Deep Burn (Burned Duet 2)

The tense atmosphere started to lift, and I felt bad for the way I’d reacted. But it was because I was keeping a secret from him—from all of them—a secret I refused to reveal. Without using what happened to Elodie and the circumstances surrounding the assault, I knew I didn’t have a case. There were witnesses. Witnesses who were police officers. But I was still willing to take the chance to make sure Elodie was protected.

“Can we just drop all of this?” I pushed my hand through my hair and ran my palm down my face. “Let’s just celebrate Thanksgiving and forget about everything hanging over our heads.”

Dad stared at me, his dark eyes not giving anything away until the last second as he said, “We can do that.”

“Good.”

“Good,” Ford echoed. “Can we go drink beer now? I have two days off, and I want to make the most of them.”

“I’m gonna go—”

“Find Elodie,” Ford finished for me. He slapped his hand on my back, giving me a knowing look. He understood what it was like to want to protect the person you loved. They all did.

Which was why I knew they’d understand when this was all over.

Chapter Nine

ELODIE

The only Thanksgiving dinner I could remember was the same year my dad had left. We’d had chicken instead of turkey and a single side of fake mashed potatoes. Our plates had been balanced on our laps as we sat on the sofa, and for a few minutes, we were happy. I didn’t like to think about what happened after those few minutes. I didn’t want to remember how my mom had thrown her plate across the room, missing my dad’s face by inches. I didn’t want to remember how she stormed out of the trailer and didn’t come back for several days. Because for those few minutes, we were the average American family sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner.

But I was realizing now that we were never that, no matter how much I tried to pretend we were. What happened in this lake house was what a real American family was like. Everybody was in the kitchen and out on the deck. Lola and Belle were sitting at the table peeling potatoes, Brody was basting the huge turkey, and everyone else was laughing and having fun.

Then there was me, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching them all, and grieving for the family I’d never had. I’d never been surrounded by this much happiness, and even though part of me wished I had been, the other part of me knew I wouldn’t be who I was today if I’d had this.

I’d dragged myself through my short life. I’d clawed my way up to where I was. But it was at that moment I understood everything I’d fought for had been for a reason. Fate had set me on this path, but I couldn’t help wonder if I’d maybe taken a wrong turn somewhere. Maybe I’d veered into someone else’s lane and gotten all of their bad juju too. Or maybe I was exactly where I should have been.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and took a step back. A floorboard squeaked under my foot, alerting Lola and Belle.

“You’re awake!” Belle pushed her chair back and stood with a huge smile on her face. “You hungry?”

I shook my head and placed my hand over my stomach. I was hungry, but I didn’t think I could manage any food, not with all the emotions running through me. I hadn’t celebrated this day for over a decade, and now I was placed smack-bang in the middle of it.

“Come on, you must be hungry.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the table. “Ford went into town this morning and bought fresh pastries.” She groaned. “You can’t beat the fresh pastries here.” I agreed because I’d never tasted anything like them before. “Here.” She placed a plate with three pastries in front of me, then pulled out the chair she’d been sitting on. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” I whispered, looking around for Asher as I sat down. Leo and Ford were on the deck with Cade and Aria, but Asher wasn’t anywhere in sight. My heart started to race, and I tried my hardest to keep calm. I’d spent two hours without him yesterday, and although I hadn’t told Asher, I’d missed him.

“He’s down by his tree,” Lola whispered. I turned to face her, seeing her knowing expression. “Why don’t you go on down to him?”

“I…” I could have told her I wasn’t thinking about Asher, that I hadn’t been looking for him, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to be near him as much as I could, and it wasn’t because I was scared. I just…wanted to be with him. I stood slowly, picking the untouched pastries up off the plate as I went, then headed outside.

I flashed Leo and Ford a smile and wave, then spotted Asher sitting in front of the tree at the edge of the lake, his face turned toward the sky. I wondered what he was thinking about. Whatever it was had his brows furrowing and his body tense.

I ambled down the walkway, keeping my gaze fixated on him. His arms hung over his jean-clad knees, his hair sticking up in several directions. He’d been running his hand through it, that much was obvious. The stones at the edge of the lake dug into the soles of my feet, so I scampered across them to get to him faster.

His head whipped around, his lips turning from a straight line into a smile as his gaze met mine. “Hey,” he whispered, his voice deep.

“Hey.” I stood awkwardly for a second, not sure what to say. “I brought you some breakfast.” I was nervous, but I had no idea why. Maybe it was because we were surrounded by other people, or maybe it was because we hadn’t been alone properly since the kiss yesterday morning.

“Thanks.” He shuffled away from the tree and patted the small grassed area next to him. “Take a seat.” I lowered down next to him and stared out at the lake while taking nibbles of one of the pastries. I could still hear the laughter from the deck of the lake house, and my stomach dipped. I’d only been around the entire family at the cookout, and I knew they were all aware of what had happened that very same night. But not one of them looked at me differently—at least, I hadn’t noticed if they had. I’d been exhausted last night, so I’d gone to bed early, and when I woke up this morning, Asher was gone, and their voices could be heard through the floorboards.

“It’s a lot, huh?”

“What?”

Asher tilted his head toward the back of the house. “The entire fam.” He glanced over at the house, and I turned to look too. Everyone was out on the deck now, and from the way their heads quickly turned, they’d been watching us. Asher chuckled, stood, then held his hand out to me. “Let’s go for a walk.”

I stared down at my bare feet. “I don’t have shoes.”