The kid's eyes widened with recognition. His jaw trembled as he sobbed.
“I didn’t start the fire. I swear. It wasn’t me.”
Ryker’s heart ached. He knew that tone. Cal was on the edge of complete heartbreak. Dropping to one knee beside him, Ryker handed him the water bottle and watched as he drained it before handing it back.
“This your house?”
Cal nodded. His voice dropped so low that Ryker could barely hear him over the background noise. “I didn’t start the fire. I didn’t.”
The thick pain in the kid’s voice was all the proof Ryker needed. “I believe you.”
“No one else does. Because I started fires in the park.”
“Did the police ask you where you were when the house caught fire?”
“I was at school. I swear that I didn’t skip on purpose. I forgot my lunch and ran back after second hour and when I got here, it was like this!”
His small arm sliced a gesture toward the house, his eyes overflowing with tears. “They think I’m no good just like my dad.”
Ryker sucked in a breath. “Did someone say that to you?”
Cal’s shoulders turned inward. “Don’t have to. I know that’s what they’re thinking.”
Damn. It was like watching an old movie of him and Fox when they were this age, living through the same stigma.
The only thing our father did for us was give us life.
Ryker lightly tapped his fist on Cal’s knee. “Listen to me. I need you to look at me while I say this to you.”
Cal looked up, his tear-streaked face pulling at Ryker’s heart.
“You made a mistake when you started those fires in the park. Mistakes are part of growing up. What you did is over and done with. Stop looking behind you. You’re not going that way. You’re moving forward.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t let your anger toward your father ruin what’s ahead of you.”Fuck.Ryker winced as a forceful punch of realization hit him in the chest. He’d literally just given this kid the advice he should have been following himself.
“If you let it, that anger and the bad memories will make you feel like you’re walking up rapids with bricks tied around your ankles, and you’ll make it harder on yourself to live your best life. Don’t waste another second on this anger, Cal. You might think you have all the time in the world ahead of you, but it goes fast. And you’ll regret the time you wasted being angry at a man who doesn’t deserve a single ounce of your energy.”
Cal nodded, sniffed, and launched himself into Ryker’s arms. Surprised, he wrapped his arms around the kid’s thin, shaking body. It was like hugging himself at this age and permitting himself to let it all go.
An officer stepped up beside them. “Mitchell, the kid’s mom is here.”
Ryker pulled away and squeezed Cal’s shoulder, moved out of the way so the mom could sweep in.
“He didn’t start the fire,” he said low to the cop.
“Yeah, I know. The mom said she left a candle burning when she left for work. Cal was already at school by then.”
It was difficult to keep his thoughts in order when he returned to the house fire. Where had the advice he’d given Cal come from? He’d been struggling for months and never thought to reassure himself the same way. It took a twelve-year-old kid to make him see things clearly.
If he left Estes Park, he’d leave behind everything he loved. The people. The places. The mate he needed so desperately.
Olive.
She’d been so ready for him earlier, her eyes and body begging him to claim her and seal their bond. It’s what his brother had warned him about. Once the bond starts, it never goes away. What would she say if he suggested they be much more than friends?
God, he’d wasted so much time with her already.
