by Melody Anne
“I didn’t want to leave you ten years ago,” he began. There was such resignation in his voice that it was hard for her not to believe him.
“This fire and who started it doesn’t have anything to do with you leaving me ten years ago,” she pointed out.
“It might,” he said with another sigh, and her pulse pounded that much harder.
“About six months before I left town, I got into some trouble,” he began.
Eden searched her mind in confusion. She didn’t remember him getting into any trouble. Then again, he was a Forbes, and if he’d done something wrong, his family certainly had enough money to pay people off so nothing would stick, and no one would know. But that didn’t sound like his family. They weren’t the type of people to cover things up. It was one of the many things she respected about them.
“I kept it to myself because my dad and siblings would have kicked my ass if they knew,” he told her. “I was hanging out with this guy named Mario. He was an okay guy, or so I thought. He was dangerous, and I was trying to figure out exactly who I was outside of my family. I liked that he did crap that wasn’t always aboveboard. I liked that my adrenaline pumped with him.”
“Are you talking about Mario Vasquez?” she asked, horrified. He was a bad, bad man.
“Yeah, one and the same. We didn’t have a very long relationship, and I kept it from you and my family,” he told her.
“I can understand why,” she said, disappointed he’d been hanging out with a thief and drug addict. “Did you get into drugs?” The thought made her stomach turn.
“Not a chance,” he said with such disgust that she knew he was telling her the truth. “I simply liked the adventure of it all.” He sighed as he paused. “Do you remember my best friend, Bill?”
It took a moment for her brain to catch up to what he was saying. “Yeah, you guys were tight.”
“Yeah, we were. Then he got mixed up in the same crowd, but unlike me, he got into drugs.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me,” she said. None of this was making sense.
“I was hanging out with Mario because of the thrill of it. I liked being around people who were what I considered dangerous. I felt as if my life was in a rut . . .” He stopped when he saw her expression.
“Was it that bad being with me?” she asked, hating the vulnerability in her voice.
He reached for her, but she scooted away. She couldn’t let him touch her right then.
“It wasn’t about you and me. It wasn’t about anyone but me. I was revered in this town, not because of who I was but because of my family name. I felt as if that was holding me down, and I went through a rebellious stage. I didn’t want to do anything too bad, but I wanted to feel something different, I guess,” he tried to explain.
“Something you couldn’t feel with me,” she said. He was hurting her, though she knew he wasn’t trying to.
“I wanted to feel like anyone except myself,” he said.
“And so you thought hanging with the bad crowd would help you accomplish that,” she inserted.
“Yeah, I did. But I was a fool to think that way. It quickly got out of hand. My best friend was getting more and more involved with these people. I was trying to figure out a way to get him out when one night I stumbled onto something I wasn’t supposed to see.” A shudder passed through him.
“What was it?” she asked.
“A drug deal gone wrong . . . two dead bodies.”
She gasped, her heart in her throat. “Oh my gosh . . .” She was too shocked to know what to say.
“They were going to kill me. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt so bad for you, for my mom, for my brothers. Because I had no doubt they’d dispose of my body, and all of you would have searched and searched to no avail. That’s probably the most scared I’ve been in my entire life,” he admitted.
“Oh, Owen, why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you go to your family?” she asked, desperately wanting to reach out to him.
“I didn’t leave because of that,” he told her. “Bill saved my life. He stepped up and agreed to work for them if they let me go. He swore neither of us would tell anybody.” Owen was almost shaking as he told her this.
“What happened?” she asked.
“They obviously let me go, and that was the end of my association with them. I’d see them once in a while, but they wouldn’t speak to me. I was okay with that, except I had this monster guilt hanging over my head about what Bill was going through. He changed so fast. He became harder, got more and more into drugs, and it was killing him.” He stopped as he wiped a hand down his face, clearly shaken up by this conversation.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked again. “I wouldn’t have liked any of it, but I would’ve been by your side.” She was on the verge of tears now.
“I couldn’t tell you because they told me they’d kill anyone I told. They said they had ways of knowing everything. I was young and stupid. I knew what they were capable of, and I knew they weren’t bluffing. They have so much power in this town, power you can’t imagine. They work in the shadows.”
“That doesn’t explain why you left,” she told him.
“At the time I blamed myself for Bill’s situation. I thought it was my fault he was so mixed up in drugs. I thought he’d sacrificed his life for mine,” Owen said.
“And did you learn differently?” she asked.
“Yeah, but not for a while after we got out of town. Bill had already been into drugs and had been selling them on a smaller scale before that night. But as his addiction grew, he needed to make more money, so he was getting far too involved with that crowd.”
“I still don’t know why you left,” she said, needing him to come to the conclusion.
“I needed to get him out of here. I was planning on getting him set up somewhere and then coming back. I didn’t plan on leaving forever. But then we got to New York. Bill cleaned up . . . for a while. I found I liked being there, liked the fact that no one knew who I was,” he admitted.
