Deep Burn (Burned Duet 2)

“It’s Thanksgiving, Asher.” Belle moved toward us and pulled me out of Leo’s grasp. “Did you really think we’d spend it apart?” She winked at me and placed her arm around my shoulders. “You look hot in my baby brother’s T-shirt.” My eyes widened at her words, but her chuckle had my shoulders relaxing.

“We didn’t spend it together the year you ran away,” Asher quipped back.

“Oh, you did not just go there.” She turned to face him completely, taking me with her.

“I did.” Asher wrapped his arm around my waist from the other side. I was stuck between the two of them with no possible escape in sight. “What you gonna do about it?”

“You just wait, caveman.”

“Waiting…” He raised a brow at her.

“I’m telling Mom—”

“Asher!” Lola shouted as she darted inside. She threw her bag on the dining table and ran right for Asher. I tried to move aside as Belle let go of me, but I didn’t make it in time, and the way Lola wrapped her arm around me and then Asher told me she had no intention of letting me move. She mumbled something, but I couldn’t quite hear her until she pulled back with the biggest grin on her face. “You two look so...happy.” She sighed and placed her hand on her chest. “Don’t they look happy, Brody?”

“Yeah, darlin’, they do.” Brody placed some bags near the door, then moved toward us. “Our son also looks like he needs a shave.”

Belle snorted from behind us, but Asher just grinned and stroked his new beard. “I kinda dig it.”

“You have half of it missing. You can

’t even grow a proper beard.” Belle tugged on it, and Lola batted her away. “What? He can’t. Look.” She prodded his cheek, and Asher growled.

“Stop it, Belle,” Lola said, but her voice was light as if she was used to the back-and-forth between them.

Everyone started talking amongst themselves, Leo took his bag upstairs, and I tried to listen in on everyone’s conversations, but I couldn’t quite get the gist of it until Lola said, “Cade and Aria will be here later tonight.” Her attention moved to Asher. “Why don’t you go out on the lake with Dad and Ford, and we’ll head into town for food supplies?”

Asher glanced over at me from the other side of the counter, his eyes darkening, and I knew he was keeping something from me. I’d felt it the day he’d had the call with his lawyer, but something told me not to push. We’d already confided so much in each other, and I knew when he was ready to tell me whatever was going on, that he would. I had to trust in whatever he was doing.

“I dunno.” He frowned. “I think I’ll go with Elodie and—”

“She’ll be fine with us,” Belle told him. “Right, Elodie?”

“I…” I bit down on my bottom lip. I hadn’t been far away from Asher since the moment we’d left his mom’s house to come to the lake house, and the idea of us being apart had nerves flowing through me at lightning speed. But with an encouraging nod from Lola and a smile from Brody, I told him, “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

His nostrils flared, and I knew he didn’t believe me, but he nodded anyway, resigned to the fact that it wasn’t just him and me any longer. We were surrounded by his family, just when we’d wanted alone time.

ASHER

My heart raced as Dad pulled the boat loaded with roads and supplies away from the dock. I didn’t want to leave Elodie alone, whether she was with other people or not. I could still see the shadow of Elodie through the kitchen window, and the farther away we got from her, the more I regretted agreeing to go out on the boat. Would she be okay? Would she need me? What if something happened, or she remembered something from that night and—

“She’ll be fine.” I turned my head to face Dad, not believing his words. My nostrils flared, and I clenched my hands. Every fiber of my being was telling me to turn the boat around and go back to Elodie. He must have seen the way I felt from my expression because he continued, “Your mom is with her. Nothing will hurt her.”

“Belle’s with her too,” Ford supplied as if I didn’t already know that.

“You don’t get it.” I pushed my shoulders back. “She’s—”

“Strong,” Dad interrupted, his brows raised. He looked cool as a cucumber, and I wondered if it was because he’d worked his entire life as a DEA agent or if it was because he wasn’t worried. “Your mom has been filling me in each night after talking to Elodie.” Dad paused, glanced out onto the open water, and turned the boat a little to head to his favorite spot on the lake. “Which is more than we’ve spoken to you.” His stare didn’t move from mine, and I heard what he was silently getting at. He’d told me to call him after the lawyer had spoken to me, but I hadn’t. I knew if I’d told him, I’d have to lie.

“I’ve been busy.” I shrugged, acting like it was no big deal, but I knew it was. We were a close family—always had been. We never kept secrets, not many anyway. But when we did, it was to protect everyone, which was what I was doing now. I was making sure Elodie survived and came out on the other side without any more scars. I was doing it for her, but they didn’t need to know that, not until it was final, and they couldn’t sway the situation.

Neither Ford nor Dad said anything as we dropped the anchor of the boat into the water. We all worked on automatic, loading our rods with bait and casting out into the water. The air swirled with unsaid things, the tension increasing. I hoped they wouldn’t talk much more, but I should have known better. Dad wasn’t the kind of person to think something and not say anything. He spoke his mind, much like Belle did.

“So…” Ford leaned back and opened a can of beer, his gaze meeting mine. “You gonna tell us, then?”

“Tell you what?” I asked, not moving my attention off the water. I’d spent the last two weeks in an almost impenetrable bubble, but now it had been popped with them turning up out of the blue. They were putting a wrench in the works, and I hated it. I had a plan, one that would mean everyone would be okay. But now they were here and—

“You realize you’re talking to an ex-DEA agent and a current DEA agent, right?” Dad supplied, and I could just imagine what the look on his face was. He was connected, as was Ford, so there was no doubt in my mind now that they’d heard about—