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I swirl on him, a snarl ripping out of me. “I’ve dealt with enough pawing men in my life.”

“Wait.” His eyes widen. “You?—”

I push back out the door and storm around to the front of the cabin overlooking the lake. It’s another clear crisp night—it would have been utterly perfect if not for the outburst.

It’s too dark to see far without the moon, and the forest ringing the water’s edge is nothing but a wall of darkness. It doesn’t matter.

None of it matters.

I stalk to the edge of the lake and step in, shoes and all. The cool water immediately seeps through the canvas fabric and floods my Toms.

I bend, fumbling around for a stone and lifting it, only to toss it across the water.

It plops rather than skips across the surface. The second one is much the same. I grab a handful the next time, keeping them in my left hand and throwing them as far as I’m able with the right.

One after the other. I send my thoughts with the stones.

Soren has a lot of nerve. After the shit he said earlier today… He’s always been a pain, but grabbing me? It’s not okay.

Gravel crunches behind me. A quick glance over my shoulder gives me relief that Soren hasn’t followed me out. It’s Aiden, with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders lifted in a shrug.

“If you want to keep playing peacemaker, let me save you the trouble. I’m not in a good place to hear it,” I say as he approaches. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you aren’t. But I figured maybe you’d like a little silent company while you turn our beach to sand and send all the rocks out to the center of the lake.”

“I’m not ready to come inside yet. I need a little more time.”

“Totally understandable. And there’s no excuse for Soren. He comes from a good place…” Aiden trails off.

“But?”

“But I agree with him. He means well and the execution falls short, but he’s right. You do need to be more careful.”

He says carefully.

My throat swells and needles prick at me. “Say whatever you want to say, Aiden, then please do whatever it is you want to do besides talk to me.”

Except I’m not ready to send him away yet. If Soren is gasoline on my flames, then Aiden is the fireplace, makingsure the flames remain together and safe, warming for the soul.

Fucking weird, Gil.

I’m nothing but a mess. And the longer I stay, the easier it is to get sucked into a whirlpool and over my head.

Aiden is close enough to touch if I reach for him. I’m not reaching. “Whatever you did in your life back home, it isn’t the kind of thing you can do here,” he says.

“Meaning?”

He simply shrugs again.

“But it’s a small town. Why is there so much fear?”

“Like Soren said. People are people.”

“It sounds like we’ve all had experiences with shitty human nature,” I mutter.

My fingers clench around another stone and I let it go halfheartedly. It sinks down to the murky bottom.

Aiden brushes the back of my shirt, grabbing hold, and slowly draws me out of the water. “Look, I know things are tense right now. We’re getting used to each other and learning to live together, for however long. It might be a week, it might be a few days, we don’t know. We’ve got to get along. So we look out for each other.”