I’d pursue my Moon until the day I died.
Her head shook vehemently; her hair bounced like springs with the move. “No, sorry. I got stopped by some strange man in town outside my shop. He wanted to know where Kathy’s was, so I pointed him in the right direction. He said he would see me around, and the way he said it freaked me out like he knew me or something.”
My fist clenched at my sides when I realized she had been late because some stranger, a man that didn’t belong in this town scared her, and I wasn’t there to protect her. I might have one arm, and the other might be in pain, but I’d kick anyone’s ass that messed with my sweet Luna. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” I questioned, biting back the anger that I wanted to unleash.
“No, I’m fine. Oliver scared him away.”
Good. Whew. Okay, what a relief that she wasn’t alone. “The thought of anything happening to you, Luna, it makes me see red. I know I have no right to say that after what I did to you. I hurt you more than anyone should have, and it was wrong of me. And it is wrong of anyone else to hurt you too.”
She grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together, our hands interlocking like puzzle pieces, the perfect damn fit. “I don’t want to talk about the past anymore, Easton. I only want to focus on the now.” She brought my knuckles to her mouth and kissed them gently, and the simple touch seared my skin hotter than the flames did to my arm.
Luna was a brand.
She wasn’t a memory that could be forgotten. She wasn’t someone anyone could put in the back of their mind. Luna was the kind of woman to stick to with you forever, and she did alright. I’d take Luna with me to my grave because her essence, her brand, was a tattoo on my soul, a permeant mark.
She was a part of me.
“Whatever my Moon wants,” I said simply, leaving the conversation at that.
She grinned and started the car. The same damn message blared over the radio from weeks ago, and my brows knitted together when I listened more closely this time. Luna started to drive, but I listened as the words played on a loop.
Something about what the announcer was saying made me wonder if that fire from two weeks ago was because of Willard Hopkins, the felon serial arsonist. But it was Camden. Nothing happened like that in Camden.
“Where to? Are you tired? I bet you want to rest.”
The last thing I wanted to do was rest. I wanted to get Luna in my bed and make love to her until we were sore. I was hungry though. “Let’s go to Kathy’s? I could kill for a double chocolate shake and a fat juicy burger dripping with grease. That hospital food is for the damn birds.” The thought of a burger had my belly rumbling over the radio.
Luna giggled and peered over the wheel like she couldn’t see, when she could, and turned right. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
I held my breath and waited for her to regret what she said. She’d never called me a pet name before, and as the minutes ticked by, I realized she meant to say it. We were quickly falling into a comfortable place that didn’t usually come until much later in a relationship, and it was because this was meant to be and how it was always supposed to be.
“Oh my god, look!” Luna pointed toward town, and another thunderous black cloud of smoke filled the air.
“That looks pretty close to Kathy’s,” I said, watching the sky fill with soot.
“I hope not. Kathy’s is a staple around here.”
I went to check my phone for updates, but the damn thing was dead. I tossed it on the floorboard of the car, and Luna did her best to get to the center of town without breaking any laws.
It was hard to believe a beautiful oceanside town was the target of an arsonist. I would have to ask since no one had updated me on anything about work in the last two weeks because they wanted me to ‘heal.’ What the hell ever. I even missed Ms. Williams’s funeral. Something that gutted me still. Ethan would be devastated that he didn’t save her, but we couldn’t save everyone, that was the hard truth, and it was a tough pill to swallow.
On one side, there was the beautiful sea, blue waves crashing like there wasn’t a problem in the world. Then on the other, fire raged, and fear struck the town. It was like a pandemic. People didn’t know what to do or how to act.
The car accelerated as we rolled down a hill and then came to a red light. Luna gasped when she saw all of the cop cars up ahead, blocking traffic as the firefighters did their best to put out the blaze. The light turned green, and the heat slammed against the car unexpectedly. I held on to Luna’s hand, my way of telling her it was going to be okay.
When we pulled up to the cop directing traffic, it was Zeke. Luna rolled down her window, and Zeke didn’t smile when he saw us together, but a tight grim held his face instead. “Zeke, what’s happening?” I asked. “Another fire?”
He nodded. “Kathy’s and Rocky’s.” His jaw ticked. He wasn’t telling us something.
“What?” I ground out. I knew I wasn’t going to like what I heard next.
“Rocky and Kathy are both dead.”
“No!” Luna covered her mouth and shook her head with more denial. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, trying to think about who would want to hurt Rocky and Kathy. They were high school sweethearts. They were kind to everyone. They had two sons, Kent and Owen, who would be devastated. Both of them lived out of state, so it would be a while before they came home.
Kathy’s was one of those places that everyone went to growing up. That’s where all the underage kids hung out because it had good food, pool, darts, just no alcohol. It had the fifties diner vibe, and everyone loved it. The town would take this hard.
Whoever was doing this was creating a war.