Page 58 of Ignited

Chapter 24

Boomer lowered his gun and said, “Geez, K. I come back from my run and the house is all quiet, Bro’s gone—I thought something happened to you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He looked around, like his brother might be hiding in the corner. “Where is he? Don’t tell me he left you here alone. I’ll kill him.”

“It’s not his fault,” she said. “I could tell his wolf wasn’t going to be able to hold it together much longer, so I told him to go ahead. I knew you’d be back soon, and I said I’d call Mikey to come sit with me.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I was going to.”

“Liar.”

“Yeah.”

That made him give a little huff of almost-amusement. Their eyes met across the room, and heat flashed between them. He must have really been worried, because he hadn’t even stopped to put pants on.

It was kind of hot, seeing him standing there naked with a gun.

Boomer looked down at himself, put down the gun, grabbed a pair of pants off a shelf and put them on.

Disappointment flashed through her. He obviously didn’t want her anymore; he was as much as telling her so.

She said, “Is he okay? Your brother, I mean. I could feel…” She trailed off, not knowing exactly what she was trying to say. “There’s something wrong with him, isn’t there?”

Boomer gave a huge sigh, his shoulders slumping. His usual cockiness drained out of him, and he looked tired and defeated.

“No, he’s not okay. He’s—shit, I don’t know. Most of us on the Ridge are fucked up in one way or another. Things we’ve seen, things we’ve done, things other people made us do. Him more than most. When he’s human, he holds everything in, you know? Like, everything. And when he’s wolf…”

“He lets it all out.”

“Yeah. And every time he goes out—”

“You’re afraid he’s not coming back.”

Boomer ran his hands through his hair. “I just don’t know what to do for him anymore.”

She hated to see him hurting like this. She wanted to go over and put her arms around him, but she wasn’t sure if he wanted her to. “He knows you love him. That you’re always there for him. I don’t see how you can do more than that.”

He shook his head. “Loving somebody doesn’t fix everything. Sometimes I think it doesn’t do anything at all, except tear you up inside.”

He looked past her, then seemed to register the open cabinet. His eyes flashed angry gold. “What the hell are you looking in there for? That’s private.”

He walked over next to her and reached to close it, but she put her hand on his arm. “Who are all these people?”

“Nobody. They don’t matter.” His voice was rough. “Just mind your own business, okay?”

She didn’t want to mind her own business. He was hurting—hurting so hard it was like she could feel it in her own heart.

“They’re people you’ve helped, aren’t they?” she said. “All the ones from your missions.” He gave a shrug. She added softly, “And me.”

“Yeah. The one I didn’t save.” He shut the door.

She was stunned. Suddenly, she saw she’d been completely wrong about why her photo was at the bottom of it all. He felt like he’d failed her. Were all the others there because of her? Like he was trying to fix things, by saving other people?

“How could you think that?” she said. “You saved my life. You were the only person who ever did anything good for me.”