His warning raises goosebumps on my skin and sends a shiver down my spine. “I know that. A deadly one. Believe me, I’m well the fuck aware.”
“Then leave it alone.” There’s a plea in his voice. “They’ll get what’s coming to them eventually.”
“Will they?” I walk to the windows of my apartment that overlook Main Street and stare down at our tiny town on the mountain—the families walking along the sidewalks, the children playing in the park, happy people completely oblivious to how easily it could all evaporate in a hail of gunfire. I lean my forehead against the glass. “McBride Mountain is a quiet place, a safe place, the type of town where no one locks their doors because they don’t need to, where everyone has each other’s backs and looks out for each other. All that changed that night.”
He releases another sigh. “I know it did. All of us changed that night.”
“I have to do something to fix it.”
“It isn’t yours to fix.”
I pull away from the glass, my body tensing with his words. “Then who else is going to do it? Who else is going to put things back the way they’re supposed to be? You sure haven’t.”
He’s quiet for a moment.
And…fuck…
I may have gone too far in flat-out calling him out like that, but my frustration with the entire situation reached a boiling point long ago. The pot is no longer big enough to keep it from spilling over.
“Miss Perry, the more you pick and probe, the worse it will end up…”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll drown all the hornets and put the rabid dogs down.”
I end the call that had nowhere left to go and put the phone in my pocket as a familiar truck pulls down Main Street, heading toward the one stop sign and the road that will lead around the mountain and up to the McBride homestead.
Connor.
I’ve managed to avoid him since our run in at the bakery the other day, but it left me more rattled than I would ever admit to anyone else. Especially Willow or Lucky.
It’s so hard to see him like this when I remember what he was like twenty years ago, when we were in school, when he was the big, shy, quiet guy all the girls had a crush on.
Before he became an asshole.
Before he became a fucking grump.
Before he became so aggressive and volatile.
Now that’s all I can see; the new Connor, not the old one.
I hope he doesn’t stay very long.
For everyone’s sake.
CONNOR
Flames crackle and pop in the bonfire pit on the homestead, sending sparks drifting into the sky over McBride Mountain. I lean back in one of the Adirondack chairs Liam built and follow those tiny specks of light up until they blend in with all the twinkling stars against the sea of black.
It’s so crystal-clear tonight that I can see everything.
All the constellations Mom used to point out and explain to us as we sat out here roasting marshmallows as kids are laid out before me like a page out of an astronomy book.
Pegasus, Hercules, the Big and Little Dippers, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila, plus so many more. Even Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter glow brightly tonight.
It’s beautiful.
This is why people come here—to experience this. A perfect night under a perfect sky with nothing but the glory of nature as a companion.
The same quiet stillness that usually consumes the homestead settles over me. It should be comforting. It might be to anyone else. Instead, my body tenses, almost painfully. Because it’s impossible for me to truly relax anymore.
