Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
BECK
“This is my first night in days without Addison riding my ass,” I grumbled as I wiped down the last table before turning the sign to Closed and locking the diner door. “She won’t quit.”
Ford sat on a stool, elbows braced on the counter.
“Tell me about it. If I don’t have a shift at the firehouse, she’s got me running all over the damn place.
Yeah, the extra bookings at the resort are nice, but I need a fucking break.
If this keeps up, we’re going to have to hire some actual help that isn’t us. ”
“So we’re agreed we need to haul ass—”
“Before she finds us? Yep.” He stood, grabbing his portable radio from its place on the counter. He’d been on call, which meant the low hum of mostly static from the radio had been our background noise for the evening.
As soon as we were upstairs at my place, Ford headed straight for the fridge and pulled out a beer for himself before passing a water bottle to me. He set the radio on the table and dropped into one of my two loungers. “What’s Everly been up to? Is the new guy still on the scene?”
A spike of jealousy shot through me at the mention of the asshole she’d been spending time with. I hated to think about him, and I hated my brother for bringing it up, especially when I’d been doing everything in my power to ignore it. “Don’t know.”
He froze with his beer halfway to his mouth, his brows lifted. “You don’t know?”
“That’s what I said.”
“So, what, you just haven’t asked?”
“No, I haven’t. We’ve had other shit to talk about.” Or, more accurately, we hadn’t had time to talk much at all, save for a literal minute in the mornings when she dropped by for her coffee before having to bail almost immediately and a handful of texts throughout the day.
I didn’t know what was worse—not knowing who that guy was to her, or having my fears confirmed that he was someone to her.
Even though there was nothing romantic going on between Everly and me, I knew throwing an outside relationship into the mix would put an end to what we had.
Maybe not immediately, and maybe not intentionally, but eventually, it would.
And I knew that because if I were her boyfriend, there was no fucking way I’d be okay with her having the kind of relationship we shared with another man. Not even a little.
But I sure as fuck wasn’t going to mention that to Ford. He’d twist it around to be all about me—namely, that I was jealous because I wanted Everly for myself—instead of what he should be focusing on—namely, that this new guy was a complete spunktrumpet who wasn’t good enough for her.
“Oh yeah?” he said. “Wonder what’s been the holdup on her end. Maybe that guy’s been keeping her busy, if you know what I mean.” My idiot of a brother grinned and waggled his eyebrows, and I had to stop myself from punching him in the throat.
I pointed the top of my water bottle toward him and narrowed my eyes. “Keep that shit up, and you’re cut off.”
“Look, all I’m saying is—”
“It’s only been a couple days, and we’ve both just been busy, all right? If it’s not a ridiculously overbooked schedule on her end, it’s our dictator of a sister orchestrating every goddamn second of my day on mine.”
Ford hummed in acknowledgment and relaxed back in the chair. “Addison has been a little dictatory lately, hasn’t she? She’s been working me to the bone. My lists have lists, for fuck’s sake.”
“She doesn’t trust me with a list,” I said. “She just points and barks orders and expects me to follow.”
“Sounds on-brand for her. What’s on the docket this week?”
“These stupid welcome baskets for all the guests. Since when do we do welcome baskets? It’s fucking ridiculous. They’ve got a whole goddamn ocean to welcome them. My blueberry oatmeal bars aren’t going to push the experience over the top.”
“I don’t know. Those bars are fucking delicious. You got any leftovers?”
I rolled my eyes but reached into the cupboard and grabbed one of the wrapped bars I’d stashed for him before tossing it his way.
“Nice.” He grinned. “Be glad that’s all she’s had you working on. For the past three days, she’s had me sanding decks. By hand.” He shook his head, face drawn. “She’s becoming too powerful. We should probably do something about that.”
We stared at each other, both taking a sip of our respective drinks, then shrugged at the same time.
“Not worth the fight,” I said.
