35. Ford #2
As she leaves, I glare back at my uncle. “Why’d you tell me to keep my voice down?”
“Because the young fireman over there wants to do an investigation on what started the fire,” my uncle seethes.
“So? Isn’t that standard procedure?” I ask.
“Yeah, but if they find out it’s arson…”
“Arson?”
The blood drains from my face. What. The actual.
Fuck? I glance toward the fireman in question, standing beside June.
She isn’t laughing or smiling or doing anything at all, really.
Just nodding with her arms crossed over her chest in the same revealing top I fucked her in.
What are the odds her ex would’ve been on call tonight, let alone me bringing her here so they could catch up and chit-chat about the good ol’ days?
I rein in my jealousy, well aware it won’t get me anywhere. Besides, my family has some pretty big fucking boulders that need to be dealt with first. Like, who the hell would’ve tried burning down my house tonight.
Keeping my expression in check, I grit out, “Who thinks it was arson? The fireman? Or you?”
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Uncle Judge mutters. “They’re gonna ask where you were.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.” He doesn’t look too happy about it, either. “You and Jag and Hawke and Rome. Because if none of you have any solid alibis…”
“We didn’t torch our fuckin’ house, Unc,” I snap. Honestly, I’m offended he would even say something so far-fetched.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then why are you questioning me?”
“Because it doesn’t matter what I know, Ford.
” He jabs his fingers into his chest, then clenches his fist and tilts his head toward the group gathered across the yard.
“What matters is what they can prove. What matters is what your dad’s gonna say when this gets back to him.
What matters…” He swallows thickly. “Is that you boys are safe.” My spine turns to steel as he wraps his arms around me, hugging me with a ferocity I never dreamed.
We’re not exactly a hugging family, and we sure as shit have never experienced it from a father figure.
Part of me wonders if he’s being selfish.
If the only reason he’s hugging me is for his own damn reasons, and it has nothing to do with me.
It’s a shit thing to think, but I can’t help it. Even so, a lump lodges in my throat.
It’s only a hug.
I lift my lead-filled arms to pat his back. “I’m, uh, I’m all right, Unc.”
“I know you are.” His quiet sniff hits the side of my face. “And I know you’re gonna stay that way.” Letting me go, he wipes beneath his nose with his tatted knuckle. “But first, we gotta get these people off your property so we can sit down and have a real chat. You understand?”
“You sure Daddy Dearest would like that?” I challenge. “Us having a chat.”
“Fuck your father.”
My brows raise, and I lean back. “Fuck my father, huh?”
Well, I’ll be damned. Seems a near-death experience is all it took to wake up my uncle from being under my father’s thumb.
Then again, Jagger’s been trying to convince us of my uncle’s change of heart for a while now.
But if I ever wanted proof, it seems I finally have it. My chin dips. “I hear you.”
“Good.” He slaps me on the back. “Come on. Let’s hurry this up so we can really talk.”
Hurry this up. Right. It’s what I should do. It’s where my damn mind should be. Instead, I’m caught up on a certain woman standing beside a certain asshat on my property.
As we walk back to the group, my attention lingers on June.
Why is she still talking to him? Why is he still looking at her like that?
Like he has any shot with her after I literally shot my load in her pussy earlier.
Okay, technically, we used a condom, but the sentiment stands.
She broke up with him. She hooked up with me. So why won’t he leave her alone?
“Judge, I’ll catch up,” I tell him before jogging toward June and the man of the hour.
As if she can feel my presence, she looks over at me, rubbing her hands up and down her bare arms. Fuck, she must be freezing. I glare at Bryan and shrug off my coat. “Here, Bug.”
She pulls it tighter around her. “Thank you.”
“Glad at least some of us still have manners.”
Bryan’s chuckle is fake at best. “To be fair, I offered her mine, but she said she wasn’t that cold.”
My chest puffs up with pride, no matter how trivial his words are.
“You doing okay?” she asks me.
“Yeah, man,” Bryan interjects. “How you holding up?”
My molars grind, but I keep my expression in check. “Never better. Getting a call that your house is on fire is a great aphrodisiac, don’t you think, June?”
The girl looks like she’s about to shrivel up and die from embarrassment.
Jaw unhinged, she stares back at me like I just betrayed her in the most intimate way possible.
And maybe I did. Wait, did I? Did I betray her?
I was trying to…fuck, I don’t even know what I was trying to do.
Stake my claim? Remind Bryan where he stands? What am I? A damn caveman?
Bryan’s eyes bulge as his focus tracks from me to June and back again. “Oh. I didn’t…I take it you two are more than friends of a friend now?”
Crickets. If they hadn’t all died from the smoke or been sprayed by our gardener, I’m sure we’d be able to hear them. Instead, all that’s left is a silence so thick, so solid, I feel like I can’t breathe.
“Honestly, I don’t know what we are,” June finally murmurs. “But, uh, I should probably get home. You know. Check on Quasimodough and everything.” She rocks back on her heels, her arms locked tight around her torso as if she’s holding herself together.
Bryan moves closer to her. Reaching out, he places his hand on her lower back. “Come on. We’ll give you a ride.”
“Are you allowed to offer rides to civilians when on the job?” I interject.
“Pretty sure my boss will make an exception for a pretty girl like June,” he returns with the same sick, boy-next-door smile that’s really starting to piss me off.
“I’ll take her,” I decide.
“You have things to do,” she reminds me.
I shake my head. “Other things can wait.”
June’s stare is like a beacon, drawing me in, though almost lifeless at the same time, as it stays pinned to the side of my face.
I turn to her and wait. Yeah, okay, I was being an ass.
I didn’t mean to, though. Honest. Okay, that’s bullshit, too.
I did mean to be an ass, but only to Bryan.
Not to her. Then my mouth got the best of me, and here we are.
Guess Daddy Dearest was right once again.
I screwed things up before they even had a chance to begin.
“June?” Bryan questions.
“Stay with me.” I’m not sure if it’s a demand or a request, and to be honest, I don’t really care, either.
I want her to stay. Plain. Simple. Easy as one, two, three, even if it isn’t.
Not really. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to stay at this point.
Trouble is, I don’t care. And the idea of June riding off into the sunset with Fireman Bryan makes me want to hit something.
Peeking up at me, June whispers, “And where would I stay?”
Fuck, she’s right. I don’t have a home. Not one she can stay at tonight, anyway. But the idea of letting her leave with Fireman Bryan feels about as comfortable as having a glass shard stuck up my dick and hit with a hammer, so where the hell does that leave me?
“June?” Bryan prods. “You sure you don’t want a ride?”
“Ford!” Jagger yells. “Get over here!”
“One minute!” I call before turning back to June. “Let me give you a ride.”
Her mouth bunches, and I can see the indecision in her eyes. “Pretty sure you’re needed here.”
“Please?” I push.
With a subtle dip of her chin, June gives in, surprising us both. “Okay.”