“She’ll be fine.” I turned my head to face Dad, not believing his words. My nostrils flared, and I clenched my hands. Every fiber of my being was telling me to turn the boat around and go back to Elodie. He must have seen the way I felt from my expression because he continued, “Your mom is with her. Nothing will hurt her.”
“Belle’s with her too,” Ford supplied as if I didn’t already know that.
“You don’t get it.” I pushed my shoulders back. “She’s—”
“Strong,” Dad interrupted, his brows raised. He looked cool as a cucumber, and I wondered if it was because he’d worked his entire life as a DEA agent or if it was because he wasn’t worried. “Your mom has been filling me in each night after talking to Elodie.” Dad paused, glanced out onto the open water, and turned the boat a little to head to his favorite spot on the lake. “Which is more than we’ve spoken to you.” His stare didn’t move from mine, and I heard what he was silently getting at. He’d told me to call him after the lawyer had spoken to me, but I hadn’t. I knew if I’d told him, I’d have to lie.
“I’ve been busy.” I shrugged, acting like it was no big deal, but I knew it was. We were a close family—always had been. We never kept secrets, not many anyway. But when we did, it was to protect everyone, which was what I was doing now. I was making sure Elodie survived and came out on the other side without any more scars. I was doing it for her, but they didn’t need to know that, not until it was final, and they couldn’t sway the situation.
Neither Ford nor Dad said anything as we dropped the anchor of the boat into the water. We all worked on automatic, loading our rods with bait and casting out into the water. The air swirled with unsaid things, the tension increasing. I hoped they wouldn’t talk much more, but I should have known better. Dad wasn’t the kind of person to think something and not say anything. He spoke his mind, much like Belle did.
“So…” Ford leaned back and opened a can of beer, his gaze meeting mine. “You gonna tell us, then?”
“Tell you what?” I asked, not moving my attention off the water. I’d spent the last two weeks in an almost impenetrable bubble, but now it had been popped with them turning up out of the blue. They were putting a wrench in the works, and I hated it. I had a plan, one that would mean everyone would be okay. But now they were here and—
“You realize you’re talking to an ex-DEA agent and a current DEA agent, right?” Dad supplied, and I could just imagine what the look on his face was. He was connected, as was Ford, so there was no doubt in my mind now that they’d heard about—
“The DA wants to charge you with attempted murder.”
I blew out a breath and let my head drop forward. My muscles tensed, and already I could feel my first tension headache in weeks. “I know.”
“What did the lawyer say?” Dad asked, his voice closer now.
“He’s gonna talk to the DA, see what he can do.” I lifted my head, meeting his stare. “Just gotta wait now.”
Dad didn’t turn away from me, but I wasn’t prepared to tell him more than that. What was said between me and my lawyer was private. I didn’t need to explain to anyone else what was going on and what my plan was. All they needed to know was that things were in motion, whether that motion was good or bad didn’t matter. It wasn’t like they could do anything about it. I’d beat Knox to within an inch of his life, but now he was awake, it meant he could answer for what he’d done to Elodie. And right then, that was the most important thing. She needed justice for what she’d been through.
“You heard anything about Elodie’s case?” I asked.
“They arrested and questioned him,” Ford said, taking a swig of his beer. “Last I heard his dad was pulling strings to get him bail.”
I ground my teeth together at the idea of him being out on the streets—the same streets as Elodie. “You think he’ll get it?”
Dad snorted. “You want the honest answer, son?” I raised my brows at him, waiting. “His dad knows people. He’ll be out on the streets again if he isn’t already.”
“Fuck.” I kicked my foot out, my boot connecting with the side of the boat and causing it to sway. “Elodie isn’t safe—”
“We’ll make sure she is.” Dad stood, planted his hands on his hips, and stared out at the lake, then back toward the house. You could just about make it out from here, and I wondered whether Elodie was still there. I glanced down at my watch. We’d been gone almost an hour now. “She needs to get back to her normal routine,” Dad continued.
“No.” My nostrils flared, and I reeled my line in. I wasn’t in the mood for fishing, I hadn’t been since the moment it had first been mentioned. “She could run into him anywhere. The school halls, the—”
“Nope.” Ford reeled his line in and threw his empty can in the trash bag we attached to the edge of the boat. “He won’t be allowed back there. He’ll have to keep a certain distance from Elodie.”
I laughed. “You think that’s gonna stop him?” I shook my head, feeling my anger bubbling beneath the surface. “He doesn’t care about the goddamn rules.” I wanted to scream and shout to make them understand Knox wouldn’t just give in. “If he wants to get to her, he will. I’m not takin’ that chance—”
“Is that what Elodie thinks too?” Ford asked, raising his brows at me. “Have you even spoken about when you’re coming back home? You can’t stay here forever. You both have lives. She has her school year to finish out—”
“Mom is making sure she’s got all the schoolwork she needs—”
“So, you’re just gonna hide away here until your court date?” Dad asked. “I suppose it makes sense.” He reeled his line in too, obviously seeing that neither Ford nor I wanted to continue fishing.
