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He nodded with a chuckle and raised one hand in surrender.
“All right, all right. I can take a hint, sweetheart.”
I bristled atsweetheart, sounding slimy and condescending. He took another bite of peach and swiped the juice away from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Say hi to Tank for me.”
I watched Lars walk out of the shop. As soon as he was gone, I yanked my phone from my back pocket and called Tank. He didn’t pick up. I swore under my breath and furiously jabbed a text.
A friend of yours dropped by. Grade A creep.
In twenty seconds, my phone was ringing.
“What did he say to you?” Tank demanded.
“You go radio silent for three days but now you want details.”
“Jules,” he said, his voice low and gritty.
I bit my tongue at that sound. Tank was holding out on me, probably to protect me. I glanced at Mom with a small smile to let her know everything was fine. Then I slipped out the back door of the shop, heading off into the orchard.
“Tank, what the hell is going on?”
He sighed and when he spoke again, he sounded very, very tired.
“Just tell me what happened. Word for word. Don’t leave anything out.”
I shifted in place, chewing on my lower lip.
“His name was Lars.”
Muffled on the other end of the line, Tank swore. But he didn’t interrupt and let me continue.
“He chatted me up for a bit. Talking about my family’s business. He made some comment about…the fruit trees. About how they could go up in flames in this summer heat.”
Tank remained silent for several long seconds. I waited, granting him time to sort himself out. At last, he spoke.
“He was the guy who nearly ran us over on the road the other day.”
Now that Tank mentioned it, I remembered Lars’ face and his manic grin as he howled.
“You have history with him,” I said.
“Yes,” Tank ground out. “He’s sending me a message. I used to work for him. Right after the Marines. I didn’t…I was lost. I was spiraling and Lars took advantage of that. I swear, I left that life behind years ago and haven’t looked back since.”
I sighed, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“Is that why you haven’t been returning my calls or texts? To keep me out of it?”
“I thought it was better if you weren’t around me.”
I tipped my head back. God, this wasn’t fair. I finally found a man – a good man – who was kind and charming and hot as hell. But getting involved with him was tricky, dangerous.
“Well, it looks like the damage is already done,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Jules. You and your family should pack up. Head somewhere else for a week or two until I can clear up this bullshit with Lars.”
I shook my head. “No.”
