Page 122 of Let the Light Shine Through

“Baby?” I look at Gia. “What’s wrong?” I don’t even beat around the bush. Something is wrong, and I need to know what. Now.

Gia spins on her heel, retreating to the garage at the back of the property.

Here’s where my skills come in clutch.

I catch up to her in three strides, blocking her path. She tries to dart around me, but I move with her, planting my feet and grabbing her shoulders.

“What’s wrong?”

She lifts her shoulders, knocking my hands away.

“Nothing. We’re going riding, Roz. I didn’t know I needed your permission.”

“You don’t.” She knows I don’t care if she goes riding. I care that she’s hiding something from me though. “Why are you acting like this?” I ask, looking between her eyes.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re scared.” Gia’s fearless most of the time, so when she’s scared, she gets angry because she’s not used to the feeling. It’s foreign, and she doesn’t like it.

What has her scared?

There’s a flicker. The tiniest trace of emotion crosses her face before she’s moving again, skirting around me and throwing over her shoulder, “I can’t with this. You’re so clingy.”

Rowdy stands in the bed of Gia’s truck, towering over the scene. His hands toy with the straps as he watches on, but that emotion she just let through, it’s written across Rowdy’s face now, too.

My chest grows even tighter.

“What’s wrong?” I yell out to him. Somebody better start talking, and since she’s refusing, I’ll get her sidekick to. I don’t care what I have to do.

“Rowdy, don’t!” I hear behind me, followed by the absence of crunching rocks under Gia’s feet.

“Tell me,” I say quieter, knowing damn well I don’t need to raise my voice, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t and Gia doesn’t either.

I had a best friend once and he would’ve sold me out long before now.

If I didn’t love Gia so much, I’d hate Rowdy. He gets the uncensored version of Gia; he gets to be there for her in ways she won’t let anybody, not even me, and he keeps his mouth shut tight while doing it. He’s the kind of friend that’d help bury a body.

Hell, he’s doing it right now.

“I know about the dermatologist,” I say, turning to face Gia. “I know you were there last week.”

Tings from birds pecking at seeds from Vita’s birdfeeders fill the silence.

“New Year’s Eve is our craziest time.” Gia’s voice comes out smooth, too smooth, and she keeps her gaze trained on my feet, hiding the real emotion. “One New Year’s, it was fucking insane, and I got sidetracked somehow when I was reaching in to grab a pan out of the oven without a glove on. I didn’t even realize my mistake until I heard the pan clatter to the floor across the room.” She swallows, dragging her eyes up to mine. “My brain sensed the danger before my body even felt the pain and acted fast enough to save me from permanent damage.”

With her palms turned out to me, I quickly scan both.

“There’s no scars.”

“Mistakes don’t need visible reminders for the lesson to stick.”

“Gia.” I take a step in her direction. “I won’t hurt you. I promise. Fuck, I swear. I love you.”

“You’re not the pan, Roz!”

Colorful leaves swirl at her feet like a tornado building, and when she looks at me, her eyes fucking raging, she shifts from being the eye to the eyewall—the most dangerous part.

“You’re the one that’s too distracted to realize what you’re getting into, so I’m stepping in to save you before you can get hurt any worse.”