“Nope. So I guess it’s a lifetime of servitude to our baby sister.”
“Beats a lifetime of payback from her.”
“That’s the truth. So…” he said, drawing out the word. “You think maybe Everly’s purposely keeping this guy from you?”
“How’d we go from talking about Addison to talking about that guy again?” I thought we were done discussing the shithead.
He shrugged. “Just wondering.”
“She brought him to the diner, so your theory’s flawed.”
“She brought him, yes, but she never mentioned him. Didn’t set anything up with you to meet him or hang out. And she’s weirdly been busy this week…”
I didn’t want to talk about this. Mostly because I didn’t want to face the war going on inside me over the fact that I couldn’t decide if I hated or loved that she hadn’t told me anything about him.
While I had no desire to find out any more about that guy, it was odd not knowing absolutely everything that was going on in Everly’s life.
She told me everything big or small—if Chuckanut kept her up an hour later than usual or when she got her IUD replaced or if she stubbed her toe—hell, I knew her damn cycle—but she couldn’t tell me she was dating someone?
That shit hurt, whether or not I’d admit it aloud.
“But it’s probably better that way,” he said.
I snapped my head in his direction. “What? Why?”
He lifted a shoulder. “So you don’t go all jealous caveman on him and ruin her new relationship.”
Those last two words in reference to Everly made something dark twist in my gut.
I hated the thought of her with someone…
No, not with someone. With that guy. If it’d been anyone else, I would’ve been okay with it if it made her happy because she, more than anyone, deserved that.
But that she’d picked such a jackass who didn’t pay her an ounce of attention didn’t sit well with me.
She deserved a hell of a lot better than what he was giving her.
“I don’t know why no one else can see that he’s not the right one for her,” I snapped. “He’s a dick. You think she belongs with a dick?”
Ford stared at me, one brow raised, and for once, I had no idea what he was thinking. “Well…you’ve been called a dick a time or two.”
“What the hell does that have to do with—”
But before I could finish my question, the radio crackled to life, the disembodied voice on the other end calling for all available units to an address I knew by heart, and my whole fucking world stopped.
The drive to Everly’s house was the longest six minutes of my life, especially because Ford had taken my keys and shoved me in the passenger’s seat so I couldn’t control the speed or the route.
I’d never felt fear like I had when he’d confirmed that I’d heard what I thought I had—a possible structure fire with unknown occupancy at Everly’s home.
Well, maybe once… Almost a decade ago, during the storm when Mom went missing and then the subsequent hours until the boat was found. Empty.
I couldn’t handle another outcome like that. Not now. Not with Everly.
I wasn’t a glass half-full kind of guy. I was a tell it like it is, don’t sugarcoat it, and keep your rose-colored glasses ’cause I don’t need them kind of guy.
And right now, I hated that that was who I was.
Because though I wanted to believe everything was fine, that she was okay, an image of her house, engulfed in flames, played on a loop in my mind, and nothing I could do put an end to it.
“Can’t you drive any fucking faster?” I barked, clenching my hands into fists as my body vibrated with the urge to do something.
“Going as fast as I can, man.” How could his voice be so fucking calm when it felt like my entire world was spinning out of control?
When he finally screeched to a halt half a block away from Everly’s, thanks to the cluster of emergency vehicles gathered in front, I barely waited for the truck to come to a stop before I was out the door.
While my imagination had run wild on the way over there, the actual sight of flames licking up the side of her perfect little house would haunt me forever.
The vise grip on my heart tightened, squeezing to the point of pain.
I couldn’t fucking breathe, fear over where she was, whether she was hurt or safe, overwhelming me.
It was chaos everywhere I turned—too many people and none of them her. I needed to find Everly. To make sure she was okay. That she wasn’t still inside. Jesusfuck, what if she was still—
“Over there.” Ford gripped my shoulders and turned me away from Everly’s burning home and toward the woman herself.
