“Loch!” Johnny’s booming voice came from somewhere behind Holly. Relief flooded her body.
“What a surprise,” the stranger, Loch, muttered.
“What the hell are you doing?” Johnny snapped.
“I was just getting to know Holly.” Loch’s grin was dark and feral.
A shiver ran down Holly’s spine. She took a small step closer to Johnny.
“I’m not surprised to see you’ve already done the same.”
“She’s here for Pearl’s estate. I happen to live there, remember?”
“Hmm.” Loch frowned. “From what I remember, you left town a few months ago and swore you’d never be back. I guess that didn’t last long. Haven’t you only been back for a day or two?”
Holly looked up at Johnny, who was furiously glaring at Loch. If Johnny truly had come back to town recently, that was an odd detail for him to leave out.
“Just go back to whatever bog you crawled out of and leave the rest of us in peace.”
Loch took off his sunglasses. His eyes were dark, so dark that they glittered like onyx. Holly had a hard time looking away despite the unsettled feeling seeping into her bones.
“You know I can’t do that.” He grinned that feral grin again. “I have just as big of a stake in this as you do.”
“A stake in what?” Holly blurted.
Loch’s brows shot up. Pure mischief twinkled in his eyes.
“Don’t worry about him,” Johnny sneered. “He delights in making trouble.”
“That’s true.” Loch nodded. “But one thing I don’t do is lie.”
“People who don’t lie don’t need to tell others they don’t lie,” Johnny said.
“And you’re implying to be the picture of honesty?” Loch scoffed. “That’s rich.”
Johnny turned to Holly. “Are you ready to go?”
She nodded. Johnny took her hand and led her away from Loch and The Bear’s Bane. Holly couldn’t help but look over her shoulder. Loch watched her with his glittering eyes. He blew her a kiss, winked, and entered the pub. Another chill passed over Holly. She had questions, but she waited until they reached the truck before speaking.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“Just another whacky Silver Spruce local,” Johnny said bitterly. “Every town has a renegade teen. Loch never grew out of that position. I wouldn’t be surprised if he still spray-paints the sides of buildings.”
“You two really seemed to hate each other,” Holly said.
“Believe it or not, we were friends once. I may or may not have been one of those renegade teens. Spray-painting is how I figured out I had a flair for the artistic. Garret’s father, Griz, straightened me out. Loch never forgave me for that.”
“He called you a liar,” Holly said.
“Takes one to know one, I suppose.” Johnny shrugged.
“So, you admit it.”
“I admit that I wasn’t the smartest kid,” he said. “I like to think I’ve grown up. Not completely, because where’s the fun in that?” The corner of his mouth pulled up into a lopsided smile that made Holly want to kiss him again, but she couldn’t; she still had questions.
“Did you only come back to town a few days ago?” she asked.
“That’s true.” He nodded. “Sometimes, I get in the truck and just go places. I don’t really plan it. I don’t take much stuff. I just get this feeling that I have to go, so I do. I always end up back here. I’ve never been away for more than a few months.”
“What brought you back?”
“You, I think.”
A jolt went through Holly.
“How is that possible? I didn’t know I was coming until a few days before I got here. It’s not like I phoned ahead. I haven’t even contacted Pearl’s estate lawyer yet with all that’s been going on.”
That’s a phone call she needed to make pronto. Perhaps, the estate lawyer could clear up the legality of Pearl’s bizarre inheritance contingencies. Maybe he could shed some light on the marriage thing, too. It didn’t sound like Pearl was forcing her to marry a firstborn of a founding family, but she was damn close.
“I don’t know how it’s possible,” Johnny replied. The oddness of the conversation didn’t seem to faze him. “I just felt a pull to come back to town. The next day, I met you.”
“Are you going to start going on about fate again?” she asked, biting her bottom lip to keep from smiling. The idea of her and Johnny being drawn together by the invisible hands of fate was dangerously appealing.
“I might.” His smile gave her butterflies.
Maybe there was something to fate after all.
CHAPTER EIGHT - Loch
Loch sat at his usual seat, drinking his usual beer, and waiting.
He felt the pull days ago. He knew Holly was going to show up sooner or later. He didn’t expect she’d show up with Johnny. He must’ve gotten to her right as she came into town. Loch should’ve been more vigilant. Johnny must have spirited her away to Pearl’s estate as soon as he could. Loch wouldn’t be surprised if Johnny kept her locked up like a princess in a fairy story.
He wondered what the other two, Keller and Garret, thought of all this. Were they with Johnny, or against him? More importantly, he wondered what Holly thought of all this. Unfortunately, she seemed to trust Johnny. She reached for his hand like she’d been doing it all her life. Something would have to be done about that.
The door to The Bear’s Bane pushed open. A crack of light split down the bar. Loch looked over his shoulder to find Mac, the mechanic. He recalled seeing an abandoned car on the side of the road yesterday. It might’ve been Holly’s.
“Hey, Mac.” Loch waved the mechanic over. “Did you hear about the car abandoned just outside of town?”
“It’s not abandoned,”
