Lincoln checks the rearview mirror, and I’m hoping no one is coming after us. I don’t see headlights, so maybe they aren’t going to try to track us down.

When we’re safely away, he looks to me. “Are you okay?”

I swallow and nod. Physically, anyway. Emotionally, I’m a hot freaking mess.

It doesn’t matter where I go or what I do, everything I touch turns to shit. I can’t do anything without everything going wrong.

The voices in my head won’t let me forget how much of a complete and utter failure I am on every level. A bad daughter. A worthless sister. A terrible cousin. A shitty niece. A crappy wife. I’ll never escape it.

“It’ll never stop. Ever,” I whisper, wanting to close myself off and wallow in self-pity. “I just need to go somewhere no one knows my name and become a hermit.”

“That’s not going to happen. You’re not running again. This is your home. Stand your ground.”

I choke out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, like it’s that easy.”

Lincoln turns onto a road that I know damn well doesn’t go back to Gable.

“Where are we going?”

“My place.”

My shoulders slump in the seat, and the feeling of defeat is overwhelming. “I can’t take another round of the past repeating itself tonight. It’d be better if you just take me back to Jackie’s.”

Lincoln glances at me. “Do you really want to go sleep in a shed tonight and tear yourself to pieces about what happened at the bar?”

He has a point. I also hate that he knows me well enough to predict what I would do.

“No,” I whisper. “I just want to forget all of it.”

“Then leave it all behind for a few hours.”

His offer is tempting.

“And what do you expect in return?” I ask because in my world, nothing comes without strings attached.

Lincoln slows down and pulls over to the side of the road. He throws the Range Rover into park. “Are you really asking me that?”

I swallow. Based on the ticking of his jaw, it’s clear I’ve pissed him off. “You know what I mean. You want things from me that I don’t know if I can give.”

“You have my word that absolutely nothing happens tonight, or ever, between us that you don’t want just as much as I do. You know me better than that.”

I hate that I know this man and yet feel like I don’t know him all at the same time.

He squeezes the steering wheel and turns to face me. “I need to tell you something else. Full disclosure, but not because I’m trying to sway your decision.”

Apprehensive chills work their way through my body. “What?”

“Your aunt is getting an apology from my mother and a promotion from my sister, if she’ll accept them.”

I stare at him, my mouth dropping open. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

I turn to look out the windshield into the dark of night. He’s already fixed one of the biggest things that has been weighing on me. “I don’t know what to say.”