Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 146034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)
It felt like she was searching.
Waiting.
On edge.
Like any one person might be the one to bring on her downfall.
And that was where I was stuck. The fact that I was sure she was in trouble. No question, she could be impulsive. Spontaneous and rash. But my training and gut intuition promised there was something more to her story than she’d just been passing through and had wanted to stay.
And maybe that right there was what made Savannah Ward truly dangerous to me.
The truth that I did want to watch over her. Care for her. Help her.
Not because I believed she needed fixing, the way she’d accused me of, but because I thought she might need someone to stand at her side.
I doubted she’d experienced much of that in her life.
Having someone to rely on.
I could see it in her eyes.
The detachment.
The distrust.
And that need to watch over her came close to unbearable when the mayor and his advisors were led to a booth three down from us.
Jack Harris strode in front, waving at a few of the town’s residents and giving some hellos, but it was who followed him in that curled my stomach in a fist.
Hayden Obermeyer and Ruben McCoy slipped into the booth seat opposite the mayor, his chief of staff and senior advisor.
I liked most people in Time River.
Most was the key word.
I’d grown up with Hayden and Ruben, and it was my fair judgement that both were pricks.
There was something seedy about them. Something that left a bad taste in my mouth whenever I had to interact with them, which was far too often considering my position in the department.
I knew Hayden would be all over Savannah, and in this instance, I hated being right.
But there was nothing I could do but sit there and watch him give her his smarmy-fucking-smile that I wanted to knock off his pompous face when she came up to their table and introduced herself.
Ryder swiveled to look over his shoulder when my breaths were coming a little too hard as I watched the asshole talk her up, and I nearly saw red when he passed her his business card.
We all knew what kind of services he wanted to provide.
Ryder turned back around, and that smug smirk cracked across his face. “I take it you’re reconsidering making that claim?”
TEN
SAVANNAH
I studied the business card as the guy sat grinning up at me.
Hayden Obermeyer
Chief of Staff to Jack Harris, Time River Elected Mayor
There was a phone number and address below it. But it was the emblem stamped in foil high on the corner that really caught my attention. My stomach tightened. I knew that design.
The Time River logo.
It had been drawn in the middle of a page in the journal and had been the main thing that had led me here. The clues were so vague, but when I’d been researching the internet, I’d managed to find it, and along with the few other clues in the journal, I’d been sure this was the place.
I looked closely at Hayden Obermeyer. He had dark brown hair that was cut short, parted perfectly on the left side, his teeth so white it was blinding. A schmoozer, at least that’s what my grandmother would have called him.
Guys like this were loose-lipped. All too eager to impress. And was he ever doing his best to impress.
I had to wonder if it went deeper, though. If the logo represented something more than just the town? If it meant a location or maybe a person?
Unease twisted through my insides.
What if he knew something about Jessica? What if she’d been involved with him? What if he’d…hurt her? This guy was in a position of power, and that was something Jessica had always been drawn to.
I couldn’t make assumptions. It was too big a jump to make a true connection. But my gut told me he was definitely someone I should watch.
“Where are you from? Wait…” Hayden held up a finger. “Don’t tell me, let me guess.”
He used the lame question as an excuse to let his eyes that were the same shade as his hair traipse over me like he had every right to the ogling.
I suppressed a shiver of disgust.
I mean, he wasn’t bad to look at, but there was something about him that made my skin crawl. I pinned on the fakest smile, the one I’d learned to use to my advantage. “Alright, you can try, but I like to think of myself as a bit of a chameleon.”
The guy I’d been introduced to as Ruben chuckled at his side. “A hundred bucks says he doesn’t come within five states. This one has no idea what he’s talking about.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I know the beautiful Savannah here.” He tossed me another cocky smirk.
“All right, you two, the last thing we need is Time River’s newest resident thinking this town is filled with a bunch of flirts.” The mayor’s smile was gracious as he looked up at me before he returned his attention to them. “Remember who and what you’re representing.”