Page 12 of Chasing Shelter

Ellie’s eyes narrowed, a hint of fire slipping into her pale green irises. “Why do you have a key tomyhouse?”

“Because I live next door.”

Ellie’s jaw went slack, and her eyes widened. “No, you don’t.”

Amusement replaced a little of my frustration. “Want me to show you the title?”

She let out a huff of air. “My damn interfering brother,” she grumbled, moving around the kitchen in search of something.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Linc insisted on touring every rental with me. He found something that wouldn’t do for his little sister everywhere we went. Then hehappenedto hear about this one. But he just wanted me living next door to the sheriff.” She snatched a set of oven mitts and a garbagebag, moving toward the fire zone. “So-called drive-by route. You drive by it all right. On your way home.”

My eyes narrowed on her. “Why would he want you living next door to me?”

Ellie slid out the burned-to-a-crisp pizza and tossed it into the trash bag. “That’s a damn good question. You’ll have to ask him.”

Linc and Ellie’s father had recently proven he was the worst of the worst, but he was in prison now, and they were out of his reach. Unless there was something else. I knew it wasn’t the first secret Ellie was keeping. Just like I knew she’d lied when she arrived in town a few weeks ago with a black eye, saying she’d hit herself with a suitcase by accident.

My hands fisted on instinct, anger surging in hot waves. Everything about the faint purple beneath expertly applied makeup had reminded me of another time. One I’d do anything to forget.

“There something you’re not telling me?”

Her mask fell into place so fast it nearly gave me whiplash. Gone were the frustration and hints of humor, and in their place was a nothingness I hated with every fiber of my being.

“Linc is overprotective. You should know that by now since your sister can’t sneeze without him calling three doctors to give her a checkup.”

That much was true. I’d had my concerns when Linc and Arden got together, unsure if she’d ever be ready for a relationship like that. But he’d turned out to be everything she needed.

“You in trouble?” I asked, watching for any flickers of a lie on that beautiful face. I might’ve been blind to that sort of thing in my past, but I wasn’t now.

Ellie lifted her chin, the movement slight but telling. “What I am is exhausted.”

A non-answer. Not a lie, but not the truth either. And that ground at me—the idea that someone might be messing with her. It wasn’t any of my business, but I couldn’t stop the urge to step in, help, and shield her from whatever was headed her way.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the smoke detector cut out,finally signaling that the smoke had abated somewhat. But it didn’t leave us in silence. Instead, it left us with some god-awful pop ballad about promises and lifetimes. “What in the actual—?” I stopped myself from cursing. “Whatisthat?”

A little of the fatigue left Ellie’s expression, and her lips trembled as if fighting a smile. “What do you have against the classic vocal stylings of *NSYNC?”

My face screwed up. “I think I’d take Arden’s ear-bleeding metal over this.”

“You can’t tell me you’ve never jammed out toIt’s Gonna Be Me.”

One corner of my mouth kicked up as I winced at an especially high note. “I’m more of aBye Bye Byeman.”

“You missed that one earlier. I did some epic shower singing to that bop.”

Ellie. Singing. In the shower.

I’d be needing one of those soon. A very cold one.

Ellie turned, surveying the room and sighing. “I just wanted a veggie lover’s pizza on my first night in a house that’s all mine.”

The sorrow in her voice hit me square in the solar plexus, and I wanted to fix that, too. “It’s the oven. Mrs. Henderson hasn’t used it in years. The local church brought most of her meals. Otherwise, she ate with Keely and me. The oven needs to be cleaned out before it’s used.”

Ellie stared at the appliance like it was her archnemesis. “I should’ve thought of that. It looked…well-loved.”

I barked out a laugh. “That’s the kind way of saying it.”

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