Page 25 of What I Should Have Felt

I did what I could for free, but even then, things just weren’t the same.

Azelie hadn’t been able to grow up with that same sense of community. My parents were more extreme with her around Ford’s parents and his mawmaw than they’d been with me. I shook my head and attempted to count how many times we’d been on a walk with Azelie when she was littleand Ford’s family would come into our vicinity. Then suddenly I couldn’t find Azelie, and at least one of my parents.

Wait… Confusion rippled through me as it hit me. Ford’s family hadneverbeen anywhere near Azelie at all until a bit more recently. As in, they’d not once seen her up close to notice anything more than what I could imagine was her red hair before she’d become a teenager.

And it was all by my parents’ doing.

How odd…

But that didn’t matter right now. What did matter was the current situation with O’Connor. Everything just seemed…fishy. Too coincidental to have happened without it being purposeful, even when something was “an accident.”

I knew that my parents were going to give me lip once I walked inside that restaurant, because no matter how much I’d managed to clean things up after being attacked, my excuse of tripping and bumping my head would be unraveled in an instant.

Except for the fact that when I’d returned to clean things up, all the bodies that I could’ve sworn had been left for dead were gone without a trace—including my knives.

I knew I wasn’t as sane as I pretended to be, because losing those knives pissed me off more than the fact that I was taken hostage.

Shaking my head, I turned off the ignition and stepped into the blistering heat. No matter how much I dreaded heading into the restaurant and facing the ass chewing my parents were about to give me, there was nothing else keeping me in my vehicle.

I rolled my shoulders, clicked the key fob to lock my car, and hustled through the alleyway that also held no evidence of dead bodies. Inching my brows together, I took my time walking around the restaurant’s garbage bins, inspecting every brick and cobblestone that could hide blood. Yet, just as there had been when I’d come to clean up, there was nothing.

It baffled me that bodies could just…disappear like that. But it also made me even more concerned. I’d heard the rumors as we all had, when O’Connor had made threats when he’d first come to town.

Except I hadn’t believed them. Until now.

Unless… No… The Rougarou wouldn’t have come back to eat them… That wasn’t part of the legend, at least not the stories that my parents had told me.

With one final sweep across the alley, I wandered out to the street and watched as everything seemed back to its usual slow hustle. Cars drove on by without a second glance at this pass-through town. Although the restaurant wasn’t set to open for another hour, it was still disheartening to see people not so much as turn their heads as they moved from one store to another. Despite the urge that begged me to look down the road and see if Ford was at his parents’ restaurant, I turned away and opened the front door ofLeBlanc’s Cajun Haven.

The sizzle of food on the grill in the back hit my ears the moment I walked in. Chairs were still stacked on the tables, and the pile of menus to my right on the hostess stand was in need of organizing. Without calling out that I was here, I got to work pulling seats down and wiping off the tables.

I needed time to gather my thoughts. Thoughts that consistently went back to the man I had foolishly tried to sneak up on. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure why I’d reacted like that. It wasn’t like he was at fault for O’Connor’s decision or his actions.

But what had caught me off guard was just how aggressive yet calm Ford seemed.

Straightforward. To the point. And very much not concerned about being butt-ass naked. I pulled my lips between my teeth and bit back a smile as I braced with my hands against a table.

Damn, he was fucking hot.

I knew how lustful that thought was, and it certainly put a chink in the independence I was clinging to, but there was no denying he’d grown into something I wanted to wrap my legs around and—

“Colette?!” my mom shouted, her voice piercing like a knife through the very dirty thoughts I shouldn’t be having.

Thoughts I hadn’t had in years. Thoughts I hadn’t allowed myself to have until now. Thoughts that made me feel like a giddy teenager itching for the next second I could sneak off to do some very naughty things with a hunk of a—

“Colette!”my mom shouted again.

I blinked and whipped around, tucking my hands behind my back. “Mom,” I gasped. I prayed she wouldn’t notice the heat blooming in my cheeks.

“Your father and I know why you avoided the restaurant all day yesterday. How could you not tell us, though? I had to hear it from someone else!” She threw her hands on her hips, the same apron wrapped aroundher waist with a new hair net holding back the coily strands of hair that refused to cooperate.

My heart dropped to my toes, and my eyes widened.There was no way she knew about Ford and my encounter yesterday… She couldn’t.

“Uh…” I mumbled. With a racing pulse, I swallowed stiffly.

“What if Azelie had been here?” she continued.

I furrowed my brows. Azelie? What did Azelie have to do with Ford and me, other than the massive lie that we all told everyone?

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