Garnet (Gems of Wolfe Island)

Luke Johnson stands there, his blond hair covered in a Lakers cap. He casts a gaze around the room…at me. “I see you found her.”

“Yeah. She was out on a jog.”

Luke’s gaze zeroes in on the phone lying on the floor. “Next time, let me know?”

“Fuck, man.”

“What’s he talking about?” I ask Buck.

“Your boyfriend here—”

My jaw drops.

“—was on the phone with me, telling me you’d disappeared. Asking for my help. We got cut off in the middle of our conversation.”

“She returned. Came back.” Buck threads his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah. What the hell was I supposed to think? You claimed she was taken in the middle of the night while you slept in the other room. So when you stopped talking, what the hell did you think would go through my head?”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “You must’ve thought someone attacked Buck.”

“Really?” Buck says. “Don’t you think you would’ve heard jostling or fighting or me cussing someone out who came in to do anything to me?”

“Chill, okay? All I knew was that your woman was missing. Then all of a sudden you were gone. I did what I had to do.”

“Which was run over here and pound on my fucking door?”

“Damn right. I’m in this now. I’m in this for Katelyn. If anything happened to you”—he gestures to me—“she’d lose it.”

“Well, as you can see, we’re fine. So you can go.”

“Buck,” I say, “we should thank him.”

“For what? Interrupting us?”

“For being so concerned. About me. About you.”

Buck grits his teeth. “Fine. Thanks.”

Luke rolls his eyes. “Don’t mention it.”

“Believe me. I won’t.”

“I know what we should do,” I say. “Why don’t the four of us have dinner tonight?”

Both Buck and Luke look at me with arrows flying from their eyes.

“I can see you’re excited about the idea. I’ll call Katelyn and set it all up.”

Their scowls turn into growls.

“Good. That’s great. I’m glad you’re happy about the idea.” I text Katelyn quickly.

“Aspen…” From Buck.

“Look. Katelyn is the closest thing I have to a friend right now, and she would probably say the same about me. So that means you two need to get along.”

Oh my God. Did I just refer to Buck, in a roundabout way, as my boyfriend? Significant other? Fuck buddy?

Well, the latter is at least the truth.

Buck meets my gaze.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…anything.”

“No worries. I guess we’re having dinner together.”

“I guess so,” Luke says. “I’ll be heading out. The next time you ask me for help—”

Buck closes the door before Luke can finish.

“That was a little rude,” I say.

“The guy’s a criminal.”

“Reformed criminal.”

“We got thrown together a couple of times, but I’ll always remember him as the person who hurt my sister.”

I’m not sure what to say to that, so I say nothing. I don’t have any siblings, so I don’t know exactly how Buck is feeling, but I imagine I’d probably feel the same way.

“Katelyn loves him,” I say.

“Yes, I know, and you love Katelyn.”

“I do. She’s my… I don’t know. My person.”

“You’ve been watching too much Grey’s Anatomy.”

“I haven’t been watching anything. On that stupid island all we could watch were 1950s sitcoms.”

He comes toward me then cups my cheek, “God, baby, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I should let you off the hook. I remember the reference from Grey’s Anatomy from years ago. But it describes how I feel about Katelyn.”

He simply nods. “For you, I will put aside my feelings about Lucifer Raven…er…Luke.”

“Thank you.”

“There something else I need to tell you, baby.”

“Of course. What is it?”

43

BUCK

I love you.

The words are lodged in my larynx, and I want so much to say them to her.

Deep inside, I know she’s not ready to hear them, and there’s a big part of me that isn’t ready to say them yet either.

Even though I’m certain of their truth.

“Buck?”

“It’s just… You mean something to me, Aspen. More than just someone I’m protecting.”

She touches my cheek, trails a finger over my lower lip. “You mean something to me too. You’re more than a bodyguard to me.” She steps on her tiptoes and brushes her lips across mine.

Perfect.

We’ll leave it at that for now. She feels something for me. Perhaps it’s not love, but it’s something. And that’s enough. For now.

“You’re my comfort,” she continues. “I feel safe with you.”

Comfort?

I want to be her comfort. But is she feeling like I’m some kind of father figure?

No. Course not. She’s letting me fuck.

God, get out of your own head, Buck.

I kiss her forehead. “I’m glad.”

Good. Leave it at that. But for God’s sake, don’t say anything more, I beg her silently.

She doesn’t, thank God.

Her phone dings. “Oh! Katelyn thinks dinner is a great idea. In fact, she invited us to their place.”

Their place?”

“Apparently, Luke has a house on the beach.”

I resist an eye roll. Of course he does. It’s the same place—

“What time, Buck?”