Page 13 of Hearts of Fairlake

"Your dad might be comfortable with that kind of thing, but I'm not."

"Neither am I...still, good to know."

He kissed me again, reluctantly pulling away, making my chest flutter slightly. It was always nice to know he still found it hard to control himself around me when he was riled up. Those moments didn't happen nearly as often as they had in the first year, but it wasn't like I expected us to maintain the level of horniness as in the early parts of arelationship. But we never forgot each other, and our desire might nap occasionally, but it never fully went away.

My phone buzzed, and I opened it to laugh at Ayla's message.

Sorry for leaving like that and don't tell Chase what I said. That was just supposed to make her mad. He's kind of a dick sometimes, but he's a really great person. I knew he was the sort of person that would offend her the most.

I tapped back.

Don't worry. Your mission succeeded, and honestly? You should tell Chase that when you see him. It'll make him happy to make B mad and make him sputter when you say nice shit about it.

Oh, you're right! I'm totally doing that when I see him!

It was followed by a devil emoji smiling, and I set the phone down, knowing she would be alright if she was already willing to antagonize Chase. People liked to compare it to a sort of uncle and niece relationship, but she had that with other people as it was. No, their mutual antagonism and affection reminded me of all the siblings I’d seen interact. It didn't matter that there were almost two decades between them. They were like brother and sister.

My eyes fell to the pile of mail I hadn't noticed, and Iflipped through it. "Bill, junk, junk, you know it's bad enough we still get spam mail, spam ads, and those stupid text messages that are so obvious. Why do they have to…wait a minute."

Ian turned from the fridge. "What?"

I picked up a plain envelope with only two things written on it.

Sorry, Ethan

"What could he be sorry over?" Ian asked slowly, and I could see from the slight shoulder roll that he was already bracing for impact.

"Let's find out," I said softly. I opened the envelope andfound a few papers folded up inside. One was a piece of a map with a few marks, followed by a couple of what looked like receipts and pay stubs. The last was a piece of official-looking paper that I read. "Oh."

"What?" Ian asked tensely, and I held the paper out for him to read. I looked over what else was in there, putting the pieces together.

"Oh fuck," Ian groaned a moment later. "She's out?"

"On 'good behavior,' apparently," I said with a snort. "Which is shorthand, for she didn't cause a lot of problems, and they need the space for other felons."

"Fuck, what's the rest of it say?"

"It's stuff from the last few weeks. She's in Denver again. Probably living with someone else since he didn't find where she's living."

Ian sat down at the table, breakfast long forgotten. "What are we going to tell Ayla?"

"The same thing we've always done," I told him, reaching across the table to grip his hand, reminding him that he wasn't alone. "The truth."

God knew what that was going to do to her.

ISAIAH

I winced as something buzzed past my head and flitted against my ear. Swatting at it, my eyes went wide as I nearly teetered over the edge and tumbled down the roof. It was slick from the rain we'd had earlier, and if it hadn't been for my legs gripping the post at the roof's peak, I would have fallen right off. I quickly reminded myself that when perching up high, it was a damn good idea to pay attention to my surroundings...while also commending myself for always anchoring in case I flaked out.

Whatever offending insect had smacked into me was gone, and I adjusted my position, looking out on the town as it slept peacefully. Sure, people frequently referred to Fairlake as a sleepy little town, but it was even more so when it was well into the night, and all you could see were the occasional pricks of light from porches or other night owls. Otherwise, it was just the hazy shape of all the roofs stretched out, covered by a blanket of stars overhead.

Fairlake was the town I had known my entire life, if you didn't count the vacations I'd once taken with my family. Back then, I never would have imagined where I’d end uponce I was an adult. I never would have predicted that my family would look at the fact that I was gay and decide that wouldn't work with the family image. I could force myself into a loveless, sexless, miserable marriage, dragging someone else down with me into that pit of misery, or I wouldn't have a family.

Well, the joke was on them. I didn't need them as a family anymore. I had the guys at the fire station, Bennett and now Adam, and people like Grant and his ever-charming husband, Sylas. I had the difficult Ethan and the taciturn Chief Price. I had the grumpy Chase and his equally sweet boyfriend, Devin. And yes, I also had my husband peacefully sleeping in the firehouse beneath me as we took the night shift together.

And I had my family's money. An unofficial, under-the-table agreement that I would live quietly so the family name wouldn't be sullied. Of course, all it would take for the house of cards to collapse would be one person to dig and realize that one of the founding families shared a surname with me. But now, there was a new weakness in the foundation, and it had come with such a carefree, genuinely well-meant offer.

To represent my family at the anniversary festival for Fairlake, the town I loved with all my heart. In the mayor's mind, my family might have abandoned the town, but I hadn't, and he wanted me to be the face to show that some of the Ender family still loved its original home.

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