“It does make sense,” I fumed, pushing my shoulders back. I was always the one person in the family who wasn’t taken as seriously. I was the youngest, and no matter what I did or said, I was always viewed as the baby. But I didn’t need any of their help. I didn’t need their opinions about what Elodie ad I were gonna do from here. It was our business, not theirs.
“I know.” Dad pulled the anchor up and started the engine. “You can hide away here, and then when you have to come back, you will.”
“Exactly.”
“It doesn’t matter that you could come back to no business. The business you built from the ground up.” He shrugged, and I kept my attention on the lake house as we got closer to it. “It doesn’t matter that Elodie will be gone so long it’ll be even harder for her to come home.”
“You don’t get it,” I gritted out.
“Maybe I don’t.” He pointed at me, giving me the same dad look he did when I was in trouble. Only it didn’t have the same effect it did when I was a kid. “But you haven’t even spoken to Elodie about it.”
“How do you know we haven’t already spoken about it?” I asked, my voice rough. I didn’t want to shout—I hardly ever shouted—but I was on my last nerve. I didn’t need Dad and Ford to come here and tell me what to do. I didn’t need them to tell me and Elodie how to react. We both needed time. We both needed space. Space from home. Space from what would happen in a few months when we both had to face court cases.
“I don’t.” Dad pulled close to the dock and cut the engine. “But from the way you’re acting right now, it’s enough for me to know you haven’t.”
I didn’t say another word as he grabbed the rope off the dock to secure the boat, and as soon as it was tied, I jumped off, fully intending to find Elodie, whether she was back in the house or still in town. I needed to know she was okay. I needed to see if—
“Son.” Dad’s hand grasped my arm to halt me. “We just want the best for you. The best for both of you.”
My shoulders drooped as I stared at him. We were the same height, and although he was in his early seventies, he didn’t look it. “I know. I just…we need to figure this out ourselves. Whether that means we come back next week or next month.”
Dad’s eyes widened. “You know
if you’re not back for Christmas, your mom will have us all drive up here again, right?”
The tense atmosphere started to lift, and I felt bad for the way I’d reacted. But it was because I was keeping a secret from him—from all of them—a secret I refused to reveal. Without using what happened to Elodie and the circumstances surrounding the assault, I knew I didn’t have a case. There were witnesses. Witnesses who were police officers. But I was still willing to take the chance to make sure Elodie was protected.
“Can we just drop all of this?” I pushed my hand through my hair and ran my palm down my face. “Let’s just celebrate Thanksgiving and forget about everything hanging over our heads.”
Dad stared at me, his dark eyes not giving anything away until the last second as he said, “We can do that.”
“Good.”
“Good,” Ford echoed. “Can we go drink beer now? I have two days off, and I want to make the most of them.”
“I’m gonna go—”
“Find Elodie,” Ford finished for me. He slapped his hand on my back, giving me a knowing look. He understood what it was like to want to protect the person you loved. They all did.
Which was why I knew they’d understand when this was all over.
Chapter Nine
ELODIE
The only Thanksgiving dinner I could remember was the same year my dad had left. We’d had chicken instead of turkey and a single side of fake mashed potatoes. Our plates had been balanced on our laps as we sat on the sofa, and for a few minutes, we were happy. I didn’t like to think about what happened after those few minutes. I didn’t want to remember how my mom had thrown her plate across the room, missing my dad’s face by inches. I didn’t want to remember how she stormed out of the trailer and didn’t come back for several days. Because for those few minutes, we were the average American family sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner.
But I was realizing now that we were never that, no matter how much I tried to pretend we were. What happened in this lake house was what a real American family was like. Everybody was in the kitchen and out on the deck. Lola and Belle were sitting at the table peeling potatoes, Brody was basting the huge turkey, and everyone else was laughing and having fun.
Then there was me, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching them all, and grieving for the family I’d never had. I’d never been surrounded by this much happiness, and even though part of me wished I had been, the other part of me knew I wouldn’t be who I was today if I’d had this.
I’d dragged myself through my short life. I’d clawed my way up to where I was. But it was at that moment I understood everything I’d fought for had been for a reason. Fate had set me on this path, but I couldn’t help wonder if I’d maybe taken a wrong turn somewhere. Maybe I’d veered into someone else’s lane and gotten all of their bad juju too. Or maybe I was exactly where I should have been.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and took a step back. A floorboard squeaked under my foot, alerting Lola and Belle.
“You’re awake!” Belle pushed her chair back and stood with a huge smile on her face. “You hungry?”
I shook my head and placed my hand over my stomach. I was hungry, but I didn’t think I could manage any food, not with all the emotions running through me. I hadn’t celebrated this day for over a decade, and now I was placed smack-bang in the middle of it.
“Come on, you must be hungry.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the table. “Ford went into town this morning and bought fresh pastries.” She groaned. “You can’t beat the fresh pastries here.” I agreed because I’d never tasted anything like them before. “Here.” She placed a plate with three pastries in front of me, then pulled out the chair she’d been sitting on. “How’d you sleep?”
