Page 69 of Playing with Fire

But still, my mind whirled with questions. What if we were living together? Or married? Would he still choose to send me away without even asking me what I wanted or what I thought? Would he single-handedly make decisions about our life, about what was best for us? For the girls? I understood we weren’t there yet, but until this was resolved, I knew those thoughts would continue to plague me.

Chapter Thirty-Six

LOGAN

It had been almostfive days since that Thursday morning when I sent Izzy and my girls away. It was what I’d decided, so I had no right to be miserable. But fuck did I miss them.

I’d video-called with Nikki and Alice once or twice and came to their soccer game on Saturday. Honestly, it wasn’t much different than when they were with Maggie for long stretches, but the idea of this going on for weeks or months made my gut twist.

I’d texted and called Izzy every day, and we grabbed lunch after the soccer game. She didn’t seem angry, but I could tell she was holding back. I’d expected her to yell at me when I told her my plan. But she didn’t. Not sure if that made it worse or better. I couldn’t tell if she was mad at me or not, and there wasn’t much I could do to fix it if she was. Keeping her and the girls safe was my priority. I had to hope she understood that.

I wiped the front of the rig with the rag. This was the third time I’d wash the damn thing since the fire above my garage. Something about the task calmed my racing thoughts. Usually. Today, it wasn’t really helping.

Jay appeared in my peripheral vision, standing silently, watching me.

I turned to him with a raised brow. Was this the conversation where he would tell me his sister deserved better? Because right now, I might agree with him. She didn’t deserve to be dealing with a serial arsonist who had decided I was the problem.

“Spit it out.” I threw the rag down in the soapy bucket. “Let me guess. You're pissed I’m dating your sister because she deserves better than the life I can give her.”

He flinched back. “Dude. I was just coming to see how you’re holding up. This situation sucks and you’re both miserable.”

I narrowed my eyes at him before finally relenting and sitting down on the bumper of the rig. “She’s really miserable?”

“Definitely wasn’t like herself last night when she stopped by to visit.”

God, I hated this. For both of us. “Not sure what else I can do. You even said yourself the arsonist is sending me a message. I refuse to put her and the girls in harm's way.”

“What does Izzy think?”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you guys talked about what you’re going to do if this keeps going?”

I stared blankly at him. “No.”

Truthfully, I had no idea what the answer was. I missed Izzy and my girls, and it’d only been five days. I didn’t even want to imagine how I’d feel if this went on for more than another week or so.

He let out a huff and shook his head at me. “That explains why she wasn’t forthcoming last night about the whole thing.”

“You think she’s mad?”

He shrugged. “Women expect us to use our words. I've even learned that, and you're older than me. And you were married.”

I ran a hand down my face. “I need to know they’re safe. That he can’t get to them.”

“Yeah, man. I get that. But you have no idea if this is going to go on for weeks or even months. Are you going to keep them away that long?”

“What else can I do? I can’t be there with them all the time. What if he tries setting my actual house on fire next time?”

Jay stared at me for a long minute before speaking again. “Everything we’ve seen so far says this kid isn’t trying to hurt anyone.”

I glared at Jay, knowing what he meant but not liking it. “He’s twenty, not a kid. And setting anything on fire runs the risk of getting someone hurt.”

Jay’s gaze softened. “I know, I just meant he’s not intentionally trying to hurt people. He could have set your house on fire, but he knew people were inside.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near my house, Izzy, or the girls.”

“Then get one of those crazy-ass security systems Dylan has. You’d be alerted if anyone gets close enough.”

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