She crossed the gangplank like she owned it, stepping onto my deck, her scent flooding my senses. Apple cider and spice and anger, so much anger. She stopped two feet away from me and held up the stakes.
"You want to explain these?" She shook them in my face, the orange flags fluttering like wounded birds.
"Chere, I can explain—" I started, reaching for the charm like a shield.
"Don't." She cut me off, her voice going flat and cold, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Don't you dare 'chere' me right now. I'm not in the mood for the performance." She stepped closer, jabbing one of the stakes toward my chest like a weapon.
I swallowed hard. Nodded.
"You knew about these." She wasn't asking.
"Oui." I dropped the charm, let my shoulders slump, stopped trying to smile my way out of this. "I found the first ones maybe two weeks ago. Been checking your property lines ever since." The words came out flat, honest, stripped of all the honey I usually wrapped them in.
"And you didn't tell me because...?" She raised one eyebrow, waiting.
"Because I'm a coward." The admission scraped out of me raw and ugly. "Because I was supposed to come find you, show you the real me, and instead I just... watched. From a distance. Like some kind of creep." I ran my hand through my hair, tugging at the curls in frustration.
"You've been watching me." Her voice was dangerously quiet.
"Not in a—I wasn't—" I groaned, the words tangling in my throat. "I was checking on you. Making sure you were safe.Making sure the developers weren't getting too close." I held up my hands in surrender. "I know that sounds bad. I know that sounds like every possessive Alpha bullshit excuse in the book. I'm not trying to—" I stopped, clenched my jaw, forced myself to meet her eyes. "I just couldn't stay away. After that night at the Hook. After you..." I trailed off, unable to finish.
"After I what?" She stepped closer, and I could see the gold flecks in her green eyes, could smell her scent shifting from pure fury to something more complicated.
"After you saw me." My voice came out barely above a whisper. "The real me. The ugly parts I keep hidden. And you didn't run." I swallowed hard, my hands shaking at my sides. "Nobody ever stays, chere. They see the broken parts, and they run. But you held my hand and told me you liked that version better, and I haven't been able to think about anything else since." The words poured out of me in a rush, too fast to stop.
She stared at me for a long moment, her expression unreadable. The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy.
"So instead of coming to find me like I told you to, you lurked around my property in secret for weeks." Her voice was flat, but some of the sharp edge had faded.
"Yes." I didn't try to defend myself. There was no defense.
"And when you found evidence that someone was threatening my home, you didn't think to mention it." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"I was going to." The excuse sounded weak even to my own ears. "I just... I wanted to figure out what they wanted first. Handle it before you had to worry about it." I grimaced, hearing how stupid that sounded. "I know. I know that's not—that's not what you needed. That's not what you asked for." I took a shaky breath. "You asked me to be real with you, and instead I just... hid. Like always." My voice cracked on the last word.
Something shifted in her expression. The anger didn't disappear, but it softened around the edges.
"The other two." She uncrossed her arms. "They knew too." It wasn't a question.
"Their scents were on the stakes." I nodded miserably. "We've all been circling you like idiots, trying to protect you without actually talking to you. Because apparently all three of us are emotionally stunted disasters who don't know how to use our words." A bitter laugh escaped me.
Her lips twitched. Almost a smile. I clung to it like a lifeline.
"At least you're self-aware." She shook her head slowly, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "That's more than I can say for the other two." She let out a long breath.
"You talked to Fontenot?" The words came out sharper than I intended, something hot and possessive flaring in my chest.
"This morning." She watched my reaction with those knowing eyes. "He apologized. Explained. I'm going to track down Boudreaux next." She tilted her head. "Why? Jealous?" Her voice held a hint of challenge.
"Yes." The word came out before I could stop it, raw and honest. "Yeah, I'm jealous. I've been thinking about you every damn day for three weeks, and I couldn't even work up the nerve to knock on your door, and Fontenot just—" I stopped, clenched my jaw. "That's not fair. I know that's not fair. He's been watching you too, same as me. We're both idiots." I scrubbed my hand over my face.
"All three of you are idiots." She corrected, but there was something almost fond in her voice now.
"All three." I agreed weakly. The silence stretched again, but it was different this time. Less charged. More... waiting.
"Luc." She said the name softly, and my whole body went rigid. "You sang about him that night. Your brother." Her voice was gentle, giving me space.
"He drowned." The words came out flat, automatic. "When I was seventeen. I was supposed to be watching him, but I was—I got distracted. By a girl. Stupid teenage bullshit." My voice cracked. "He was twelve. He went swimming in the bayou, and the current—" I stopped, my throat closing up.
