The Summer He Came Home (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 1)

Jake nodded. “Will do.”

“It’s good you’re back.”

Jake nodded but remained silent.

Mackenzie smiled a million watts at Raine, green eyes crinkled with warmth. “Take care gorgeous and I’ll think about Christmas.”

The door closed behind Mackenzie, leaving silence in his wake and the oppressive weight of two, ice-blue eyes, shooting daggers at Jake. Now that Mac was gone she didn’t make any effort to hide her anger.

Jake turned to her, set his leather bag onto the coffee table, and waited for the hammer to fall.

“I should kick your ass all over Crystal Lake, you know that right?”

***

Raine didn’t know if she wanted to strangle the man in front of her, slap him across the face, order him out of her house or hug him. And by the looks of it, Jake Edwards needed more than just a hug. Judging from the bleak, haunted look in his eyes he hadn’t fared well over the last year and a half. But then again, had any of them?

She tore her gaze from his, her heart pounding, her cheeks heated. God, she was so angry with him.

He stood in front of her, hurting so badly it fell off him in waves and yet all she could think about was the fact that he’d been in touch with every single person they shared a bond with, except her.

She’d received exactly six emails from him since he’d left Crystal Lake over a year ago. Six. And one drunken message on her voice mail, which, she’d never erased, and sadly, would listen to from time to time when she was feeling more down in the dumps than she usually did. How sad was that?

Raine exhaled sharply, gave herself a mental shake and took a step back, eyes critical as she took him in once more. He was dressed in faded jeans and black leather, a deep blue turtleneck offering some bit of warmth against the late November chill. His hair, so much longer than when she’d seen him last, was wavy, the thick espresso curls now touching his collar. The coffee colored eyes that stared back at her glittered with a hardness in their depths she didn’t like. His strong jaw, slightly crooked nose—broke when they he’d been twelve and his brother had dared him to jump off the bridge near the dam—and full wide mouth hadn’t changed.

He was still as handsome as ever and she supposed some women would find the hard edge he’d picked up even more attractive. He looked dangerous, very much a bad boy—as if Jake Edwards needed any more weapons in his arsenal. Women had always flocked to his side like bees to honey. Heck, he’d been as much a horn-dog as Cain Black back in the day.

He’s so different from Jesse.

They were fraternal twins, so while physically they looked different—her husband had been lighter in coloring, with blue eyes instead of brown and dark blond hair—there’d still been enough of a resemblance between them to know they were brothers. The Edwards twins. The bad boys.

She closed her eyes as a familiar wave of pain rolled through her. It stuck in her chest, tightening like iron claws and she took a step back, hating the sensation more than ever.

She much preferred the numb cocoon she usually existed in. It was just easier to deal when everything was coated in ice and frozen over, smooth as the lake in mid-December.

“Why are you here, Jake?”