"Hey," Seven calls, jogging up to us with Ellie on his heels. "We're losing the sun. Ready for a douchebag bone hunt?"
I lift my brows in question at Aurora, who finds the will to grin as she cranes her head to look up at Sev. "Fuck yeah, I am."
"We should check his grave first." Sev throws a hand through his hair. "See what's there. Figure out what's missing. Get rid of the evidence."
"I'll grab some gloves and the gasoline from the garage." Aurora rises from the lounger with a renewed sense of energy as she tugs her jean shorts up over her hips.
"What do you need gasoline for?" I ask.
She smiles sweetly. "It's a great night for a bonfire, don't you think?"
I stand to watch her go and don't have the heart to tell her that human bones are very resilient to fire and need intense, sustained heat to be completely reduced to ashes. But burning what's left of Jesse will make it harder to identify his remains and easier to bury what's left afterward.
I don't think it's as much about eliminating evidence as it is cathartic anyway, so I'm down with her ex-boyfriend bonfire.
Sev elbows me, his lower lip caught between his teeth as Aurora moves out of sight.
"That right there…" He trails off. "Is the perfect woman."
I snort. "You won't hear any argument from me, man."
4
READY OR NOT
SEVEN
The dying embers reflect red in Aurora's eyes as what remains of her abuser turns to chunky white ashes in the shallow grave at the far edge of our property.
Elijah took Ellie and went to talk with Atticus. Something about needing to state a boundary for tomorrow. Apparently, he's finally gotten everything in place for us to start.
Took him long enough, but I know he'll have fine-tuned every moving part to within an inch of its life to make sure there is no opportunity for error.
Despite what I said to him after knocking one of his teeth out, I know he cares about her. If he didn't, he wouldn't have done any of it. If I know my brother, and I'm pretty fucking sure I do, he caught feelings and he was scared shitless about it.
It's the only logical reason he'd have let himself get so lost down that rabbit hole.
He'll never admit it, and it doesn't justify his actions, but at least I get it now.
And I know he'll pull his head out of his ass and make it right somehow. In time. When he's accepted that this woman isalready important to him and there's no way to undo it because that's how he is.
"You look so fucking sexy with fire in your eyes, Ro."
She blinks, and a slow smile spreads on her lips as she comes out of whatever trance she'd been in watching Jesse's corpse burn.
There were only a few missing bones, and they weren't far from the grave, so cleanup had been easier and faster than anticipated, but now the sun is almost at its lowest point on the horizon, and soon it'll be too dark for us to see our way back beneath the tree canopy.
Good thing I know the property by heart.
She sidles up next to me, and I open my arm for her to put hers around my middle and lean into my side.
I drop my face to the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her rose shampoo. Right now it's edged in fire smoke and somehow that makes it even better.
"Do you want to head back?" I ask against her hair. "The fire's out enough to shovel some dirt over it and call it a night."
I'm praying she says yes because I'm dying to get under that little black bikini. Have been since the second she came outside in it.
I toy with the thin black strap beneath her T-shirt, winding it around and through my fingers.
