Ultimate Kill (Book 1 Ultimate CORE Trilogy) (CORE Series) Read Free

My. God. You’re going after her.”
    Naomi . He rubbed the tension at the base of his neck. He hadn’t seen or spoken to his former fiancée in nearly five years. She’d never been far from his thoughts, and a part of him still loved her and what they’d had together, but bitterness had kept him from bothering to try and find her until now.  
    After he began working at CORE, started hanging out with Rachel and Owen, something inside of him kept nagging and urging him to look for Naomi. To put the past to rest and move forward. Since she’d left him, he’d dated, but nothing regular. He hadn’t wanted to become involved in a relationship that could end as badly as the one he’d had with Naomi. But Rachel and Owen, the way they looked at each other, their body language toward each other and their occasional PDA, had him thinking about the past, about Naomi and how good it used to be between them.  
    Now he wanted answers. Naomi had told him she needed to leave Bola because she couldn’t handle small town life, even though she was the one who’d talked him into moving there. When she’d brought up leaving, he’d been a year into his first term as sheriff and hadn’t been able to walk off the job. Instead, he’d suggested a long distance relationship. She said she’d think about it. When he’d returned home that night, she was gone. Her clothes, her books, whatever she could pack in her car. Gone.
    Anger and betrayal caused the tension in his neck to intensify. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” he said. “I might drive into town and keep on going.”
    “Well, according to the map I’m looking at, unless you make a few turns you’ll drive right into a river.” She released a sigh. “Jake, I’m not going to tell you your business, but have you thought this through?”
    He’d done nothing but think about Naomi since Rachel discovered where she’d been living the past four and a half years. Was she dating? Married? Did she have any kids? Jealousy stabbed him in the chest. Even though her betrayal still cut him deep, he wanted her happy. Only he wanted her happy with him. Or, he used to.
    “I’ll play it by ear,” he answered, and added another dead armadillo to his count.
    “Brilliant plan,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “Look, I’m going to be blunt.”
    Great. Here we go. “Shocking. I can’t wait.”
    “I’m being serious, Jake. There’s a reason why she ran, and you know damn well that’s what she did.”
    “I don’t know anything .” He gripped the steering wheel tight. “Hell, I don’t even know her real name.” When Rachel had used Naomi’s social security number to track her whereabouts, the computer hacker had discovered that Naomi McCall hadn’t existed until eight years ago.  
    “Shit. I’m sorry. I know this has to be hard. You obviously loved her and she…well, she had another agenda.”
    One that hadn’t included him. If Naomi was on the run, if she was part of the Witness Protection Program—which sounded like a ridiculous theme from a Hollywood movie—he could understand her secrecy. But they’d been together for three years before she’d disappeared. They’d planned to marry, start a family, a future. For her to not trust him enough to tell him the truth…that frickin’ sucked. And hurt.  
    He slowed the rented Lincoln Navigator and eyed the remains of the Georgia Girl Drive-In to his left. Weeds and small saplings filled what used to be a parking lot. Like so many of the old, abandoned buildings and cars he’d seen during the drive, nature was doing its best to reclaim the land. Then he saw a road sign.  
    Five miles to Woodbine.
    Five miles to Naomi.
    His stomach knotted with both anticipation and dread. Maybe Rachel was right. Maybe he should leave Naomi alone. If she was running from the past, who was he to stop her?
    Her fiancé, damn it. Her lover. Her best friend. The man who had promised to love her and cherish her. Maybe not in front