“I’m glad you’re okay, Easton. I… I didn’t know it was you that fell off the truck, but I’m glad you’re okay.”
My heart sank. Her words cut me deep, which they were allowed to do since I cut her deep too. “Are you looking for a place to buy? What are you doing?” I called out after her as she walked back inside the store. Oliver and London stood outside and gave me a look that could only be described as pity. I just wanted to know more about her. What were her plans? What was she interested in? I needed to know. It was a visceral need.
Oliver sauntered up to me, and London went back inside the shop. Oliver hadn’t spoken to me since high school. He was a fierce protector of Luna, and he would always be on her side. “She’d be pissed if she caught me talking to you, and to be honest, I don’t know why I am since I don’t like you all that much.”
Thomas snorted behind me, and I cocked my head over my shoulder to give him a scathing look before he scampered off to the front of the truck like a dog with its tail between its legs.
I kept my mouth shut because I’d learned I was better off saying nothing. Oliver might be the only gay guy in town, and he was happy in his own skin. He wasn’t like other men here, and others had a problem with it. He had a hard time in high school because it was obvious that he was gay, and everyone liked to give him shit for it.
Not me. I didn’t care.
“Listen, you don’t know Luna anymore. She’s not that kid you played chase with. She’s a woman now.”
Yeah, she was. A fucking beautiful woman.
“And I know she still feels for you, that will never change, but she’s ready to move on. She’s staying in town. She’s opening a boutique here. And she’s going to date; I’m going to assume that doesn’t include you.”
“The hell it doesn’t!” I growled at the thought of her being with another man. I was stupid. I knew there had to be men before her coming back to town, but no more. I was going to be her last. “You listen to me, Oliver. I’m not going to go down easy. That woman in there is destined for me, she knows it too.”
His eyes softened around the edges, and he lifted a bright yellow mitten and placed it on my shoulder. His eyes were bluer than mine, brighter, and they were kind as he stared at me, debating on what to say. “She does know it, but she wants nothing to do with it, Easton. She’s determined to forget the past, and that means forgetting you. Luna is stubborn, strong-willed, and once her mind is made up about something, there isn’t much you can do to change that.
” He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was behind him. “I still don’t like you, but if you really want her, don’t give up on her like you did back then.” He started to step away from me, and with a big exhale, he gave me an asymmetrical sad smile and turned around, giving me the view of his sweatpants that said ‘cutie’ on the back in rhinestones.
“Fuck,” I hissed and kicked the back bumper of the truck with my boot, howling in more pain when I ended up hurting myself instead of the truck. I limped around to the passenger side, grumbling under my breath about stupid trucks and stupid pavement and stupid pasts along with stupid mistakes. I slammed my hand against the side of the door and bit my lip to keep from screaming when my wrist twinged.
I just didn’t learn, did I?
With my good foot, I boosted myself up on the step and climbed in the passenger seat. My head hurt, I was positive I broke my tailbone from how much it throbbed, and my wrist screamed at me.
“You look like roadkill, Easton.”
“Shut the hell up and drive back to the station.”
The firetruck rolled forward, inching toward the end of the street where the road led to a burst of trees, and then on the right was the fire station.
“You have some blood dripping down your forehead.” Thomas poked the swollen wound above my right brow, and I hissed, knocking his hand away.
“Ow!” I said with impatience. “You don’t just go poking open wounds, asshole.” I grabbed the hem of my shirt and wiped the blood off my forehead.
“Well, I didn’t know you’d be a little bitch about it,” he teased, and I flipped him off. We ran over a pothole, and it jostled my sore backside.
When we pulled into the fire station, Thomas and I jumped out of the truck at the same time, and I tried to catch all my weight on my good foot since my other one throbbed.
All of the guys came pouring out of the station, including my brother Ethan. Jesus, finally. My twenty-four-hours were up.
About damn time. I felt like I had gone through the wringer, and I hadn’t even put out a fire today.
“Did Ms.Williams cat do that to you?” Ethan’s jab made all the guys laugh.
“Ha-ha, so funny. No, I fell off the truck.”
And of course that only made the guys laugh harder, and Thomas went out of his way to correct me. “No. I slammed on the breaks, and his head hit the truck, then he fell off because Luna Nightingale was looking at a place in town,” he said like a thirteen-year-old boy catching his friend staring at a girl for too long and teasing him about a crush.
All the guys batted their lashes and oohed and awed, giving me shit for losing my focus so easily. No one ever fell off the truck. It was a rookie mistake, and I was no damn rookie. I walked by Ethan, expecting him to give me shit too, but he had his arms crossed defensively and followed my movements without saying a word to me.
Yep. I was fine. Don’t worry about me, big brother.
I could tell whatever pain I felt; he thought I deserved, and I did. So far, Luna had been in town, and I had gotten my ass handed to me twice now.