Page 13 of Fastlander Fighter

“Your eyes,” she said, gesturing to his face.

“Oh…” He cleared his throat and ducked his gaze to the gravel. “The animal gets worked up easy now.”

“So some things don’t change after all,” she teased.

“Yeah, about all that…”

She frowned, confused by his serious tone. “About what?”

“Homecoming night—”

“Oh my gosh, we don’t have to talk about that,” she said, realizing where his head was at. “Really. It’s not something I need to revisit.”

“Yeah, but I do. I was a dick after what happened.”

Sloane pursed her lips against the urge to ask him to please change the subject. He seemed to need to have a say.

“I freaked out. It was my first time losing control like that, and you saw it. I remember the look on your face when you saw the bear, and I…” He shook his head and rolled it back, looked up at the sky, then back at her. “I hated you for seeing me like that, and for looking at me like that. At least that’s what I thought it was. It wasn’t hate though. I was embarrassed. Ashamed. I’m sorry.”

Okay, she’d been wrong. She had needed the closure on that. It felt good to have the conversation instead of avoiding it.

She forced a smile. “You know, I wasn’t disgusted. Just scared. I’d never seen anything like that, and I didn’t know what it was like for you. It looked so painful, and then the bear was enormous and I thought you would…would…”

“I would what?”

“Kill me or hurt me. I don’t know. There wasn’t as much information available to us humans back then.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged up a massive shoulder and scratched the back of his hair. “I don’t regret things on principle. No point. I am what I am, but I don’t get a good feeling when I think back on that night. When you showed up here the other day, I felt that shame again.”

“You never talked to me after I saw your bear,” she said softly.

“I wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened.”

“Okay, but by Monday I had tried to call you, and text you. I’d had time to process and had worked through my feelings on it, and you pretended I didn’t exist anymore.”

“I know.”

“For three years,” she uttered. “I would try to say hi—”

“I know.” He cracked his knuckles and then shoved his hands back into his pockets. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I was a stupid kid, and I wish I would’ve handled it differently.”

“I have an admission,” she said, determined to lighten the mood again.

“Admit away.”

“That was my first date.”

Captain’s face went slack. “No.”

“First date ever.”

“Shit,” he whispered, hanging his head. “Well, it was a memorable one, I’m sure.”

She laughed and nodded. “I was so nervous about going to homecoming with you. I’d had such a crush, and the football game had been so fun with you. I remember you bought us nachos to share, and you wouldn’t let me pay for my soda, and you opened your truck door for me. You were such a gentleman.”

“Until I wasn’t.”

“Hindsight, we should’ve made a smarter decision than drinking a bottle of peach schnapps at a field party.”

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