“Am I ever. I learned so much from Gram last night. You know what’s crazy? No one knows how the feud started. I’ve talked to people on both sides, and the one thing they all agree on is that no one knows the real story.”

“That’s so weird.”

“Isn’t it? Honestly, I love it. I’ve met so many townspeople who have their own version, but all of them admit they don’t really know. They’ve just made up their own theories. But then Fiona was telling me about some stuff Grace Bailey found. A woman named Eliza Bailey went missing, probably around the early 1920s or maybe a little bit before that. And there could be a connection to a man named John Haven, who also went missing. I’m not clear on whether they went missing at the same time, or if one of them might have been responsible for the other’s disappearance or what. I need to dig into it and see what I can find.”

“Maybe you’ll uncover the origin of the feud.”

“I’m kind of hoping I do. It’s such a fun mystery.”

“Keep me posted.” My phone buzzed, the little noise rattling my ear drums.

Ginny met my eyes. “Maybe it’s him. Check it.”

I took a deep breath and pulled out my phone.

“It’s him.”

“He’s reaching out. That means it’s your move.”

My move. I took another deep breath and read his text.

20

Gavin

The river meandered by, slow and lazy this time of year. It was cold out today, but I didn’t care. If my leg hadn’t been in a cast, I probably would have jumped in, just for the rush. There was something about dousing yourself in ice-cold water that felt awesome. Woke up the senses.

But I did have a cast, so I had to be content with sitting on a rock next to my truck, watching the river. It was one of my favorite places—which was probably why Gram had named me Otter when I was little. I’d always loved water.

I fiddled with my phone, impatiently waiting for Skylar’s reply. My message had been simple and straightforward. I’m really sorry about last night. Can we get together?

Discontent made me edgy. I didn’t like the way last night had ended. At all. I hadn’t meant to upset her. I hadn’t meant for any of it to happen. But man, when she’d whispered that threat of getting herself off if I wouldn’t do it for her, I’d cracked.

The logic had made sense to my half-functioning, lust-filled brain. She’d needed an orgasm, so I’d given her one. Then I’d stopped. Kept from crossing that line.

But that had obviously hurt her feelings, because she’d bolted.

And now I felt like shit. She probably did too.

Finally—it hadn’t really taken that long, but I was impatient as fuck right now—she replied.

Skylar: What did you have in mind?

Me: First, do you need to get any writing done today? Because I can come over if you need me.

Skylar: I’m taking today off, but thank you.

Me: Okay, cool. Do you want to go to the drive-in with me tonight?

Skylar: There’s a drive-in?

Me: Yeah, just outside town. I need to do some recon.

Skylar: Recon? For what?

Me: A prank.

Skylar: You’re going to do a prank at the drive-in?

Me: Yep. Nick Haven owns it, so obviously we never go see movies there. But we have an idea for an epic prank. We just need to see what it’ll take to pull it off. So I’m going to stake the place out. Are you in?

Skylar: Will we get in trouble?

Me: No.

Skylar: Even though it’s Haven territory?

Me: We won’t get caught. It’ll be fine.

It took her a long moment to answer. I could imagine her fiddling with a strand of hair, turning the idea over and over in her mind, trying to decide. I figured I’d give her another little nudge.

Me: Come on, Sky. This is low-key Tilikum prank stuff. Perfect for a beginner. I promise nothing bad will happen.

Skylar: Okay. I’ll come.

Me: Awesome. I’ll pick you up at seven.

Skylar: See you then.

Feeling exponentially better, I pocketed my phone, then tossed a pebble in the meandering river. Tonight was going to be fun.

Skylar answered the door already wearing her coat. She gave me a hesitant smile as she stepped out and shut the door behind her.

“Hey. Thanks for coming with me tonight.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

Our eyes met and we just looked at each other for a few seconds. I wondered if I should say something else—bring up last night again. But if she wanted to talk about it, she probably would. Girls always brought up the subject when they needed to talk about their feelings or whatever. I waited, giving her a chance to say something if she needed to. She didn’t, so I figured we were good.

Being near her again made my dick stand up and take notice. I covertly adjusted myself as soon as she turned to walk out to the street.

Man, the things this girl did to me.

We went out to my truck and headed for the drive-in. It was in a big clearing at the end of Icicle Road, out where an old Haven Timber Company sawmill had once been. I’d been out here a bunch of times, just to see if I could sneak in and watch a movie without getting caught. It wasn’t too hard, and I always slipped ticket money into the concession stand window so it wouldn’t be stealing.

But tonight, I didn’t need to see if I could get in without being seen so I could watch a movie on Haven turf because of a dare or just to prove that I could. Tonight, I needed to go deeper.

“So what’s the prank you guys are planning?” Skylar asked as we drove toward the edge of town.

“We want to hijack the movie and play one of our own.”

“You mean like a bad movie or something?”

I grinned. “No, I mean our own movie. We’ll shoot one, starring us.”

She smiled. “That would be pretty funny.”

“Right?” I was getting excited just thinking about it. “The trick is, we don’t know for sure if they have a digital projector. Movies used to be sent out on those big film reels, but according to Levi, it’s all going digital now. But the drive-in mostly shows old movies, so they don’t necessarily need to upgrade. We heard a rumor that they just got a new digital projector, though. And if they did, it’s game on.”

“Wait.” Her smile disappeared. “How can you tell if it’s a digital projector?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. We’ll probably have to break in to the projection booth.”

“I don’t know if we should do that.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll only do it if we won’t get caught.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“I have a sense about these things.” I winked at her. “Trust me.”

She twisted her hands in her lap. “This makes me very nervous. I was with Ginny when you texted and she kind of talked me into coming.”

“High five, Ginny. You can stay outside if you want, but you don’t have to worry. I won’t let anything bad happen.”

She glanced at me again, clearly not convinced.

“What’s the worst that could happen to us?” I asked.