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, so I decide to keep her smiling by being a little brash. That always seems to get a reaction out of her.
I grin wickedly. “You and me fucking, of course.”
She smacks me playfully on the chest. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
I chuckle. “I’m joking . . . partly. But in all seriousness, we need to get out of here. Wouldn’t want your dad or grandmother to catch us.”
She glances over to the clock on the dashboard. “It’s nearly eleven. They’ve both probably been in bed for at least an hour now, so I doubt they’ve noticed us.”
I smile. “All the same, I wouldn’t want to explain to your father what we were doing in the barn. No father wants to find out the handyman he hired is fooling around with his daughter practically under his nose. No need to get him upset.”
“Agreed,” she answers. “I’m ready to head back to town when you are.”
It takes us less than fifteen minutes to get back to town, where we swing through a local drive-through to grab a couple milkshakes, and then head back to Blake’s place. His parties never stop on the weekend. There’s not really a good bar for everyone to hang out at, so Blake’s place has become the unofficial party spot for anyone close to our age.
When I park next to the curb, the first thing I spot is a crowd of people hanging out on the porch, which is typical for one of Blake’s parties. The party tends to grow throughout the night.
I take Avery’s hand and lead her back inside. The crowd in here is insane and there’re more people in here than usual. This might as well be a dance club instead of Blake’s house. These parties are the reason I refuse to be his roommate. I couldn’t handle people taking over my home like this every weekend, but Blake thrives on it. He loves that people come here for this.
Blake tips his chin up when he notices us in the room. “You two get your fucking out of the way so you can actually hang out now?”
All the guys burst out laughing, and I can’t even be mad at them. It was pretty obvious to everyone what we were doing based on the way I carried Avery out of here earlier, so it’s natural that they’d give me shit about it.
I take their good-natured teasing in stride. I hook my arm around Avery’s shoulders and pull her in tight against me. “Have you seen my girl?” I look down at her and grin. “She’s beautiful. How can you expect me to resist her?”
Blake shakes his head and laughs. “Whatever, dude. She’s hot. We all get it. You don’t have to keep rubbing it in my face that I’ll never have a shot at her. Unless . . .” He wiggles his eyebrows at Avery. “. . . she’s into more than one guy at a time.”
Avery wraps her arm around my waist and nuzzles into my side. “Sorry, Blake. I’m a one- man kind of girl.”
It warms my heart knowing that this beautiful woman is with me.
I pull Avery in close and kiss her lips. “My girl. I like the sound of that.”
She grins up at me, and just like that, I know I am such a goner for this woman.
We spend the rest of the night playing beer pong with Blake since that’s the game of choice for him. When he beats us, he does a victory lap around the house and cheers, but then pouts like a baby when we win a game. I can tell Avery is having a lot of fun. It means a lot that Avery and Blake get along so well. Blake’s been a really good friend to me and he was there when I lost my dad, so his opinion of any girl I date is important.
Avery lays the ping-pong ball down on the table and congratulates Blake on his victory before turning to me. “You ready? I need to get up early and clean the stalls.”
I kiss the tip of her nose. “Let’s go.”
As we drive toward her house, Avery unbuckles her seatbelt and then slides next to me inside the cab of my truck. She lays her head on my shoulder and I pat her thigh. I’m really loving just being with her, and it’s going to be difficult to leave her.
Rounding the corner down the dark country road brings a slew of flashing lights into view. My heart pounds in my chest the moment my eyes take in the situation. There’re only a few houses on this stretch of road and Avery’s grandmother’s house is the one with all the commotion. The thick lines of trees in the heavily wooded front portion of the property prevent us from seeing what’s going on until we get closer. I park beside the police barricade, and the raging fire on the other side of the trees comes into view.
“Oh, my God!” Avery screams as she jumps out of the truck and runs toward the driveway.
“Avery, wait!” I fling open my door and chase her—a million things going through my mind—and panic floods me.
Avery’s met by a line of police officers blocking the driveway. She pushes forward while screaming “that’s my house” over and over, trying her best to break free. It’s then my eyes flick up the driveway and land on a horrific scene. The barn is engulfed in flames, completely unrecognizable, and the house just next to it has flames shooting up from its roof.
How the fuck did this happen? Things were fine when we were here a couple of hours ago. How could . . .
I stop myself in that thought as I retrace the last time we were here. The lantern in the barn—I don’t remember turning it off. My mouth gapes open and my heart squeezes inside my chest.
This is all my fault—the fire—all of it. I was so caught up in fucking Avery that I left that fucking lantern going in a loft full of straw. I can’t believe I was so careless.
It takes everything in me to not drop to my knees behind a frantic Avery, so instead I stare up at the sky. This is a message from my father. A warning that I broke a promise to him the second I started fucking around. My head spins. While Avery and I were alone in that barn, my musical ambitions were the last thing on my mind. She was my entire focus—not my future.
