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Now, that made sense. Ford would never voluntarily do something in the spotlight like that, but Turk… Turk would volunteer Ford for it, all just to humiliate him, knowing how much Ford preferred to not be the center of attention.

His gaze flickered across the crowd, briefly lingering on something in shadows on the outskirts, then latched onto Azelie, who now stood in the front of the crowd. His eyelids crunched over his eyes, and then he turned and effortlessly latched onto the pull-up bar. With ease, he began pumping out rep after rep as the cheers escalated in both vigor and volume.

I smiled to myself as Azelie began jumping up and down and Cory pushed his way to stand beside her. I knew then that I’d lost her to a boy for the rest of the day. But it was okay, because my thoughts were swamped with the man who seemed to barely have broken a sweat doing pull-ups. Not to show off, but because his daughter was watching.

And, maybe to show off. If only a little. Which I was totally okay with. The heat dancing upon my skin had nothing to do with the blazing sun overhead and everything to do with each contraction of his muscles beneath his T-shirt.

Shit. I had it bad.

Pursing my lips, I exhaled heavily and shook my head. Oh, the irony. A full circle had been drawn in the sand. It seemed as though the very place that had once seen our love story, now experienced it again.

With a final glance at the man, I quietly disappeared from the edge of the circle, knowing I wouldn’t be able to speak to him or be with him again until after his parents closed their booth and brought him home.

Where I’d be waiting.

Chapter 29

FORD

With the tap of a button ending my phone call, the room was bathed in silence. A foreign concept after all of the hullabaloo from earlier today, and a stark contrast from the muffled sobs that floated from my bedroom before I’d snuck out of the house. I’d stood at that closed door for what seemed an eternity, unsure what I could say that would patch up a teenage girl’s broken heart. I thought she’d brushed things off after overhearing Becca announce that Cory would take her to the dance, but I guess with the fact that the dance had been tonight, brought all of the emotions in her to a head.

Once I’d found the strength, I’d broken that barrier by offering her a hug because no words seemed sufficient enough. Despite knowing what that felt like, despite knowing I’d once caused a broken heart, there never seemed to be a single word that would mend what had been shattered.

Azelie hadn’t said anything to me either, simply shook within my arms and then eventually pushed me away and collapsed back on the bed. So, notwanting to listen to the quiet bickering between my parents and Colette’s, I escaped to the one place I’d always found some peace.

But this time, the solitude was overwhelming. Everything was about to boil over, whether I liked it or not. Final decisions were made, and I wasn’t sure if there was a way back from the trauma that I might cause in the process.

The moment Colette found out what my job was, once I revealed that I may or may not have been keeping tabs on her and masquerading as the Rougarou, she may immediately revert to her closed-off self. The blame sat squarely on my shoulders, too, forgetting to mention any of that before or around the time all the secrets about her parents were revealed. All of this was also annoying me because the main question that tumbled through my head was: Why? Why hadn’t I said anything? Why had I hidden this from her, whether intentionally or not? Why wasn’t I handling this like the grown ass adult I was?

Maybe because secrets were my way of life. I was very good at keeping them—everyone on my team was. Which explained why we so easily reconciled after Dom’s plan and Mikey’s fake death. But Colette? She wasn’t a part of that world, nor was Azelie, or at least they hadn’t been. It seemed they’d been unintentionally dragged into it all without their consent, and I still hadn’t provided them with the knowledge they were wrapped up in shit that shouldn’t involve them.

My decisions had brought this here. My parents knew about my job; I had to assume they understood the potential risks that came with it. But Colette didn’t know. She said she trusted me, but I wasn’t sure I’d done anything to deserve it.

Leaning back on the couch, I ran my hands over my face and shook my head. Maybe confining myself to the cabin wasn’t the smartest move. Maybe I should’ve stayed back at the house because my thoughts wouldn’t consume what final morsel of sanity tumbled around in my mind.

I’d lost a lot along this pathway I’d chosen. Taken maybe even more. And here I was, asking for blind faith from a woman who’d spent most of her life in a small town where nothing interesting happened.

Until now.

And granted, she seemed to be handling herself just fine.

I glanced at the coffee table in front of me and stared at the linen-wrapped around the gift I’d been meaning to give Colette. And piled beneath the small package were years of yellowing letters I’d never had the guts to put in the mail for her. Would she even accept these now? Or if she did, and connected all the dots, would she still accept me?

Especially considering the danger that lurked around the corner with O’Connor.

A click from the door handle snapped my gaze to the front door. My hand slipped to the gun hidden in my waistband, and I watched as the golden knob quietly twisted. He wasn’t back yet. He couldn’t be. Unless…

And a short, barely five-foot female frame I knew all too well appeared in the open doorway. Colette took a step inside the cabin and pushed a wayward curl from her messy bun behind her ear. She glanced toward my still figure on the couch and gave me a tight smile.

“Azelie finally fell asleep,” she muttered and shut the door behind her. “She mentioned you visited and just held her. I know it meant a lot to her, even if there was nothing you, nor I, could say or do to fix this, since shedidn’t think Cory would actually go to the dance with Becca. Yet here we are, post-dance, and he went with her instead of Azelie.”

Her bright green eyes met mine as she crossed the room and plopped herself down beside me on the couch with a soft bounce. I pulled my hands to my lap and leaned my forearms against my knees. “Part of me would like to give a good talkin’ to to Cory, another part of me would like to wring that Becca chick’s neck, while the rest of me just feels helpless. I’m not used to feeling helpless,” I quietly replied.

Colette inhaled deeply beside me and raised her brows. “I figured it out, you know.”

“Figured what out?” I asked with furrowed brows and glanced at her.

She smiled to herself. “That you always took care of any arguments or shit I got into when we were growing up. Here I was, thinking you were the most passive guy I’d ever met, but your most basic instinct was to always protect the people you love, even if it meant doing some…” She paused and tipped her head toward me. “Some slightly crazy things that I won’t ask for details about.”