I frown.“What kind of red flags?”
“Forget it.”
I grab his chin once more and force him to look at me.“Something’s bugging you.Talk to me.”His hesitation only feeds my persistence.“Tell me,” I push.
“Look, this is, this is…I don’t want to drag you into anything you shouldn’t be in.”
Something I shouldn’t be in?I feel like I fell asleep in my bed and woke up on a completely different timeline.With secrets and hidden codes and alternate realities.He doesn’t want to drag me into anything I shouldn’t be in?What does that even mean?“Are you in it?”I ask.“Whatever thisitis?”
His head dips.
“Then, so am I,” I murmur.
“June—”
“You’re not alone, Ford.I’m here.And I know that might not seem like much, but?—”
“Trust me, it means more than you know.”Grasping my hand from his chin, he brings my palm to his lips and kisses it.The simple touch melts my reservations, and I sag into him a little more.“You sure you want to open Pandora’s box?”he asks.
“If it means it’ll get you to open up to me, then, yes.”I rest my back against the headboard.“Now, spill.”
The sheets rustle as he moves to get comfortable until I find us sitting side by side with our backs pressed to the headboard.I wait with bated breath for him to speak.To tell me what’s going on.Whatever it is, whatever he’s nervous to talk to me about, it feels like a doozy.And if I were talking to anyone else, I’d probably let them get away with their silence, preferring to stick my head in the sand.But with Ford?I want every piece of him.The good, the bad, and the ugly.So, if it means prying the man open a little here and there, I have no problem doing it.
“The house fire,” he finally starts.“We have reason to believe it was arson, so we asked around for some information about Lexie’s brother, and?—”
I gasp.
“It wasn’t him,” he clarifies.“We thought it was, but it wasn’t.”
My brows dip.“Then, who could it be?”
Taking my hand, he places it in his lap facing palm-side up before gently tickling the inside of my wrist.It feels good.Amazing.My skin pebbles at the contact, and I rest my temple against his shoulder, soaking up the innocent touch until he’s ready to talk.To open up.To let me in.“That’s the thing,” he murmurs.“We think it had something to do with Bryan.”
Confusion courses through my system, and I lift my head.“Bryan?My Bryan?”
He growls.
“Sorry,” I rush out.“I just mean…” My frown deepens.“Why would Bryan light your house on fire?”
His fingers toy with the skin along the inside of my wrist.“Excellent question.”
And kind of a ridiculous one.I shake my head.“Ford, we weren’t that close.”
“I know,” he concedes.
“Then why would Bryan light your house on fire?”
“Did Bryan ever…” He stares at my bedroom wall, lost in his own thoughts.“Did he ever, I don’t know, did he ever mention if he knew my dad or anything?”
“They met once,” I answer.“At the, uh, at the chili cook-off, and then, I think once before?”My forehead wrinkles as I try to pinpoint the specifics.“At the auction,” I answer.“I guess that makes two times that I know of.Why?”
“Did anything feel off to you?”Ford asks.
“Um, your dad was acting kind of strange, but I don’t really know him well enough to say whether or not it was anything different than normal.”
“And Bryan?”
“I think he was kind of awestruck.He didn’t grow up with a lot of money.Even when we were dating, we’d always split the check, and I know he still pays for a lot of his mom’s bills and things like that.I’m pretty sure he even paid for his little sister’s dental appointment when we first met, so when we ran into your dad at the cook-off, it was like he was meeting a celebrity, you know?”
