Over the next three hours we talked and laughed and walked up and down the strip of Sedona’s downtown. We had an awesome lunch, where Ethan proceeded to wine and dine me with all of the local yummies. Then we had a laugh at the ice cream store when a lady with a thick accent said what sounded like “bitch” instead of peach. Next, we were just walking out of the aura shop when Ethan pulled out his picture they’d printed for him.
“Look at all that green? That means I’m totally going to be rich!” he explained, showing me his picture card.
I laughed, “No it’s not. Green means intelligent and quick-witted.” I pointed to the print under the picture.
He then scanned my red aura photo. “Damn, Hailey, you need to work on your anger.” Reaching out, he tickled my side playfully and I grinned, moving closer to him naturally.
“Not angry. Passionate, see.” I showed him the print under my photo.
Our eyes locked then and it’s like all the air got sucked out of the space. People walked around us, but it’s like they weren’t there. If this were a movie, this would be when everything would go into slow motion and he would kiss me.
I wanted to.
My body gravitated towards him like a fucking magnet, but…
I wasn’t ready.
He licked his lips as if in anticipation and I broke eye contact. “We should head home. I’ve got so much homework.”
Fuck.I was so fucking broken I couldn’t even be normal with a guy I really liked. I wanted to cry at the thought.
I knew Ethan would never hurt me, but anxiety isn’t rational.
“Yeah. Let’s head back.”
As we turned the corner to where he parked his bike, Ethan reached out and pulled me back.
“What—?” Before I could ask what was going on, he stepped forward and bent, inspecting his bike’s tire, which was now flat.
When he looked up at me, his face was coated in anger. “Someone slashed my tires.”
Bryce.
I knew it with a hundred-percent certainty.
That motherfucker wouldn’t leave me alone, and now I’d pulled Ethan into it.
* * *
“I’m so sorry,”I told Ethan again. He’d had to rent a car and arrange for one of his buddies to drive his bike back once the tires were fixed.
We were just coming into the front office at his shop and he turned to look at me with those piercing blue eyes. “You don’t ever need to apologize to me, Hailey. Especially when you didn’t do anything.”
Geeze, he was so nice … it made everything worse. I’d pulled this nice hot felon into my psycho life and now I didn’t know what to do.
“Maybe the cops will see something on the CCTV,” I offered.
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced.
The moment the police had arrived and confirmed the tires had slash marks consistent with a knife, it looked like they were going to investigate. But when they asked why we were in town and Ethan had told him he was visiting his brother at the local prison, their gazes all turned judgmental. Like we ran with the wrong crowd and therefore deserved to have our tires slashed.
Fuckers.
They’d promised to look into the CCTV of the surrounding restaurants and give us a call. I didn’t have the balls to mention Bryce and the fact that I might have seen his car as we were driving up. Ethan would just flip out, and the cops wouldn’t have had anything to go on. But I could tell by the way Ethan watched his rearview mirror on the drive home that he suspected it.
Before I knew it, we were home and at the top of the stairs, ready to part ways and go to our separate rooms. Unless … I’d just slept in his bed last night because I was scared, and I was still scared, but I didn’t know what this was and I didn’t want it to go too fast. Especially with a psycho ex to muddle a new relationship.
Ethan just looked at me with that innocent ice-blue gaze. “You wanna?” He pointed to his room. “I mean, if you sleep better that way, I’m cool,” he mumbled.
