Page 98 of Wildest Forever

“And open up to that beautiful wife of yours, she's there through the dark days as well as the brighter ones.”

He doesn't reply and I scamper away and tuck myself back into the kitchen, pottering around so he thinks I wasn't eavesdropping.

I know I shouldn't have been, but I wanted to know what had him so shaken up.

And now I know.

Conrad was dead.

Another life taken and all leads will point to the Rivera family.

That's two bodies that have been found on their land.

I hear the sound of footsteps behind me and Aspen's voice follows, wrapping around the room like a warm cashmere blanket.

“See ya tomorrow Morgan.”

“Oh,” I spin acting surprised, “see you later Aspen.” I hold my hand up and give her a toothy grin. She holds her hand up and waves. Pacey sulks in behind her, hands fisted into his front pockets, head down.

She pulls him in for a hug and rubs between his shoulder blades.

“Everything will be okay, it'll all get fixed, you know that,” her voice is low but still loud enough for me to hear.

He gives her a sad nod before she turns on her heel and sees herself out just as I begin to toss the salad.

Silence echoes around the house and as the seconds pass, my heart beats a little faster.

“Morgan...” his voice rips through me like wildfire, the way my name slips off his tongue licks against my skin like a flame.

I inhale deeply, dropping the wooden salad forks into the bowl and twist with it in my hands, head cocked to the side as I let my eyes sweep over him.

“Pacey?” I answer him with a question, walking into the dining room and placing the salad in the middle of the table and I hear the sound of him following me like a lost puppy.

“I'm sorry,” he just about manages to squeeze out and I stop in my tracks.

“For what?” one hand sits on my hip, and I can feel the rage bubbling inside of me and I hate it.

Because I don't even think I am mad at him.

I am mad at myself for calling his mom the second it got a little tough for me because I didn't know what to do.

I should have pushed a bit harder, knocked into his walls and I know he would have told me eventually, but I didn't.

“For not talking to you,” and the crack in his voice has the breath catching at the back of my throat.

Opening my mouth before slamming it shut again.

“I know you called my ma,” and if I wasn't staring at him, I would have missed the ghost of a smirk that caused the corner of his lip to lift.

“I... I mean...” I wave my hand around in front of me and stammer over my words. He shakes his head from side to side and steps towards me, closing the gap in two strides.

We're body to body.

Nose to nose.

And I swear he can see my heart lurching out of my chest.

“I didn't know what to do,” I whisper, all rage that once was a fuelled flame was now nothing but a simmer of ashes.

---