That old wound. The one he never let scab over. The part of him that never forgave me for leaving. Or maybe for not picking him over Beck.
I shake my head softly to pull myself out of the recesses of my mind. “Look, Toby… now’s not really the time for this.”
“I’m just saying,” he says quickly, palms up. “You don’t have to keep pretending you don’t need help. Not with everything going on. Not after the accident. And now the fire? That’s a lot, Lo.”
Yeah.
Tell me something I don’t know.
But the worst part? The way he says it almost sounds like he cares. Like he means it. And that makes me want to scream more than anything else.
“I said I’ll think about it,” I repeat, sharper now.
He lifts both hands, backing off like he’s afraid I’ll bare teeth.
“Alright. Just… I’m around.”
Then he finally walks off.
And I finally breathe.
But it’s shallow, and it tastes like ash.
CHAPTER 16
Ford
Ilean over the workbench, the scent of wood and sawdust filling my lungs, but my mind’s a thousand miles away. The steady scrape of my chisel on the wood doesn’t help, yet it’s all I can do to keep my hands moving. My fingers are steady, unlike my thoughts.
The fire.
Arson.
What the hell is going on?
Honeysuckle Grove has never forgiven the Marsh family for what they did all those years ago, but…arson? Who the hell would go that far? Who would burn down a house in their own town?
I stop the chisel mid-slice and lean back, taking a breath.
Lo’s the one who tried to fix things. She was the one who tried to expose the corruption, who tried to take down her own family, when they were hurting others. But that’s the thing with a small town: when you come from bad, people assume you are also bad.
Still, that doesn’t change the facts. She came with the proof. She outed her family. And outside of all that, no one should bescared in their own home. This is worse, though, because Lo ismine. Whether she realizes it or not, her body was made for me.
I have to draw in a deep breath to keep my cock at bay. I can’t stop thinking about what happened between us at the bar. How desperate she was for me. How she begged for me to fill her. How her walls pulsed around me until my vision sizzled white.
All of this is more than the fire. It’s more than just a building burning. It’s what itmeans. Someone tried to hurt her. Someone wanted to make her fear the place that should have been her sanctuary. And I can’t stand the idea of her being terrified and alone in a house that’s supposed to be a safe haven.
“Ford, you got a minute?”
Toby’s voice cuts through the air, and I turn just in time to see him wiping sweat from his brow.
“Yeah?” I grunt, barely looking up.
Toby’s got that eager energy in him today, as if he’s carrying a secret. He steps closer, rubbing the back of his neck with a look in his eyes that makes me worry he’s about to drop a bomb. “So, uh… I’ve been thinking about asking Lo out.”
I don’t blink. Don’t even breathe for a second.Lo?
Is he fucking serious?
