Page 76 of Ransom

"Spark," he offers, gazing down the driveway. "Which is pretty fucking disappointing."

"Is this the part where we make a pact to get married if we're both single when we're fifty?"

He grunts, shaking his head. "You watch too many movies. Though, that's not the worst idea I've ever heard."

I grunt back and pop the last of my sandwich in my mouth. I suppose it isn't. I can't picture living in Maggie's house by myself. Yeah, the kid will be there, but I'll have no one to talk about all the things that worry me. No one to complain to. No one to gossip with.

Maybe Adam couldn't be that person for me, but maybe being married to my friend would be better than being alone.

"Want to come over tonight? I'll cook." He's looking at me expectantly. It's an offer he's made dozens of times.

The invitation hangs in the air. Any other time, I'd say yes without hesitation. Our arrangement has always been simple—good food, better sex, no complications. But everything's different now, and that's so annoying.

"I should probably stay with Maggie tonight." The excuse sounds weak even to my ears.

"Sure, no problem." Adam doesn't seem bothered, but his eyes study my face. "Rain check?"

Before I can answer, a shadow falls across us. Ransom stands there, jaw clenched, glaring at Adam like he wants to punch him. The temperature seems to drop ten degrees.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Ransom's voice is tight, eyes locked on Adam.

"I live here, genius. Have for years," Adam says with a small smirk. I haven’t seen that look on his face in a long time.

Oh, fuck. This is not going to be good.

Ransom's jaw starts twitching as he looks between Adam and me. "Don't do that. Don't play fucking games. We're too old. Are you two together?"

Adam rises slowly, his casual demeanor replaced with something harder. The two men size each other up, and I feel the old tension crackling between them. Ransom’s taller, but Adam, a fireman is objectively more muscular. Both men are strong and fierce. Any fight between them would go very badly, for both of them.

"I don't see how that's any of your business. You're a visitor. You're just passing through, right? Why the fuck do you deserve to know anything about anyone in this town?"

Ransom turns to me, eyes stormy. "Him, Blair? Seriously? Fucking Adam?"

I get it. Adam was an asshole when we were in high school—an asshole I went on a date with. A date that ended with Ransom's bloody knuckles and my foot in Adam's balls.

A night that ended with Ransom's lips on mine.

It was the beginning of the end.

I step between them, my hands raised, and Adam immediately growls and nudges me back. Protective asshole. I don't know this new Ransom, but I do know that he would never hurt me.

Not physically, anyway.

"Back off, Ransom. Adam's not who he was in high school."

"People don't change that much," Ransom growls.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" I cross my arms. "While you were gone building your empire, some of us stayed here and grew up. Adam served three tours. He's one of our best firefighters now."

Adam remains quiet, but I can feel the tension in his stance behind me. After that night, he'd tormented Ransom relentlessly in high school—calling him foster freak, starting fights, trying to make his life hell. But that Adam was long gone. In his place is a quieter, more thoughtful man. A man who's lived through horrors he won't talk about.

"It's fine, Blair." Adam's voice is steady. "I get it. I was an absolute shit back then." He faces Ransom directly. "The people that matter to me know who I am now. I don't give a fuck what you think of me."

Ransom's fists clench and unclench at his sides. "You made my life hell."

"Yeah, I did." Adam nods. "I was angry and messed up. The military straightened me out, showed me what really matters." He picks up his lunch wrapper. "And I guess you're still the same asshole that threw a brick through the grocery window—the asshole that took every good thing this town did for you and shit all over it."

Ransom sways once, the words hitting him like physical blows. Adam doesn't wait for a reply.

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