Always Conall (Bitterroot #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

myself to show it to her yet. And it got harder as she got older. I wanted her to feel secure and loved. I wasn’t sure how much she’d understand. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how much I understood myself.
    A chirping cricket from the coffee table indicated I’d received a text. I picked up my iPhone to see who it was from.
    Shit.
    It was from Conall.
    Finally.
    Fuck.
    My heart immediately started racing and my shaking hand could barely navigate the lock screen. My uncoordinated fingers ended up opening three other apps before I managed to open the text. Then I slipped and almost deleted his message before I could even read it.
    I took a long, deep breath and blew it out, forcing a Zen-like state that I truly did not feel. Because I really had no idea what to expect.
    Conall: Can we talk?
    My heart leapt into my throat.
    Oh God. Breathe. You’ve got this, Sage.
    A million responses ranging from ‘Fuck you’ to ‘Fuck I love you’ zipped through my head. I went with nonchalant.
    Me: When and where?
    His response was practically instantaneous.
    Conall: The lake, anytime you can make it
    Oooph… the lake. Shit.
    We’d practically lived down there as kids, but I hadn’t been back there in years. Not since that awful day he’d left. Be cool , I thought. Can’t let him know how much this is fucking with your brain.
    Me: Scene of the crime, huh?
    Conall: ………
    Obviously, the situation had not quite gotten to where we could joke about things. Smooth, Sage. Really smooth .
    Me: Sorry. Let me see check something. BRB.
    I quickly dialed Brynn’s number.
    “Hey, Sage,” she answered.
    “Can you watch Mattie for a little bit? I just got a text from Conall. He’s wondering if we can talk.”
    “Um, yeah… no problem. Do you want to bring her over here, or should I come to your place?”
    “She just went to bed. Would you mind coming here?”
    “Not a bit. I’ll be there in a half-hour.”
    I quickly texted Conall back that I’d meet him in an hour down by the lake. Then I ran into my bathroom to touch up my hair and make-up, pissed at myself for doing it. I shouldn ’t be trying to impress Conall. I really shouldn’t give two fucks about what he thought of me. But it was a sickening compulsion. After all this time, I still wanted him to look at me and see something beautiful.
    I still wanted him to want me.
    Finally, I found myself trudging down the overgrown path to our spot. Off the main trails, back in the brush and trees that grew thickly along the lakeshore, a little inlet gave the feeling of being miles away from anyone and everyone. Over the years, it had been our playground. The backdrop for our childhood imaginations. Sometimes after seeing a movie, our imagination expanded worldwide. The rocky shore became a beach in the Caribbean, and we were pirates in search of a treasure. Other times, after Matt and Conall had learned the stories of the wild west days in Montana History class, we were the vigilantes searching for Henry Plummer’s gold. Later, it was where we tried smoking and heralded on a false maturity with our first tastes of alcohol. Through the years, it had become a place to escape life and reality. A place of solace.
    It was also the last place I had seen Conall. The place I had given him every part of me, and he had responded by turning his back on me and leaving me, shattered and alone, on the grassy bank.
    My initial reaction upon seeing him had been pure joy, pure emotion. Pure love. But now, the closer I got, the more I wanted to turn and run. To grab Mattie and disappear. To protect her from the heartache Conall had brought me. To protect myself from the heartache that still overpowered my senses.
    The sun lay low on the horizon, and the scant clouds around it began to glow all fiery red. With every step down the trail, my mind flicked back to five years ago. To running down this path in a panic, feeling every scrape of the branches on my bare skin. A bead of sweat rolled down my