Page 28 of Fool Me

“That’s right, all your interest is reserved for my brother now.”

I pick up my pace, heading to the back of the building where my dad sits. “Your brother doesn’t play games.”

“You’d be surprised, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.” I hated the nickname when we were together and I hate it even more now.

“This whole thing i,s a game. You don’t think I know what’s going on here? You two are trying to make me jealous—get under my skin and push me out of town. But that’s not going to happen.”

Running Canyon out of town would be a happy bonus, but my only concern is getting this job. Never mind the fact that I earned it and it’s what’s best for the town.

“Not everything is about you.”

“Isn’t it?” He cocks his head playfully.

I’ve seen Canyon’s ego firsthand, the man really thinks he’s God’s gift to the world. Bringing him down a peg or two is going to be so much fun.

Hot breath hits the shell of my ear as he whispers, “Do you think of me when you’re with him?”

His revolting words have me forcing down the bile as I spin on him. That fucking smirk; I want to slap it off his face. But he’s counting on that.

“I can’t even remember my own name, let alone yours, when I’m with Atlas. You haven’t been worth my time since the day you ran north with your tail between your legs.”

His smirk falters, but he fixes it back in place.

“Now, I’m going to walk through this door to say hi to my dad and you’re going to leave.”

“Not a chance.” Canyon just keeps following me.

Over this entire encounter, I push through the door, fixing a smile on my face. “Morning, Dad!” I cross the work space toward his desk.

After the avalanche, Dad came back to the SAR team in a different capacity. He still gets out in the field to do training with the dogs, Echo included, but most of his work is here in The Shed—inventorying, checking gear, ordering new equipment, comms, and running things when we’re out in the field.

“Morning, Harley.” My dad’s gruff voice is cheerful, fading to flat when he spots the parasite over my shoulder. “Canyon, I heard you were coming back, but I didn’t realize you were here already.”

I notice he doesn’t add any platitudes about being happy to see him, and I’m pretty sure that has more to do with me than the accident. My dad has never held the avalanche against Canyon, claiming it was a fluke that could have happened to anyone. But that’s him—forgiving to a fault. Careless mistakes were made that day and had his partner been paying attention—following protocol—my dad wouldn’t have been crushed by the snow.

The only grudge he holds over Canyon is hurting me in the avalanche’s aftermath. I put my trust in Canyon. He was my first friend when I moved here and he took me under his wing with the search and rescue team. It was nice to have someone besides my dad to guide me amid an overwhelming career change. His betrayal was a crushing blow because it didn’t just bruise my heart, it shattered my confidence. If I misjudged him so badly, what else was I wrong about?

“Harlowe didn’t tell you? That’s funny. We saw each other last weekend at Jude’s. Although, she was a little preoccupied with my brother, so I guess that makes sense.”

Fucking prick. I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell my dad. He’s not a decision maker for my promotion, but he’s a trusted confidante for the SAR team. Knowing this relationship is a lie would put him in a terrible position, but the idea of hiding it makes me sick to my stomach.

We’ve never had secrets from each other and I don’t like it, but I can’t see any other way around it. Keeping it from him for the next few weeks and coming clean when all is said and done with the job is best for everyone.

“I met your brother last week, but I hadn’t realized he and Harlowe knew each other that well.” One fuzzy, gray eyebrow lifts making dad’s forehead wrinkle.

“It’s, um . . . new. I just haven’t had the chance to tell you yet.”

True, mostly. I was too busy trying to figure out how to handle it with him, something I didn’t think about when I kissed Atlas in public last week.

“Are you sticking around for the training? Travis mentioned you were interested in rejoining the team.”

The hell he is. I know he’s coming for the Incident Commander job, but I’m not ready to work side by side with him so soon. I figured if he didn’t get the job, he would run off to the next best thing rather than stick around.

“I’m sure he’s got other things going on. Besides, he’s not part of the team.” He made sure of that when he took off. “It would be a liability to have him out there with us today.” Then again, every mission with Canyon is a liability.

He hums. “Not today, but I’ll be back before you know it.”

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