Page 94 of Set Me On Fire

“Thank you for coming,” I said, and that smile widened just a little.

“Get home safe.” A sweeter, more chaste kiss was pressed to my forehead before he turned to Noah. “Make sure she does.”

“You got it,” Noah replied, opening my door with a flourish.

“I can drive?—”

“Of course, you can,” Noah said, ushering me in. “And you can also let me do this.”

I got into the car without further complaint, but the air inside felt charged the moment he sat in the driver’s seat. It wasn’t just him having to adjust it backwards to fit his long legs, or the fact he seemed to dominate my little hatchback. My eyes followed his every movement hungrily, because it wasn’t hard to imagine. That we were still kids, that he was dropping me home after school, or maybe going to some place to make out, away from parents’ prying eyes. He caught me staring and shot me a shy sidelong look before turning the key in the ignition.

“Are you tired?” I was until he said those words. “Did you want to go straight home?”

My bed was calling me. Him too, if he was interested. I hadn’t really considered the prospect of having an emotional or sexual relationship with any of the guys, but him telling me he wanted to take me out on a date made clear that he had.

“What did you have in mind?”

That came out lower, huskier, than I had intended and he smiled as a result.

“Somewhere close. Somewhere familiar.”

“School?” He shook his head and eased the car out onto the road. “The park? The beach?”

“You’ll see.”

That’s all he would say, no matter how many possible destinations I came up with, driving down this street and that, until we came to a stop.

“Here?”I looked around me, seeing the open field left empty due to a massive communication tower being built in the middle of it. My door was open and there he was, offering me his hand. “Noah…”

I knew this place by the rusting barbed wire fence, broken down over the years by teenagers jumping over it. No need to do that now, we stepped through a gap and onto the grass. It was kept mown short around the tower, but as we walked further in, the grass grew taller and so did the trees. This place wasn’t that quiet the night of the party. Fire flickered through the trees, luring you closer. Now, our pathway was lit only by the thin beam of light emitted by Noah’s phone.

“If you wanted to take me out here and murder me, you should’ve made sure there were less witnesses.”

He snorted and then came to a stop, what light there was caressing his face. It picked out the stark bone structure, making it even more angular, his hazel eyes dark and mysterious.

There was always something boyish about Noah. It’s what attracted me to him at school. Other guys pimp-rolled down the halls, trying to be a big man, but he was just himself. As he stepped closer, though, it became far more obvious that the boy was gone. His hand was large, strong, as it reached for me. He stroked my hair, then tugged me closer and I came willingly.

“Not murder,” he replied in a low hush of a voice. The breeze playing through the trees threatened to whisk it away before I could hear what he was saying. “Though something has to die.”

“So, saying ominous shit like that to a woman in a dark field is really not OK—” I started to splutter, but he moved forward.

His hands were everywhere, in my hair, sliding down my neck and then dipping to my waist, closing what was left of the gap between us. His lips followed. I could hear him just fine now, the noisy rasp of his breath drowning out the hum of the road and the whistle of the wind. Right now there was him, only him. My lips tingled in anticipation, wanting, needing that kiss.

But it didn’t come.

“The past, Millie.” I blinked, not understanding, and searching his face didn’t get me anywhere. I was staring up at him right now, needing answers, and I got them. “I need the dickhead kid who let your brothers get between him and the one woman he’d ever want to die a miserable death so I can, we can, live.” He traced the lines of my face with his fingertips.

“Only… woman?”

I had my brother’s apology, but I needed this more. My heart was beating too hard, too fast in my chest in anticipation. Surely someone would come stumbling past, shattering this moment like glass and steal him away again, but they didn’t. There was only Noah and me standing here.

“Only woman.” He nodded, tried to smile, but my fingers went up, stopping that self-deprecating expression in its tracks. I watched his brows knit together, then smooth away. “Only you, Millie. I haven’t…” I hated the sound of his voice cracking. His pain was mine, it felt, so my hand shot out, gripping his. Noah hung on like I was a lifeline and then kept going. “There’s never been anyone else.”

I stared, unable to reconcile what he was saying with the man standing before me. He was hot at school, but a big, tall, muscly firefighter? He’d have girls flinging their knickers at him all the time.

“No.” I shook my head as if that would dislodge this thought. “No.”

“Yes, Millie.” The way he stared at me. I could see the mute request that I hear him out through the darkness. “Yes. I… couldn’t. Not with anyone else. No one but you.” He looked away, as if talking to the shadows was easier. “I told myself I’d find you after school. Surely your brothers would have taken a chill pill by then. I didn’t. After that, it was the gym. I had an idea of what I wanted my body to look like, and when I achieved it, I told myself I’d come for you. Then it was getting into the fire service, then after I’d finished probation. I kept moving the goalposts over and over because…”

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