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“Riven.” Parrish launched himself at me, grabbing my arm, but I jerked it away and kept going. “Would you wait a minute? Jesus, you’re still the same hothead you’ve always been. Let me explain.”
“Stay away from me, and stay away from my grandma.”
I’d just gotten to my truck and pulled the door open when I heard, “Everything okay?” Smitty had come out of the work trailer and was walking toward us. I’d forgotten he was still there.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Parrish told him, but it wasn’t fine at all. The interruption was just the distraction I needed to get into my truck, slam the door closed, and pull away.
Parrish stood there watching me go, shaking his head, and for a reason I couldn’t understand, making me feel like a disappointment.
*
I’d already taken my shower and was sitting on the cement slab outside my apartment, smoking a cigarette, which I had been doing a lot more lately, when I heard wheels crunching on gravel.
Before the white Ford cleared the trees, I knew it was going to be Parrish.
I watched as he pulled up, muscles in my jaw clenching in frustration. He took long steps over to me, jeans fitting his muscular legs. He was wearing a black T-shirt that hugged his chest and biceps in all the right ways. His blond hair was messy, as always, but his jawline was sharper than I remembered. He’d changed since I went inside, was more confident, and damned if he wasn’t sexier too. Not that I would do anything about my attraction to him.
I took the last drag of my smoke and dropped it into the ashtray I kept on the porch. It might only be a garage apartment, but I wasn’t going to smoke inside because honestly, I hated the smell. I also didn’t want to disrespect my grandma, who hated the habit.
Standing, I let out a long breath. Some of my anger from earlier had dissipated, but now I was left exhausted. I was so tired of this shit already—of this life and all the drama that was always around me. “Why won’t your family just leave me alone? That’s all I want. Leave me alone so I can do what I need to do to get myself and my grandma out of here.”
His eyes softened, weariness clinging to him, and for the first time, I realized how exhausted Parrish looked too. “I didn’t know,” was all he said.
“Didn’t know what?”
“That you didn’t do it…that it was Rex. Christ, Riv. Why in the hell would you take the blame and go to prison—”
I lurched toward him and pressed my hand over his mouth. “Shut up. Don’t say that shit here. Don’t say it at all.”
My gaze darted to Grandma’s house. She thought I’d done it too. If she’d known I hadn’t, she never would have gone along with the plan, and if she ever found out, nothing would keep her mouth closed about it either. She would end up getting herself killed.
“Get in the apartment,” I said, since I was certain Parrish wouldn’t leave. He seemed to have changed into a stubborn motherfucker, but also, now that he’d said that, I wanted details. I’d assumed he’d known.
He nodded. My hand slid off him, but I realized how close we were, our bodies tight against each other, muscle against muscle, warm to the touch, and he smelled like cologne and freshly cut trees.
I jerked away and went for the door. Parrish followed, closing it behind him.
“She doesn’t know a thing. Don’t tell them she does.”
His pupils widened as if he was surprised by that, or maybe by the fear in my voice. He dropped his head back and sighed. “My fucking family,” whispered quietly past his lips before he looked at me again. “I would never tell them. I wouldn’t put her or anyone else in danger.”
I huffed out a humorless laugh. “You’re the one who admitted you’re supposed to be keeping an eye on me.”
“Yeah, and why would I have told you if I planned to do it?”
“I don’t know. Some reverse-psychology shit. Pretending you’re the nice guy when you’re just like them.”
“I’m nothing like them,” he seethed, real anger in the tension of his muscles. “I hate everything about them. Christ, Riven. Why would you go to prison for someone like Rex? He doesn’t deserve that kind of loyalty!”
“Why the hell do you think?” I pointed toward the house next door.
“Yeah, but it was your word against theirs. Who the hell was going to believe Rex Hunt?”
I shook my head, then adjusted the backward ball cap I wore. “You’re still so naive. I’m not any better than Rex to most people in this town. Not only that, but you remember where this happened, right? Whose bar I was at? Who do you think was going to say they witnessed the whole thing?”
