Southern Secrets (Southern 7)

"I can’t even imagine," I say softly and look over at my father. "What can I do to help?"

"Honestly," my father says, looking around. "The only thing we can do is stay out of the way."

He bends to kiss my cheek before walking away.

I watch as he walks over to the men hovering around his truck. I see my father pointing in different directions and giving orders. My eyes fall on Asher, his shoulders slumped as he listens to my father. I want to rush over to him and tell him it’s going to be okay. I want to hug him and tell him I’m here for him. When he came onto the scene six months ago, I thought he was the sexiest man I’d ever seen. Then we started working side by side, and I found out that he had the best intentions. He would give you the shirt off his back if it would help you. Every single day, I lusted after him more and more, but I knew it would go nowhere. It didn’t stop us from flirting with each other, but in the end, neither of us would be willing to take that step.

The sound of cracking has everyone looking back over to see one side of the barn start to teeter and then slowly crumble to the ground. The heat comes toward us right away, and I put my hand toward my face. It happens in slow motion, and I don’t even know I’m holding my breath. The remaining walls sway side to side as if they're balancing on the edge, and in a blink of an eye, the rest of the barn comes crashing down.

I put my hand in front of my mouth to muffle my scream. I feel heat beside me and look to see Chelsea there, her arm going around my shoulder. "It’s gone," I say, wiping away a tear rolling down my cheek. No matter how many I wipe away, there are more to follow. “It’s all gone.”

"We’ll get it back," she says softly, and then I feel someone put their hand in mine and look over to see Willow.

Her own tears are on her face. "It’s going to be okay," she says. "It’s going to be okay."

I just nod my head as we watch the firemen work at putting out the fire. "We should go," Emily says. "Get out of the way."

I nod and then turn to walk away. I take a couple of steps, then turn back to take one more look at it. With the back of my palm, I wipe away the tears that continue to fall, no matter how many times I wipe them away. "It’ll be okay," Willow says from beside me.

We walk like snails back to the car, all of us looking down and lost in our own thoughts. We see police tape at the front of the lane, and when I look to the side, I see Asher and Ethan wrapping the same tape around a couple of trees. Willow and Emily get into the back seat of the car as I pull open my door, but I stop, looking across the street. Though there are rows and rows of blooming trees, all I can see is black smoke, but for some reason, I feel eyes on me.

"What is it?" Chelsea gets back out of the car and looks at me, her eyes turning to see what I’m looking at.

"Nothing," I say, shaking my head and getting in the car. I close the door and fasten my seat belt. "I guess I’m just feeling out of it," I say, and my eyes try to look into the dark forest, but all I can see is darkness.

Chapter 3

Asher

I walk toward Jacob’s truck with my head down. I don’t even think about what I’ve lost, not when I looked over and saw Amelia with tears running down her cheeks. It made my stomach sink and burn. I wanted to go and comfort her, take her in my arms and tell her how sorry I was. The guilt that this accident could have been my fault rushed through me. We both looked at the blaze as the firemen tried their best to put it out as fast as possible, everyone working together.

"Asher," Jacob calls my name softly, and I look up at him. "If you want to sit this one out …"

I shake my head. "Sitting around and dwelling on this isn’t going to do anybody any good," I say.

"We’ll replace everything," Ethan says, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing. "Or we’ll try to anyway."

"You don’t have to do that," I say. "I never had much to begin with." I shake my head, looking back at the barn. "Besides, you guys lost more than I did." I look at him, and he just looks back at the place where the barn used to stand. The orange flames burn through what remains on the ground.