Page 98 of Light My Fire Three Times
Before I can stop her, she presses a manicured hand to my chest and leans in, her lips so close to mine I feel the ghost of a breath.
“You really think she’ll want you if she finds out about us?”
Something in me snaps. I catch her wrist, not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to make her freeze, and peel her hand off me as if it’s toxic.
“We didn’t do anything,” I grit out. “There’s nothing to tell. We had a fling. That’s it. You don’t get to rewrite the story because your ego’s bruised.”
Her eyes flash, bright with anger. Then her smile slides back into place, sharper now. Dangerous.
“Well,” she says lightly, brushing invisible dust off her sleeve, “would be a shame if someone told her differently.”
That lands as a sucker punch. I stare at her, trying to decide if she’s bluffing or just bitter enough to burn the whole damn thing down.
“You’re not serious,” I say finally.
She tilts her head, smile sweet as arsenic. “Try me.”
For a second, the only sound is the wind and Karl cursing inside. My grip on the box tightens until the cardboard groans.
Then I laugh. A slow, low laugh that makes her blink.
“You really think you can ruin something that never even involved you?” I ask. “We weren’t together, Vanessa. We weren’t anything. You were a good time on a bad night, and you hate that I’m not pretending otherwise.”
Her cheeks flush, anger carving sharp lines into her face. “Careful, Jesse. That girl you’re mooning over. She won’t look twice at you when she finds out what you’re really like.”
I step in, closing the space she left open, and lower my voice until it’s nothing but steel.
“She’ll find out from me, if anyone,” I say. “So, if you think you’re gonna play games, don’t. You won’t win.”
Her smile falters for half a heartbeat, but she recovers fast. “We’ll see.”
I shoulder past her and head for the house, because if I stand here another second, I’ll say something I can’t take back.
Inside, the cold air clings to me as smoke, but it doesn’t put out the fire burning in my chest. Leo glances up from the wall. Karl’s still swearing at the cabinet.
“Vanessa,” Leo says flatly. He saw the whole damn thing through the window.
“Handled,” I mutter, setting the screws down harder than I mean to.
Karl looks up, eyebrows raised. “You look like you want to kill something.”
“Just tired,” I lie, but my pulse is a war drum in my ears. “Tired of it all.”
Because all I can think about is Olivia.
Her laugh. Her stubborn mouth. The way her eyes looked at me that night.
And the fact that if Vanessa really wants to torch something, Olivia will be the one standing in the flames.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Olivia
DECEMBER 12TH
The phone ringsjust as I’m pulling the kettle off the stove.
Steam curls around my face, warm and comforting until the unknown number flashes on the screen.
