When I told him I couldn’t marry him, I gave him back the ring,” she continued, her voice shaking. “He took it and threw it in the dirt. I was horrified. We fought and he walked off. I was crying so hard, I could barely see, but I was determined to find the ring. I clawed at the dirt until I saw it.” She touched it with the tip of her finger. “I thought it meant something.”
Dana crouched down next to her. “Do you want me to beat him up for you? I could take him.”
Despite everything, Skye laughed. “That’s really sweet of you, but I don’t want you to hurt him.” Skye wiped her face. “Is that stupid or what? After all this time and everything that’s happened, I don’t want him hurt. Stupid, stupid me.”
“You didn’t know,” Lexi said. “You couldn’t have known.”
“He betrayed me.”
“He’s not over you,” Izzy said. “He can’t be. These aren’t the actions of a man who doesn’t care. He’s really pissed off.”
“He blames me for the loss of his leg. If I hadn’t dumped him, he wouldn’t have gone into the navy and so on. It’s my fault.”
Yesterday she would have said there might still be something between them. A chance, maybe. But now?