She sat in the back of an ambulance, blanket wrapped around her and Chuckanut, who sat calmly in her lap, like their home wasn’t burning behind them.
She wore an oversized T-shirt—one of mine I must’ve accidentally left at one time or another—and little else, her bare legs peeking out from beneath the blanket, her face smeared with soot.
I inhaled sharply, the clamp around my heart loosening, and stumbled, feeling like I could finally breathe for the first time since the call had come across the radio.
The urge to go to her, to hold her and reassure myself she was here and safe and in one piece, overwhelmed me, and for once, I didn’t question or try to shove it away as I ran to her.
As if she could sense me, she lifted her head, her eyes locking on mine, and everything in me settled. Maybe for her, too, because as soon as she saw me, her shoulders sagged and her lip quivered, the blank mask she wore cracking as her eyes filled with tears.
“B-Beck,” she choked out, and someone might as well have shoved a knife straight through my heart. It would’ve hurt less.
“Sunshine…” I could barely get out the single word, my voice scraped raw.
I cupped her face, brushed her disheveled hair back, held her shoulders, and checked her over from head to toe, though I had no idea what I was looking for.
I turned to the EMT—Ben Adams, who was barely out of diapers—hovering on her left.
“Who’s taking care of her?” I tried to ask the question calmly, but from the look on Ben’s face, it hadn’t come out that way.
With wide eyes, he raised his hand like he was still in grade school. “Um, me. I am.”
“No, you’re not,” I barked. “You’re just standing there while her fucking teeth are chattering.”
“I—I already—”
“If she’s not in perfect condition, I’m holding you personally responsible, do you understand?”
“But I—I can’t—”
“Hey, Ben,” Ford said as he clapped the incompetent EMT on the shoulder, cool, calm, and collected, as if I hadn’t been minutes away from losing one of the most important people in my life. “What my brother means to say is—”
Nope, I meant to say exactly what I did, but I didn’t care how Ford smoothed that over. All I cared about was Everly. I refocused my attention on her as she gazed up at me, twin tear tracks streaking through the soot on her face.
“It’s okay. You’re okay,” I said quietly just to her.
I didn’t know if I was trying to reassure her or myself, but I kept repeating the words, nonetheless, catching her tears with my thumbs as she shivered, her teeth chattering.
“Jesus, don’t you have another fucking blanket?
” I snapped at Ben. “She doesn’t even have any goddamn pants on. ”
“I’m wearing sh-shorts,” she said, a shudder racking her body as she pulled the blanket tighter around her.
“It’s the adrenaline crash, man,” Ford said, clapping me on the shoulder. “She should head to the hospital to get checked out, but she’ll be all right.”
“I’m f-f-fine,” Everly said, barely able to get out the word.
Like hell she was.
“You’re not fucking fine.” And these idiots were taking too goddamn long to grab her another blanket.
Instead of waiting, I scooped her up in my arms—Chuck and all—and settled her sideways in my lap as I sat where she’d just been.
Shaking like a leaf, she curled against me, laying her head on my chest as I draped the blanket over her and held her and Chuck as tightly as I dared.
“You can either go to the hospital in the back of the ambulance or in my truck, but you’re going one way or another. ”
“St-still b-barking orders, even after a f-f-fire. At least you’re c-consistent.”
Ben cleared his throat. “I highly suggest she go via—”
“Nobody asked you,” I snapped. “She’s going to get there however she wants.”
Ben held up his hands with a shake of his head. “Whatever you say. Just let me know if I’m transporting her.”
I lowered my head and murmured against her ear, “What’s it going to be, sunshine?”
She tightened her fingers in my shirt, and I took that as my cue to hold her tighter. “W-with you.”
And then she ducked her head, resting her cheek on my chest as I buried my nose in her hair and breathed her in.
She smelled sharply of smoke and nothing like the subtle floral scent she usually did, but I inhaled deeply anyway.
That scent reminded me she was okay. She was still here with me, and I had no intention of letting her go.