Page 142 of Burning Daylight

“And you know what the most fucked-up part is?” I cut her off, the words ripping out of me.

She shakes her head, swallowing.

“I haven’t felt that way since. Not about anyone. Not until you.”

She’s quiet for a second, and then she’s pressing her hand against my face, her eyes flickering between mine.

“Iamyours. In all the ways that matter.”

My palm covers her fingers, and I lean into her touch, closing my eyes and soaking her in.

“Even if we have to pretend we’re enemies?” I mimic what she asked so many weeks ago, back when we were still acting like we didn’t belong to each other.

A stuttered breath against my lips. A warm mouth. A simple kiss.

My eyes open, and I stare at this perfect, beautiful, impossible girl that fate keeps giving back to me.

“You willneverbe my enemy,” she promises.

I nod against her, pressing our foreheads together and letting the quiet wrap around us like a blanket.

Eventually, I say, “My dad’s offering to help her now.”

“Well…that’s a good thing, right?”

I just stare at her like my heart doesn’t feel like it’s being ripped from my chest. “Yeah, if she goes along with it then it is.”

“You don’t think she will?”

“I think my mom is lost in some kind of hurt I can’t even fathom and has spent a majority of her life numbing that pain instead of facing it.” I bite the inside of my cheek. “That’s a hell of a habit to break.”

She watches me for a moment, empathy shining in her gaze. “Do you think that’s why the news hasn’t found her yet?”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugs, and then says slowly, “I mean…it’s unusual forThe Rosebrook Ragto not find gossip and cling to it with every single part of them. When you came back, it opened up the question of whether your family was alive, too. But since then, there’s been nothing.”

My spine straightens, and a tic forms in my jaw. I hadn’t even thought about that, but now that she’s mentioned it…

“Maybe my dad is having Frederick keep her out.”

Juliette’s eyes widen. “Freddy?”

I shrug. “Makes sense, don’t you think? He keptusfrom being in the papers, what’s to stop him from doing the same with her? He said they show him all the pictures first. That he has a friend there.”

The thought that my father may be protecting her, even with her being the way she is, makes me feel warm and…grateful.

“That could be it,” she muses and then her eyes pin me in place. The tension snaps tight between us. She doesn’t say it, but I can read between the lines, and I feel it, too.

This inevitability.

My father wants me here, to help bring downherfamily, and if I don’t play my part, then it’smyfamily who might pay the price. Her dad tried to kill me, and might still want me dead.

My chest squeezes tight, stomach bottoming out at the impossibility of it all.

Her fingers tangle on top of her notebook. “Do you think your mom and sister would still be protected…no matter what?”

My mouth is dry and I peel my tongue from the roof. “I think if I can convince my sister to sign some papers, she’ll be taken care of regardless. But my mom…” I run a hand through my hair. “I don’t know, Little Rose. I don’t even know if there’s anything left of her to save.”