Page 66 of Slash & Burn

“You’re letting him come back, right?” She eyed her brother suspiciously and he sighed in exasperation.

“Yes. I promise.” His promise was enough for her, and I slowly let her step out of my grasp, but I didn’t fucking like it.

Joey and I took a handful of steps away from everyone and he lowered his voice. “What the fuck are you thinking?”

My head jerked back. “You seriously going to ask me that right now?”

Joey hated that asshole as much as me, and he’d hated him longer. All you had to do was look at Jill to see her shrink whenever he was around. Whatever mind games he’d played on her, he deserved more than a god damn shove.

“Yeah. You change careers and not tell me? Cause getting arrested for assault is a pretty fucking good way to lose your fucking spot on the team.”

I blew out a harsh breath, lacing my fingers behind my head as I looked up at the sky. He was right. I could fight all I wanted on the ice, but Blaise wouldn’t let something like this go without consequence. And given the thin ice I was already skating on, I, of all players, could not afford to mess up this badly.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah,” he snapped. Glancing back at Jill his expression softened. “That said”—he looked me in the eyes—“I appreciate it.”

I shook my head. “Man, I would never let that fucker touch her.”

“I know.” He held up a finger to the deputy that was approaching. “I’ll deal with this. But you need to be more careful. That guy had everyone fooled for years. He’s a master manipulator and I saw the way he looked at you. He’s got your number now, so you need to walk away if you see him again.”

“I tried Joe. He followed us.”

With a resigned nod, he cleared his throat. “I got it. I won’t let this go any further.” When he looked back at me there was an apology in his eyes. “I’m sorry for the other day. That was a cheap shot.”

“It’s okay.” I was hoping we could put all of this behind us. I looked over at Jill, her arms clasped around her middle as she stared down at the lake. “I’m gonna get her out of here, okay?”

“Yeah, go,” he paused, looking between us. “Take care of her.”

His words hit me in the chest. Cause Joey hadn’t trusted me with Jill before, but I could see it in his eyes that he did now. Maybe it was crazy all this had to happen to prove how much I cared about her, but I understood where he was coming from too much to be mad about that.

“I will.”

He patted me on the shoulder and walked back toward the others, and I went to Jill. The minute I opened my arms again she walked right into them, and I felt a hundred feet tall. Pounding Adam into the ground might have felt good, but nothing—I mean nothing—felt as good as holding my girl.

CHAPTER 27

JILL

Grady insisted on driving me home. Which normally would have been a welcome development, but neither of us were in the mood for the kind of night I might have liked to be having.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked gingerly, when he put the car in park in front of my house.

He sighed, scraping a hand down his face like I’d just given him a very hard choice to make. “You know I do.” He shook his head, his eyes out the windshield. “But it’s not a good idea.”

I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant.

“If I come in, things might go down a certain road, and quite frankly”—he leveled me with a pained look—“I don’t want it to be like that for us. I want us towantit, you know? Not stumble into it because it’ll feel better than either of us do right now.”

There he was—the sweet, thoughtful man I’d foolishly believed I’d have half a chance of not falling for all over again. Always so patient, so careful. Always trying to do the right thing by me. But something was in his eyes as he held my gaze. Something that looked like shame.

“Jill,” he said, his voice pitched low. “I’m sorry. I never meant to speak for you back there. I know you’re capable?—”

“No. Grady.” I rubbed my forehead, sighing. “That’s Adam. His favorite trick is to poke people wherever there’s a chink in their armor. He was wrong. You can’t listen to him.”

“But I’m not sure I made anything better back there.”

Leaning across the console, I cupped his jaw. “Yes, you did. Youcannotlet him get to you. Listen tome, not to him, okay?” He nodded, and I stroked his cheek, willing my words into his head so they could erase the seeds of doubt Adam had planted. “You are better to me than he ever was. You hear me, you see me, you support me. I feel safe with you, and I never did with him.”

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