She didn’t wait for his response. He probably wouldn’t give her one, anyway. She walked down the steps with her head high, feeling Joy’s eyes on her back like physical pressure between her shoulder blades.
Atlas was waiting at the door when she let herself in, his tail wagging slowly, his amber eyes studying her face with canine concern. She dropped to her knees and buried her face in his fur, breathing in the familiar scent of him.
“I’m okay,” she told him, though her voice sounded strange to her own ears. “I’m fine.”
She wasn’t fine. She was the opposite of fine. Her whole body was still humming from Bear’s touch, from the way he’d lifted her like she weighed nothing, from the rough demand of his mouth on hers. She could still feel the heat of him against her, the solid wall of his chest, the way his heart had hammered against hers.
She pushed herself up from the floor and went to the kitchen window. Bear was still on his porch, but he’d turned away, one hand braced against the railing, his shoulders hunched. Even from this distance, she could read the tension in his body.
Her phone buzzed on the counter. She picked it up without looking.
“Hello?”
“Greta.” Daniel Goodwin’s voice came through the line, smooth as butter. “I was thinking about you.”
She closed her eyes. “Daniel.”
“I know you said you were fine, but I wanted to double-check.” A pause. “You don’t sound fine.”
“I’m busy, actually.” She watched as Bear straightened and went inside his house, the door closing behind him with finality. “Can I call you back?”
“Of course.” His voice softened. “Just remember what I said. If you need anything...”
“I’ll call.”
She ended the connection and set the phone down. She stared at her phone, then at Bear’s closed door across the street. Her lips still tingled, her body still hummed with the memory of his hands on her. And now Daniel’s voice was in her head, smooth and concerned in a way that made her skin crawl.
She crossed to the sink and filled a glass with cold water. Drank it down in three long gulps. The water did nothing to cool the heat still radiating through her body.
Daniel had called twice in one morning. That wasn’t normal. Not even for him, with his persistent interest that bordered on obsession. She thought about what he’d said—that he’d heard about the break-in. But the break-in hadn’t been reported in the paper. The sheriff’s office had taken her statement, but Hank had made it clear they weren’t treating it as anything more than vandalism. As far as she knew, the news hadn’t made it through the Solace rumor mill yet.
So how had Daniel known?
Either his brother Hank had told him, or…
Her brain stalled out on a sudden thought, and she set the glass down hard.
Daniel had been asking her out for months, and she’d turned him down every time. He’d taken the rejections with that charming smile, but there had always been something in his eyes that made her uneasy. Something that said he wasn’t used to hearing no.
And then there was the timing. He was right there after her tires were slashed. If Bear hadn’t been at Summit with her when they found it destroyed, would he have shown up there, too?
She had a sinking feeling the answer to that was a solid yes.
She picked up her phone and scrolled to her call log. Daniel’s number stared back at her. She should call him back, feel him out, see what he knew. But her hands were shaking.
What if… it was all him?
Nobody would believe her. The Goodwins had run this town for generations. The entire family had their fingers in every pie, their hands on every lever of power.
What if he was watching now?
She looked at the phone. Then at the front door. Then at the curtains, pushed open to let in the light.
She crossed the kitchen and pulled them shut.
twelve
Logan sat at the end of the lunch table with his sandwich half-eaten and one earbud in. He had been eating alone since day one at Solace High, and it was fine. Trays clattered, sneakers squeaked, kids talked and laughed. He could disappear into all of it if he didn’t look up.
