Page 53 of Guarded Knight

And that’s the cruelest truth of all. Every time someone loves me, it turns into worry. And worry is the reason I left Starlight Canyon in the first place. I left so they could live without beingtethered to me—and so I could try, for once, to live a life of my own.

“Let’s see if your dad needs help.” I need to ground myself in the here and now instead of spiraling.

I wander over to the grill with Gabriel in tow to see if Luis and Julia need help. Not that it looks like Julia is doing much but perching on the edge of a lawn chair and gazing up at Luis like he’s the sun.

There’s a connection there.

I slip my hands into my jeans’ pockets. “Can I do anything?”

Luis pats the beef with his metal flipper more like it’s a baby’s bottom than to flatten it. “We’ve got it under control. You’re a guest. Take a load off.”

Julia stands from her chair. “How are you settling in, honey? At least you’re not a stranger since you know all the boys. Though there’s no such thing exactly in Echo Valley. Which for most is nice, for some a nuisance.”

“I’m used to that. Starlight Canyon might be even smaller than Echo Valley.”

Luis shrugs. “In off-season for sure.”

Julia rocks on her heels. “I’ve heard a lot about it. Luis offered to take me there. A road trip at Christmas and the promise of sleigh rides. Count me in.”

“Yeah, Dash Hunter has a whole operation going, though it’s getting pretty touristy. Though I guess with a son-in-law who’s a Hunter, Logan can probably get you a friends and family private ride.”

Julia shakes her head. “Honestly, I’m just glad to have someone I can count on at the shop now so I can actually take a vacation.”

Kat wanders next to us with Theo.

“Speak of the devil.” Julia beams. “Or rather my savior. I’ve been chained to the tack shop for years before this one came along. I had help but nothing reliable.”

She puts an arm on Kat’s shoulder, and Kat waves her off.

Theo has an empty plate in his hand. “Papa Luis, how long for a hot dog?”

Luis pushes into a hot dog with the corner of his flipper. “I’ll sneak three off for you, Owen, and Nino to tide you boys over. But we officially eat at five. So, no filling up. I’ll call you back over in a minute.”

Everything smells like autumn and charred meat and safety. It’s the food version of home. I breathe in the beautiful surroundings, serene and full of heart.

It should settle me. It almost does. But unease creeps in anyway, a shadow at the edges.

I can’t shake the feeling of that smoke bomb going off.

Last night was too close. The note too specific. Too… inside. It was almost as bad as those photographs of me sleeping, and those chilled me to the bone. I never thought Cameron was even smart enough to do something like this.

She looks better in a hospital bed than in yours.

A threat dressed up as intimacy. It makes me feel dirty in all the wrong ways.

Luis rolls three hot dogs into the center of the grill. “Hijo…” he says to Gabriel. “Can you get me my basting sauce? I need moresalsa magica…”

Gabriel hesitates, scans the backyard, stiffens.

I know he doesn’t want to leave me, but gosh, if I’m safe anywhere, it’s here. This place has security all over the place, and unknowns have to show ID at the gate.

“G, the ribs are burning.” Luis is more urgent now, like the sky is falling.

“You better get the sauce, Gabriel, or I’m blaming those dry ribs on you,” I joke. And then I mouth…I’m fine.

He places her beer on a nearby prep table and bounds up the back stairs and into Luis’ house.

He disappears; the space beside me suddenly too open.