Page 69 of When the Smoke Clears

“Loosen up, Firecracker.” Her arms fall into her lap, but the tension still remains. “Do you trust me?”

She peers into my soul as she speaks. “With my life.”

“Drop the reins.”

Her eyes widen.

I smirk. “Be a good girl and do as I say. Drop the reins.” She does, and my cock jumps again. It shouldn’t be that fucking sexy for her to obey, but damn if there’s anything I can do to make my body react differently. “Now, tell me what the problem is.”

I look out over the land and wait for the words to come to her. Veda and Johnny Walker slow and begin to graze in what will someday be our front yard. “What if I’m arrested?”

My head snaps her way. “That’s not going to happen.”

“You can’t just say it and expect it to be true.” She’s staring into the distance.

“Isn’t that what you just said about manifesting?” I stare at her. “Maci.”

“Sutton.” She turns to hold my stare. “You cannot ignore this any more than I can.”

Despite the distance between us, the tension is a connective link. Our shallow breaths are in time. Neither of us speaks at first.

We’ve touched on this over the last week or so, but we haven’t jumped in. Haven’t really discussed the hard things. It’s like we’re about to head into the deep together, and that light that I saw in the stables may not be enough to bring us through the abyss.

I know the stakes are high. It’s why I want her to have a lawyer. But it’s not lost on me that sometimes the system fails anyway.

We continue to stare.

Finally, she whispers, “I killed someone.”

It’s easier to defend her when she’s worried. My worries are different. “You were defending yourself.”

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. If the detective disagrees, he’ll turn this over to the prosecutor. We need to talk about what happens if they decide to prosecute me.” When I still don’t speak, she continues. “You weren’t there. Detective Porter doesn’t believe me.”

I drop my head. “I knew we should’ve gotten you a lawyer.”

“I still can. I just hoped that if I was open with them, and with the other reports, they’d see it wasn’t malicious.”

Frustration rises in me. Maci is so used to doing everything on her own that she won’t accept my help, won’t see reason. I can’t lose her to jail after everything. “They’d be stupid not to see the truth,” I tell her. “And I want to get you a lawyer.”

“That’s not the point. I want to know what you’re going to do.” Her voice rises with anxiety.

I jump off Johnny Walker and pull Maci off Veda in a flash. Gripping her face between my hands, I speak low. “You’re not getting arrested. We’re getting you a lawyer and getting this sorted out. And on the very slim, never-going-to-happen, strictly hypothetical chance that you do, I’m going to be with you every step of the way. You’re not going to jail, Firecracker. I don’t care if I have to blow up the entire fucking building with everyone in it before you get there.”

There is no world where Maci being trapped in jail is going to fly.

Her eyes glisten and she nods. “Ok.”

She wraps her arms tightly around me, pressing herself against me completely, and I return the action, squeezing her to me like someone is on their way to take her now.

“We need to name this place.” Her change of topic catches me off guard.

I lean back to look at her. “It has a name. Strickland Ranch.”

She grins. “I don’t mean thewholeplace, I meanthisplace.” She swings one arm around the expansive area.

“Ah.” I take in the secluded space. “What do you have in mind?”

She presses her lips flat. “Just something that represents us and our life. Like Nopal Vista. It’s Spanish—”

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