“Liked being without me?” she said, hating how pathetic she sounded with those words.
“No. I never liked being without you, but I needed to save Bill . . .” He paused for a long moment. She said nothing. “And I think I needed to save myself, too. I didn’t know who I was without being a Forbes. I didn’t know what I was capable of on my own.”
“You had to leave to figure that out,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“I did it wrong. I found an opportunity to get Bill away without them trying to stop us, and I didn’t think. I promised him I’d never tell anyone what he was doing. He wouldn’t leave unless I promised that. I also knew if I told you or my family, you’d try to stop us, so I ran. I screwed up.” He stopped talking and Eden realized tears were running down her cheeks. He wasn’t looking at her, and she was glad.
“Was it worth it?” she asked. She hated how vulnerable she felt.
“Bill was all sorts of messed up when we left. It took months for me to convince him I’d done the right thing. Then he told me if I left him there, he’d find another family, and what he meant by family was the bad kind. I still thought at the time that he’d saved my life, and that’s why he’d become the man he’d become. It was my turn to sacrifice for him.”
“That doesn’t explain why it took you so long to come back,” she said.
“After a while I was ashamed. I knew what I’d done to you and my family. It didn’t take my brothers long to track me down, and they were furious, but they respected my decision, told me the life I wanted to live was my choice, but that I’d better not disappear on them again. I told them I wouldn’t. I didn’t come back because I feared I’d stay, and I wasn’t ready to abandon Bill.”
She was quiet. She didn’t know what to say about that. He’d left her, and while he might feel some remorse about the way he’d done it, he obviously still felt it had been the right thing for him to do.
“Why are you here now?” she asked. She was thankfully beginning to feel a little numb.
“Bill died of an OD a couple of years ago, and the longer I was away, the more I knew this was where I belonged. I missed my family,” he said before turning, waiting until she looked at him. “I missed you.”
Eden was silent as she took in all that Owen had just told her. It was a lot to handle. He hadn’t left because he hadn’t loved her; he’d done it because he loved his best friend. He’d sacrificed himself for another, which was nothing new for him. But he’d stayed away because he’d been searching for himself.
“Why did you still keep his secret?”
“It’s hard for me to break a promise. I told him I’d never tell . . .” He stopped and took a breath. “But I promised you I’d never leave, so it looks like I can’t keep my word.”
He’d chosen to leave her. Just because he now wanted her back didn’t mean she should change her own plans. It didn’t matter if she still loved him. Love had seemed to cause her nothing but grief her entire life.
“Your homecoming hasn’t been fully embraced,” she finally said.
He shrugged. “I ticked a lot of people off with how I left.”
“So then you can understand why you’d be a suspect with the arson investigators,” she told him.
He sighed. “No, I don’t understand that. I might have run away from home, but I didn’t do it because I had animosity toward this town or the people in it. My family lives here, and the people I care the most about in this world live here. I’d never do anything to hurt this place.” Sincerity rang in his tone.
Her shoulders slumped. She was angry with him, but she knew she was wasting time with investigating him, even if his name was on the list. She was perfectly within her rights to check off his name and tell the investigators to search elsewhere. She should’ve done it after her first conversation with him.
Of course, her life had never been that cut-and-dried, and the fates certainly wouldn’t give her such an easy out. They hated her, much preferring to toy with her than to help set her free.
“I didn’t do this, Eden. I need you to believe me,” he said quietly. She gazed at him for a long moment before speaking.
“I never thought you were guilty,” she finally admitted.
His lips were pressed together as he gazed at her. “I need you to know with every fiber of your being that I’m not capable of this,” he told her.
“I’ve known all along you couldn’t do this, Owen. I’ve just been so hurt, so bitter about how things ended with us, that I took a bit of pleasure in trying to make you squirm. And then I’ve carried so much guilt from our night six months ago, about losing my dad, wondering if I could’ve saved him. Maybe in the beginning there was a part of me that wanted you to be the bad guy so I could alleviate some of my guilt,” she said, not trying to stop the tears.
“I’m sorry you’ve been hurt so much. I’m sorry I’ve been such a huge part of that pain,” he said. His eyes burned as he looked at her. His voice was quiet as he continued, but his words were unmistakable. “I do love you,” he finished.
She shook her head. “Please don’t, Owen. I can’t handle that right now,” she begged.
“I understand,” he told her. He reached out and she allowed him to take her hand.
“Let’s do this together, Eden. Let’s find out who’s causing this destruction to our town.” There was such urgency in his voice, she knew he needed answers as much as she did.
She was tired of being alone, tired of putting herself through it. She had no doubt it was by choice. There were many people she could ask to be by her side who wouldn’t hesitate, but the only one she seemed to want to be there was Owen. She was tired of fighting that.
“What if it’s someone you’re close to?” she asked.
He looked confused. “Do you have names?”
“Maybe, but none I’m willing to share right now,” she told him.
