Page 13 of Branded Souls (Ember Hollow Romance #3)

Skye

I stared at Fox, wondering whether I’d hallucinated what he’d said.

But the sincerity was stark in his expression. Sincerity I didn’t deserve.

“You don’t have to.” I hugged my arms tight around me. “I can figure this out.”

He shook his head, like he was dismissing that train of thought. “You could, but you don’t have to.”

And that was all I needed to stop fighting him. I’d been feeling so in over my head. Ever since I’d seen that bracelet, I’d felt unstable, like I couldn’t find a steady foothold. Just hearing his offer of help made me feel more grounded.

Maybe he saw the acceptance in my expression, because he picked up my laptop and glanced at Emersyn. “Stay with her.” He nodded toward me. “I’m going to talk to August and see what kind of security system we can get set up out here quickly. ”

Emersyn nodded. “Yeah, of course.” Worry flickered in her eyes as she glanced at me. “Are you sure it’ll be safe for her to stay out here by herself…even with the new system?”

Fox’s gaze was heavy on me as I addressed Emersyn. “I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “But I’m not sure about getting a security system out here. This is a rental. I don’t want to get in trouble with the owners, and it would be a wasted expense anyway…”

“You won’t be paying for anything,” Fox murmured.

I turned back to him. His stare was slightly unfocused, like he was deep in thought. “Fox—”

“Emersyn’s right.” He cut me off, nodding as if he’d already made a decision. “It would be best if you stayed somewhere else. Somewhere less secluded.”

“And where am I supposed to go?” I frowned. “There’s no hotels in town. This was the closest rental I could find.”

He looked at me like I was missing something obvious, and my stomach clenched. I shook my head before he even said the words.

“You’d be better off staying at my parents’ bed-and-breakfast. It’s secure there.”

The mere thought had panic ricocheting through me.

Raleigh and Warner Ramsey had turned their beautiful, big Victorian home into a bed-and-breakfast since I’d been gone. It had come up in my search for a place to stay in the area, but seeing that home, even online in the pictures, had brought on a world of painful memories.

Painful, because that house had once been home to me, too.

When Fox and I had started dating, his mother had welcomed me with open arms. She always made me feel comfortable and cared for.

I didn’t know how much she knew of my life living with my father, but she never asked questions when I stayed late or hung out there before school.

The Ramseys had made me feel like I belonged.

And I’d just…disappeared.

I had broken their son’s heart and left town.

There was no way I could face them now—especially Raleigh.

I took a step back, as if distancing myself would make the idea go away. “I can’t.”

Fox’s intense gaze wandered over me. His eyes were always calculating, analyzing everything around him. “It’s the easiest solution.”

“I can’t stay there.”

The frustration was evident in the tight set of his jaw, but he didn’t argue.

He looked back at Emersyn, like she was the more reasonable one. “Stay with her for now,” he said. “Keep the door locked. I’m going to talk to my brother and come up with a plan. I’ll be back soon.”

Emersyn stepped closer to my side. “Okay.”

He looked at me one last time. Then he turned, my laptop in hand, and exited the little cabin.

Emersyn was close behind him, locking the doorknob and the dead bolt. When she spun back around, she adjusted her glasses. “Well, that was an interesting turn of events.”

I wasn’t sure how to process everything. My default was to push it all down and pretend like it didn’t exist, but that was becoming harder to do. I was coming face-to-face with my past in a way I never expected.

I unfolded my arms from my chest, keeping my hands balled into tight fists so she wouldn’t see the absolute wreck my nail beds were.

“I’m so sorry about all of this.” I shook my head, trying to keep my voice steady. “This was not what I was expecting. ”

“Ember Hollow holds a lot of secrets.” Emersyn shrugged. “Lucky for you, secrets are my specialty.” She grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the small couch.

I eased down onto it, and she took a seat beside me.

“I also can relate to the…family drama.” Her cool tone held a sharpness as she said the last two words. I studied her face. Emersyn hadn’t shared much about her past with me, but she had been through an unimaginable event not long ago with the Shadow Stalker.

I took a breath. “Sorry,” I murmured. “This must all seem so…ridiculous. I should be focusing on the job I was sent here to do. That’s what’s important—”

She cut me off by waving a hand. “Don’t.

” She gave me a stern glare. “Don’t downplay your feelings.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few months, it’s that emotions will always demand to be felt.

What you’re feeling is valid, Skye. You just found out your mother could have been murdered.

That isn’t ridiculous. The truth is important. ”

My eyes burned. I wanted to thank her, but I couldn’t speak through the lump in my throat.

She gave me an encouraging smile. “As for the documentary, I can help with that. I can help with a lot of things. Use me.”

I wanted to hug her. She was a literal angel.

I will not cry. I will not cry.

“Tell me what I can do for you,” she continued, leaning closer. “Tell me exactly what you need.”

I cleared my throat. “I feel lost without my computer. My life was on that thing.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Do you have hard copies of anything?”

I had some I’d had Brandon get for me from the police department. But it wasn’t a whole lot of help.

“There’s a little bit I have, but not a lot.” I shrugged. “Honestly, most of my time has been spent trying to identify Jane Doe.”

Emersyn glanced at the table that was covered in all my work stuff.

“Give me what you’ve got,” she said. “It can give me a place to start. I’m pretty good at digging through public records, and I’ve got people who owe me favors.” She winked at me.

Giving her a small, relieved smile, I stood and returned to the table. I sifted through some of the files, finding some I thought would be most useful, and passed them to her. “Thank you. Seriously. You’ve been so…helpful. I owe you endless favors.”

