Page 94 of Burning For You

This was different. This was his world. Not Clay’s.

“Do you?” he shot back. “Because last I checked, I’m not sixteen and I don’t need a handler.”

Clay didn’t flinch. Didn’t even snort over his younger brother giving him shit when Ash rarely gave anyone shit.

“You’re a firefighter in the middle of a pattern of arson cases. She’s reporting and being pulled into it more by the arsonist. That’s not coincidence. That’s a collision.”

He exhaled through his nose. “You think I haven’t thought about that?”

Clay studied him. Really looked. “Then answer the question.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Because the honest answer was complicated.

Because knowing what he was doing and being able to stop it were two very different things.

And could he stop? If he was there fighting the fire and the guy was in the crowd and watching Skye?

No, he couldn’t do anything to help because, as she’d said last Sunday, he had to focus on his job. Not to just keep himself safe, but everyone else working.

“I’m not reckless,” he said finally. “And I’m not blind. I know the risks.”

“And?”

“And I’m not walking away,” he said quietly. “I can’t. I’m sticking by her side as much as I can for this.”

Clay held his stare. “You’re attached.”

The words landed heavier than they should have.

He didn’t deny it. He didn’t need to. Clay would see right through the lie anyway.

“I care,” he said instead. “And yeah, that puts her closer to me. But I won’t put her in danger. Ever.”

Clay nodded slowly. “Good. Because if this gets ugly⁠—”

“I’ll move her out of the blast radius myself,” he cut in. “You think I don’t understand what I’m dealing with? I’ve got some inside knowledge and it helps. The more we all know, the better.”

Even if he was turning a blind eye to the one person at every fire.

But the thing was, he’d worked two shifts last week. There was only one fire that lasted a few hours. And yep, Alan showed up.

Not a car fire. Not a fire set by an arsonist.

Nope, it was an electrical fire in a home that had some remodeling being done on it. Poor construction and people were working while it happened.

All that told him was Alan showed up when there were fires all the time.

He knew, because once he saw him, he even asked what he was doing there.

The answer, “Waiting to pick my kids up from school and swung by on the way.” Alan was gone before they put the last flame out, probably picking up those kids he was waiting for.

“You know where I am if you need anything.”

“I do. I appreciate it. All of it. The last thing I want is this to be the topic of conversation tonight.”

“It’s going to come up,” Clay said. “Maybe not as badly as it would at her parents’ house, but it will. Do you really think Gale isn’t going to ask questions? She’s nosier than shit.”

“I was hoping to stop that and let Skye know who Rory is. I don’t think she does.”