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“Yeah, sorry.” I kicked off my sweats, but I still didn’t feel any better. If anything, the ache between my legs only intensified. “Just trying to get comfortable.”
“Oh yeah?” His voice dropped, getting deeper and husky, making me shiver. “How?”
“I just kicked off my sweat pants.” I heard him groan, which made me laugh softly. “Don’t get too excited. I still have on my ratty old T-shirt I’ve had since I was, like, thirteen.”
“I need to give you a new one, then. One of mine. Yeah, I like that idea. I’ll bring you one tomorrow,” he promised.
A knock on my door had me jerking upright. From the heaviness of it, I knew it was most likely my dad. I glanced down at my phone, guilt pouring over me like a bucket of ice water. “Lexa?” Dad called through the door. “You got a minute?”
“Yeah, Dad. Just a sec.” Lifting the phone to my ear, I grabbed my sweats and pulled them back on one-handed. “I have to go,” I whispered. “Don’t call back.”
“Lex—”
I hung up before he could even finish my name and cleared his number from my phone in a moment of paranoia. Dad wouldn’t look at my phone, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I’d loved talking to Ben, but even that much contact with him was risky.
Hiding my phone under my pillow, I jumped out of bed and ran to the door. Opening it, I faced Dad. There was a hint of tequila on his breath, telling me he’d been at Hannigans’ all evening. After what Mom confessed to me earlier, I didn’t blame him for needing a drink. I kind of needed one too.
His eyes, so like my own, scanned over me as if he expected to find something wrong with me. And maybe they were a little suspicious, but that particular emotion was gone so quickly, I was sure I had imagined it.
I could only imagine how I looked. My cheeks felt hot with the shame that was trying to consume me. I felt like a fucking traitor.
“Everything okay, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice soft and concerned.
“Y-yeah,” I lied, nodding. “It’s just…everything.”
Ice-blue eyes darkened with pain. “Can I come in for a minute?”
I stepped back, letting him enter my bedroom. When he walked over to my window, I shut the door and turned to face him, waiting.
“Mom said she told you. How are you taking it?”
I wrapped my arms around myself, mentally telling myself not to cry. “I don’t want to believe it. Is there a scarier word than ‘cancer’? Because I’ll be honest with you, Dad, I’m terrified right now.”
He clenched his jaw, and I saw his throat work a few times before he finally nodded. “I know, Lexa. I’m pretty scared myself. Your mom is…everything to me. But we’re going to fight this. You don’t have to worry. We’re not going to lose her.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” I whispered. “You’re not God.”
“No, but I know Raven, and I know that she is nothing if not a fighter. No matter what happens, she’s going to fight this until her last breath. She won’t give up. That’s how I know we won’t lose her.”
The strength and conviction in his voice gave me hope. Maybe we wouldn’t lose Mom to this damned disease. I started to relax a little, some of the strain over Mom’s illness leaving my muscles.
“Spider mentioned something to me this evening.”
Oh fuck. Here it comes.
“About?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual, while inside, I was a quaking mess. I could feel a change in the air of the room. It felt charged and dangerous, and I didn’t know how to react to that. I knew Dad would never hurt me, but that wasn’t what I was worried about.
“Is the new sheriff giving you a problem, Lexa?” he demanded, crossing his arms over his massive chest, the softness leaving his voice.
“No, of course not,” I half exclaimed. “Why would you think that?”
“Because Spider said he walked up on the two of you in Aggie’s parking lot, and you were upset about something. He told me fucking Davis had his hands on you.” He was seething now, and my heart started pounding. “Now, tell me honestly. Was he giving you a hard time?”
“No! He carried the food to my car. That’s all.”
“Lexa, don’t lie to me,” he bellowed, and I couldn’t help but flinch. He didn’t yell at me like that. My brother, sure. Max was always getting into trouble. But never me. “If he didn’t have an issue with you, then something is going on between you two. Gracie called Hawk at the bar and said she heard he bought you dinner tonight at Patty’s. So, I’m going to give you one more chance here, little girl. What is going on with you and the sheriff?”
Panic tried to choke me, but I fought it down. “Nothing!” I cried. “He wants there to be something, but I told him no. Repeatedly. I’m not an idiot! He’s a cop. The damn sheriff, for fuck’s sake. I know nothing can happen between him and me.”
