“No?” I hid my smile in his shirt and clutched onto his shirt.
“I love you,” he said, kissing my forehead.
It was on the tip of my tongue to say it back, but I didn’t. I needed more time to trust him.
“Willard, the fire? What happened?” Zeke snapped his fingers in front of my face to yank me out of my Easton trance.
“Sorry,” I muttered and gave Zeke my full attention. It was bad that Easton could enamor me like that; it was a distraction. “Like I was saying, it was the day I picked up Easton. Willard stopped me to ask where Kathy’s was, so I told him. I pointed him in the right direction.” Another tear fell when the guilt hit me again. “It’s my fault that Kathy’s burnt down.”
“Did you light the fire?” Zeke asked.
“No,” I gasped, “I’d never do such a thing.”
“Then it isn’t your fault. You were helping someone because you are kind; there is no harm in that. What else was said? What did he look like now? Anything like his picture the press released?”
“He said he would see me around, whatever that means.”
“He said that?” Easton growled, tightening his arm around me. “I’ll kill him.”
“Anyway,” I began again, “he had shaggy black hair and piercing green eyes. They were creepy. He wore all black, ragged clothes, and he had a severe burn on the side of his face, just like the picture.”
“He said he would see you again?” Zeke repeated my earlier statement. “He might have his eye on you.” He tapped the pen against the notepad.
“You really think that?” Easton asked, leaning forward while keeping his hand on my hip. “You think she’s in danger?”
“She might be. Psychopaths are like that, Easton. They like to fixate on something and run with it.”
I gulped, tightening my hand around Easton’s shoulder. I had the worst fear. And all I could think about was burning to death.
Lit up by a flame, the psycho put in my path. I could almost smell my burnt flesh. And it didn’t smell good.
Chapter Twenty
Easton
I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight. Ever. Never. Knowing that this psycho might want something to do with her had my protective instincts on overload. I was afraid— no— I was terrified to let her out of my sight.
We were in her room right now, and I was throwing everything in a trash bag. “The room is nice, you did a good job,” I said, emptying the middle drawer in the bag, noticing the new grey color on the walls. The pink was gone. I kind of missed it. “We can paint whatever you want, baby.”
“Easton, I think you’re overreacting.”
“When it comes to you, I’ll never overreact.”
“Calm down, Easton.” She laid her hands on my chest and rubbed. “Please, it will be okay. Zeke said might, which means there might be a chance he won’t have his attention on me.”
I cupped her gentle, fragile face in my hands, rubbing her cheekbones with my thumbs. Everything about her was so small, so delicate, and I was afraid to press too hard, or she’d shatter. “Might. Did you hear yourself? There’s a chance he set his attention on you, and I won’t take that chance. Do you understand?”
“He’s right, Star,” her dad said from the doorway. He had oxygen on this time, and his skin had lost its color. He looked exhausted. I stopped putting the clothes in the bag and knew that Luna wouldn’t want to leave her father. I didn’t know what to do. I could stay here, but it would be awkward because I’d want her and fucking under her parent’s roof was weird. Her mom used to kiss my boo-boos and sprinkle magical fairy dust on them to take the pain away.
“I can’t leave you,” she said. “You need me.”
“You’re home. You’re in town. I can’t protect you like he can. Please, go with him.”
“Dad,” she sounded heartbroken. “I came here for you.”
That hurt more than I expected, but I couldn’t fault her on it. She came here for her family. The last thing she wanted to do was to get involved with me again. A part of me wanted to believe that she came here for me. It was too much to hope for because she used to hate me, but still, a man could dream.
“I know, but you’re back home,” he said, wheezing after every word. He put the mask back over his face and breathed in. “It’s more than I wanted. I’m glad you’re home, but you don’t have to be here. To be honest, I’m going to be spending more time in the hospital.”