“Good,” I whispered, looking around for Asher as I sat down. Leo and Ford were on the deck with Cade and Aria, but Asher wasn’t anywhere in sight. My heart started to race, and I tried my hardest to keep calm. I’d spent two hours without him yesterday, and although I hadn’t told Asher, I’d missed him.
“He’s down by his tree,” Lola whispered. I turned to face her, seeing her knowing expression. “Why don’t you go on down to him?”
“I…” I could have told her I wasn’t thinking about Asher, that I hadn’t been looking for him, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to be near him as much as I could, and it wasn’t because I was scared. I just…wanted to be with him. I stood slowly, picking the untouched pastries up off the plate as I went, then headed outside.
I flashed Leo and Ford a smile and wave, then spotted Asher sitting in front of the tree at the edge of the lake, his face turned toward the sky. I wondered what he was thinking about. Whatever it was had his brows furrowing and his body tense.
I ambled down the walkway, keeping my gaze fixated on him. His arms hung over his jean-clad knees, his hair sticking up in several directions. He’d been running his hand through it, that much was obvious. The stones at the edge of the lake dug into the soles of my feet, so I scampered across them to get to him faster.
His head whipped around, his lips turning from a straight line into a smile as his gaze met mine. “Hey,” he whispered, his voice deep.
“Hey.” I stood awkwardly for a second, not sure what to say. “I brought you some breakfast.” I was nervous, but I had no idea why. Maybe it was because we were surrounded by other people, or maybe it was because we hadn’t been alone properly since the kiss yesterday morning.
“Thanks.” He shuffled away from the tree and patted the small grassed area next to him. “Take a seat.” I lowered down next to him and stared out at the lake while taking nibbles of one of the pastries. I could still hear the laughter from the deck of the lake house, and my stomach dipped. I’d only been around the entire family at the cookout, and I knew they were all aware of what had happened that very same night. But not one of them looked at me differently—at least, I hadn’t noticed if they had. I’d been exhausted last night, so I’d gone to bed early, and when I woke up this morning, Asher was gone, and their voices could be heard through the floorboards.
“It’s a lot, huh?”
“What?”
Asher tilted his head toward the back of the house. “The entire fam.” He glanced over at the house, and I turned to look too. Everyone was out on the deck now, and from the way their heads quickly turned, they’d been watching us. Asher chuckled, stood, then held his hand out to me. “Let’s go for a walk.”
I stared down at my bare feet. “I don’t have shoes.”
“I’ll go get you some.”
“No, it’s…” I trailed off as he darted away from me and tried to keep my attention on him, but as soon as he walked past everyone, nerves rolled in my stomach. I stood there, waiting for him, knowing they were all watching. I felt like a teen going on her first date, something which had never happened. I hadn’t had the same experience as your average high schooler, and I was starting to be okay with that. Everything happened for a reason, right?
Asher shot out of the back of the house and sprinted down the walkway back toward me. “Here.” He held out a pair of tennis shoes with a grin on his face. His excitement was rubbing off on me. We were only going for a walk, and yet I felt my own lips lifting.
I shoved my feet into them, then followed beside Asher as he walked around the front of the house and down the driveway. The backs of our hands skimmed across each other, and he looked down at me. I glanced up, feeling goose bumps spreading over my skin, and without a word said, our hands interlocked.
“Sometimes when they’re all together it can get a bit much,” Asher said, his voice low. We made it to the end of the driveway and turned left toward the town. We’d walked here so many times over the last few weeks, but today it was different. There was something in the air—something swirling between us.
“I can see that.” I smiled. “Although I’m glad your mom is here. She checked over all my schoolwork to see how I did.”
Asher chuckled. “O
nly Mom would do that.”
“I’m glad she did.” I took a breath. “I have to graduate this year.”
Asher’s head turned, his dark-eyed gaze meeting mine. “You will.” He halted on the sidewalk outside the now closed bakery. “When you set your mind to something, you can do it.” His free hand moved to the side of my face. “I’m glad you’re with me today.” The sadness in his eyes took over, and I lifted up on my tiptoes, feeling like he needed me to be closer to him. “This could be the last…” He trailed off, his eyes zoning out for a couple of seconds, but then he shook his head, evaporating the sadness that took over. “I wish we could have been alone.”
I planted a kiss on his cheek, then turned us back toward the house. “I’ve never really had a proper Thanksgiving.”
“You haven’t?”
“Nope. Closest we ever got was chicken and fake potatoes on the sofa.” I shivered. “I haven’t eaten fake potatoes since.”
“Fake potatoes?” He laughed, his hand squeezing mine. “What the hell are fake potatoes?”
“You know…the ones that come in a box as powder. You add liquid and”—I threw my hand in the air like I was presenting a magic trick—“fake mashed potatoes.”
“That sounds—”
“Disgusting. I know.” We made it to the bottom of the driveway again, and I paused, able to hear the voices from the house. Half of me wished I could spend the day just Asher and me, but the other half wanted to experience what a day as part of a real family on a holiday was like. And with that thought, I turned to Asher, blurting out, “Race you back to the house?”
He raised his brows. “You realize I’m a foot taller than you, right?”
Deep Burn: (Asher & Elodie: Easton Family Saga) (Burned Duet Book 2) Page 11