She inspected the files. “It’s not a problem.” Her voice softened as she looked up at me. “And you don’t owe me anything.”

Gratitude and confusion settled in my chest. I barely knew this woman. Why was she going out of her way to do this for me? I wasn’t sure if she sensed my uncertainty, but she stepped closer.

“You know…when I was digging into the Shadow Stalker case, back before he was caught, I was afraid too.”

I gave her an incredulous look. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

From what had been reported, he had been threatening her, stalking her, and she kept on working to catch him.

Emersyn laughed dryly. “Because I’m a stubborn woman and thought I could handle anything by myself.”

A familiarity I didn’t want to acknowledge gnawed at me. “Catching a cold-blooded killer isn’t exactly a stroll in the park.”

Her brows rose. “Neither is solving a decades-old murder. ”

There was a protest on my lips, but I sealed them shut. Something about Emersyn made me feel…seen. A part of me recognized something in her. She wasn’t telling me what to do or feel. She was simply offering understanding.

My shoulders sagged, as if some invisible weight had been lifted.

“I guess you’re right.” I let out a heavy breath.

“And if I can help you with this, I’m going to. Not because you’ll owe me something, but because I want to.”

That lump threatened to return, but I swallowed it down. “How did you do it?” I asked, curious and desperate.

She knew what I was asking. How did she keep going, even when she was scared? Even when she was exhausted and drained and the world was telling her she shouldn’t.

Emersyn glanced down at the files in her hands. “I don’t know where I would’ve ended up if it wasn’t for August,” she said, so quiet I leaned in closer to hear. “At first, I didn’t want anything to do with him.” She shook her head. “Again, I’m stubborn, but he never gave up on me.”

A warmth bloomed in my chest. I was so glad August had found someone like her—someone smart and strong and loyal. He deserved her. August was one of the best.

I’d missed him.

Emersyn pushed back her shoulders. “All that to say,” she said. “Not being alone helps.”

The corner of my lip lifted. I was about to thank her one last time, for everything, when a loud pounding on the door made us both jump.

Our gaze shot to the entrance.

“Em, it’s me.” August’s muffled voice drifted through. “Open up.”

Emersyn immediately headed to the door and unlocked it .

August and Fox stepped inside, much sooner than I expected.

August looked around like the walls themselves were a threat—eyes flicking to the windows, the corners, the back door. He threw his twin brother a look. “You left them here. Alone?”

Emersyn lifted her chin. “What? You think I can’t protect her?”

August gave her one of his easy smiles, but it was more hollow than usual. “You can do anything,” he said. “But the thing you struggle with most is taking care of yourself. That’s my job.”

Emersyn’s face softened. “You make it hard to argue with you when you talk like that.”

He walked over to her and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “You manage to argue with me enough most of the time.”

I watched the two of them, a bittersweet ache building in me.

The way Emersyn looked at August was so familiar. It was the way I used to look at Fox.

I glanced away from the two of them, focusing on a random spot on the far wall. “Honestly,” I said, shifting the conversation. “We weren’t alone long enough for any trouble to happen.”

“Yeah.” August nodded. “I met him halfway. I was already on the road when Fox called.”

“Did you come up with a plan?” asked Emersyn.

Fox and August shared a glance. Something shifted between them as the silence lengthened.

It was Fox who spoke next. “Well,” he said slowly. “Since you don’t want to stay at our parents’ place…that really only leaves us one option.”

I didn’t like his tone. “What option is that?”

“Someone is going to have to stay with you. Here. ”

My gaze snapped toward Emersyn.

“Not her.” August wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. “Sorry, but she’s mine. Where Emy sleeps, I sleep.”

Emersyn rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue.

I wrinkled my nose. There wasn’t room here for both of them to stay.

Fox cleared his throat.

I glanced at him. He was avoiding looking directly at me, his stare focused on the table.

“I’ll stay with you.” His voice was flat, almost emotionless.

Shock jolted through me. He couldn’t. The cabin was too small. Too personal.

Too full of land mines for the two people who had so much history buried between them.

“That’s—so unnecessary.”

Fox put up a hand. “It’s not negotiable.”

I stared at him. “Not negotiable?” I parroted, taken aback. “What are you going to do if I say no?”

Something flickered in his expression. Hurt. It was gone the moment I identified it, but it brought something into perspective.

Fox was trying here. He was probably even more uncomfortable with the situation than I was. The look on his face when we’d first run into each other at the coffee shop flashed through my memory. That look he had given me bordered on hate.

He was probably working hard to even be in the same room with me, and I was making things worse.

“You do want your computer fixed, correct?” He tilted his head to the side. “You want me to recover those lost files?”

I perked up. “Can you recover them?”

“I’m not sure.” He shrugged casually. “But if you agree to our plan, I would be less distracted worrying about you, and possibly more motivated to work on that.”

My instinct was to fight. To get my way. But I didn’t have the energy or the will.

I deserved whatever discomfort was coming my way.

“Fine.” I relented but my heartbeat quickened at what I was agreeing to. “You can stay here.”

Fox didn’t give me much but a curt nod. But if I looked hard enough, I thought there was a slight flush creeping up his neck. My brain could barely comprehend what he might be thinking, what it was going to mean to actually stay with him.

I swallowed hard, coming to terms with the fact that I was going to be spending the rest of my time in Ember Hollow living with the only man I had ever loved.

And the first heart I had ever broken.