Page 146 of Burning For You

“When he’s not mad at me, they are,” she said, the snort almost coming off like a cough.

“I want to say he shouldn’t be mad at you about what is going on. It’s not like you can control it.”

“I want to though. Maybe that is the problem.”

“We all want to control more than we should because I think so much of our lives were out of our control.”

She nodded. “I think so too. And it’s really hard to let go of something.”

“But you’re trying,” Brenna said. “I can see it. I hope Ash can too.”

“He can. He does. Maybe when this is over, things can settle into something normal.”

Brenna waved her hand. “Who wants normal?”

“Right now, I’d take it in a heartbeat.”

And hours later, when her phone rang, interrupting her work again, she reached over to see it was from Kyle.

She was dreading this call.

All she knew was that Detective Brown was going to reach out to him last night and she’d heard nothing else.

Did they talk yet?

How was she supposed to play this if they hadn’t?

“You can do this,” she said to herself. “You’ve talked to him more than a handful of times. Just act like it’s another day.” She picked her phone up, slid her finger across the bar and said, “Hi, Kyle.”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kyle shouted.

Her heart was hammering in her chest. “What do you mean?” she asked. It was best to just play this off as if she didn’t know what was going on.

“I just spent over an hour with the lead detective on the arson case. Somehow, they think I’ve got something to do with it.”

“Like what?” she asked. She wasn’t so good at playing dumb.

“Don’t give me that shit, Skye. You wrote that last article. You pushed buttons. You came to me with that story. Not the other way around and I made sure Detective Brown was aware of it.”

She gulped. Were they going to think it was her again?

Was she going to be questioned as the arsonist?

No, if that was the case, she would have been contacted already. Wouldn’t she have?

“What happened? What did he ask you?”

“I got a line of shit that they have to look at anyone benefiting from what was going on. The stories you’re writing. There is no way they would come after me unless someone told them my reactions to what was going on. That I was thrilled with the stories.”

She closed her eyes. “They said that?”

“They insinuated it,” Kyle snarled. “Like they were trying to get a reaction out of me. As if I haven’t been around the block enough and know how they work.”

“I’m sure you told them it was ridiculous.”

“Of course I did,” Kyle snapped. “I get that way with all the stories that get traction. But then they had to point out my past. My history. There was no reason for anyone to go down that road. Again, that has to only come from you.”

“I haven’t looked into you,” she argued. It was the truth. She just wasn’t volunteering who had done it.