14. Blaze
BLAZE
The second Isabel said it, every muscle in my body locked tight.
You love him.
Nobody moved.
Rain hammered the tavern windows hard enough to rattle the glass while Flick stayed crouched in front of the girl looking like the world had just split open beneath her feet.
And hell?—
Maybe it had.
Because sixteen years ago, Felicity McKenna loved me with her whole heart.
The terrifying part?
I was starting to realize she never stopped.
Flick slowly looked up at me over her shoulder.
Those blue eyes hit me straight in the chest.
Vulnerable.
Caught.
Still his.
Trigger suddenly cleared his throat loud enough to shake the tension loose a little.
“Well,” he muttered. “This feels emotionally devastating.”
Wolf elbowed him hard.
“What?” Trigger grumbled. “I’m uncomfortable.”
Under any other circumstances, I might’ve laughed.
Instead, my focus stayed locked on Flick.
She stood slowly.
Carefully.
Like sudden movement might break whatever fragile thing had just happened between us.
Ava glanced between the two of us once before wisely deciding not to touch that situation with a ten-foot pole.
Smart woman.
Isabel looked mortified now.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “I just… the way he looks at you…”
Flick’s cheeks flushed deeper.
God help me, she was still beautiful when she blushed.
My chest tightened painfully.
Because I remembered seventeen.
I remembered football games and stolen kisses and Flick laughing in my truck while she tucked her cold hands beneath my jacket.
I remembered loving her so hard it scared me.
And standing here now?
Nothing had changed.
That realization should’ve terrified me more than it did.
Ava finally stepped back into the conversation.
“We don’t have much time.”
Instantly every Ranger in the room shifted focus.
Business.
Danger.
War.
“Talk,” Wolf said.
Ava nodded once.
“Two men connected to the cartel were spotted thirty miles outside Eagle River earlier tonight.”
Every protective instinct inside me sharpened instantly.
“Names?”
“We don’t have them yet.”
Trigger cursed under his breath.
Ava continued.
“They’re asking questions. Moving cash. Burning safe locations behind them.”
My jaw tightened hard.
Cleanup crews.
Which meant the cartel was nervous.
Dangerous people got even more dangerous when they were scared.
Flick wrapped her arms around herself tighter.
I noticed immediately.
Of course I did.
“They know about me being here at the tavern,” she whispered.
Ava hesitated.
Too long.
Flick went pale.
“Oh my God…”
“They know there’s a female witness,” Ava corrected carefully. “We don’t think they know your current location yet.”
Yet.
That word hung ugly in the room.
Isabel looked close to panicking again.
“What if they followed us here?”
“They didn’t,” Wolf answered firmly.
Calm.
Certain.
Ranger.
The girl looked at him like she wanted desperately to believe that.
Truthfully?
So did Flick.
I stepped closer to her automatically.
Not touching.
Just there.
Her breathing eased slightly anyway.
Trigger noticed.
The bastard’s expression softened for about half a second before he covered it with sarcasm.
“So what I’m hearing is we’ve got two federal witnesses, a corrupt leak somewhere in law enforcement, cartel hitters circling town, and zero sleep.”
Wolf nodded once.
“Pretty much.”
“Fantastic.”
Ava looked toward me.
“Marshal service can relocate both witnesses tonight.”
“No.”
Flick’s voice came instantly.
Sharp enough to cut glass.
Everybody looked at her.
Her eyes burned now.
Not fear this time.
Exhaustion.
Anger.
“I’m not running again.”
“Felicity—”
“No.”
The word cracked apart halfway through.
God.
She was hanging on by threads.
“I can’t keep disappearing every time they get close,” she whispered. “I can’t keep waking up somewhere new pretending I’m somebody else.”
Silence.
Heavy silence.
Even Ava looked affected by that.
Flick laughed softly then, but there wasn’t anything funny in the sound.
“Do you know how long it’s been since someone called me by my real name?”
Jesus Christ.
Something inside me twisted violently.
Because the answer was probably:
Until me.
Her eyes finally lifted toward mine again.
And there it was.
Everything.
History.
Love.
Pain.
Home.
“I’m tired,” she whispered.
That did it.
I crossed the remaining distance between us before I could think better of it.
My hand settled gently against the side of her neck.
Warm skin.
Shaking pulse.
Flick closed her eyes instantly like the touch hurt and healed at the same time.
“You’re not alone anymore,” I said quietly.
The room went completely silent.
Not awkward silence.
The kind of silence people fall into when they're witnessing something important.
Because every person standing there understood exactly what they were seeing.
Sixteen years didn’t kill this.
Nothing did.
Flick’s eyes opened slowly.
Wet now.
Beautiful.
Terrified.
“You can’t promise me that,” she whispered.
“Yes,” I said softly. “I can.”
Emotion flickered across her face so hard it nearly wrecked me.
Because I think some part of her wanted to believe me more than she wanted oxygen.
Then suddenly?—
The tavern lights went out.
Darkness slammed through the room.
Instant.
Total.
And outside?—
A vehicle screeched to a stop in the rain.