He paused. “I’m assuming it’s someone I know. But it wouldn’t be anyone I’m close to.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” she said.
“Yes, I can,” he told her with just as much determination.
“I might be taken off the case at any minute,” she told him.
“Why?” he asked as if that was absurd. It made her feel slightly better.
“Because you and I have history, and now I’m eliminating you as a suspect. This might be the final nail in my coffin.”
“Then let’s do what we can for as long as we can,” he suggested.
She gave him a half-hearted smile. “We can try to be a team on this, but it might not work,” she finally said.
He smiled. And though Eden knew they were far from being okay, she somehow felt more peace than she had in a very long time.
“We’re working together, that’s all,” she said, squeezing his fingers once before releasing them. “We’ll attempt to be friends.”
His lips turned up even more as he gazed at her.
“I’ll accept that for now,” he told her.
She wanted to argue, but she didn’t get the chance. Because they were interrupted when his phone rang.
Chapter Twenty-One
Owen’s entire body tensed as he took the call and listened. The color washed from his cheeks. Eden sat waiting, knowing that whatever was being said was bad news.
“Who?” Owen finally said, his voice low.
Something horrible had happened to shake up Owen this badly. It was someone on his crew, someone who’d been hurt. She had no doubt about it.
“You smelled gas? You’re positive?” he said. His voice had grown quieter. “I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and threw the truck into gear.
“Owen?” she said. She had a feeling he’d forgotten she was even there.
His body was tense, his jaw ticking as he ground his teeth together. He was barely containing the fury and anguish he was feeling. This was bad. It was really bad.
“The winds have been unpredictable with this fire, and she took a shift for the worse. The men were lighting a line, trying to save a development the fire was moving straight toward. There was an explosion,” he said, choking on his last words.
“Did I hear you say something about gasoline?” she asked.
His jaw clenched as his eye ticked. He was barely holding it together. She had to hold on tight as he took a corner far too fast, and the truck skidded. Only when she was slammed into the door did he let off some of the pressure on the accelerator.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t apologize. Just tell me,” she insisted.
“Someone did this. Someone poured gas on the ground, knowing exactly what we’d do next,” he said, barely containing his rage. “It was Ben this time. He was in the middle of grass saturated with gas, and a spark came down from the wildfire, instantly lighting him on fire. He didn’t have a chance, but they took him to the hospital, anyway.”
He sounded close to tears. She knew part of his frustration was from the fact that he wasn’t out there, he wasn’t helping.
“There’s nothing you could’ve done to stop this,” she told him. She didn’t dare reach out to him. He was wound so tight he was likely to drive them off the side of the road if she startled him.
“It might’ve been me and not him,” Owen said, slamming his hand against the steering wheel.
Eden shuddered at the thought. “That doesn’t help us, Owen. We need to get this case solved so this stops,” she tried to reason.
“Whoever is doing this is constantly one step ahead of us,” he said, his voice rising.
“We’ll find him. I promise you,” she insisted.
“It might not be a him,” he pointed out.
“I know, but most arsonists are males,” she said.
“I don’t give a damn about statistics. I just want this case solved. I want this bastard caught.” They pulled into the hospital ER, and Owen parked crookedly, opening his door almos
t before the truck had settled to a stop.
She was right behind him as they ran inside.
The screams were the first thing that greeted them. The smell of charred flesh was the second, making Eden try her best not to throw up on the pristine floors.
Activity hummed around them as doctors fought to save the life of this rookie firefighter who should’ve been perfectly safe where he was, would’ve been safe had he not been in a field saturated with gasoline. Who could do that? Who could watch a person die the most agonizing death possible?
Owen went over and spoke to his chief, both their heads bowed. A petite brunette stood in one corner weeping, with one of the firefighters holding her up as he whispered comforting words to her. Other than that, there was silence in this large space. The people in the room knew the firefighter wasn’t going to make it. And if he did, he’d wish he hadn’t. The pain would be so intense he wouldn’t be able to come out of a coma for a long time. He wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Eden felt like an intruder in this intimate moment. She’d been the one to deliver the news that had suspended Owen, leaving them with one less person. She was the one looking for a traitor among them. And the traitor might not even be a firefighter. She was beginning to doubt it could be. No firefighter could set a trap like this, stand by as one of their brothers burned alive.
The screaming finally stopped, and Eden realized tears were falling down her cheeks. The man had either passed out, or they’d drugged him. She refused to think it was because he’d succumbed to his wounds. He had to fight. Obviously there were a lot of people in this room praying for him.
Owen finally walked over to her, and she didn’t turn from him when he pulled her into his arms. She knew it was him needing comfort more than her, and it was the least she could do.
“He’s been burned on over eighty percent of his body,” Owen said in a hushed whisper.
“Oh, Owen, I’m so sorry,” she said, her hands gently rubbing up and down his back. He squeezed her hard. She tried to lend him what little strength she had.
