Page 32

CHAPTER 31

THE REAL LIE

WILDER

M y arm is elbow deep in a freezing bucket of soapy water when I hear Taylor Swift in the distance.

A smile passes across my lips as I stand, looking over my shoulder to find Cass’s truck approaching the station. The sound of them singing at the top of their lungs tops Taylor.

I toss my sponge in the bucket, wiping my hands on the towel on my shoulder and beam at them as they park. Tate snickers.

“Look at you, all domesticated. A couple of months ago, you were fucking half the county, now you’re just fucking Cass?—”

My damp towel hit him in the face, earning me a laugh from the other guys.

“Say another word about my wife and see what happens.”

The guys ooooh.

“Pfft, jeez. Touchy.”

“One day, you’re gonna find a girl and fall so hard, you’ll never get up again. In the meantime, shut the fuck up.”

I head for the truck with my smile more of a smirk thanks to Tate, amused by the guys razzing him behind me. When I reach the passenger door, Cricket launches herself at me, her arms whipping around my neck.

“Daddy!”

Every time she says it, my insides explode and melt and spill all over the place.

“Hey, baby girl.” I hook my forearm under her behind and hang her on my hip, circling the truck to reach Cass. The second I get to her, I slip my free hand into the notch of her waist and press a gentle kiss to her lips.

The energy I’ve expended restraining myself for the last two weeks could power a fucking county. She never did manage to stop looking at me like she wanted to give in, which made matters worse. In the particularly dangerous moments, the kind where I could feel the kiss crackling between us, I’d jokingly ask her if she’d changed her mind yet. And just like that, she’d be laughing from the other side of whatever room we were in.

But these little times are mine. When we pretend, my restraint eases. Nothing feels so real as when we pretend. When we can exist in our natural state. It’s the rest of the time when the real pretending happens. But I keep my mouth shut and channel patience I didn’t know I possessed. Honestly, I’d say I should win some fucking award when this is through, but by that point, I’ll already have the reward.

Her.

“Hey,” I say, tucking her into my side.

She sighs and leans in. “Hey.”

“Long day?” I ask when Cricket rests her head on my chest, sighing just like Cass.

“Long week. But we made it to the weekend!” Cass cheers, extending a hand to Cricket for a high five. Cricket giggles and slaps her palm. “Although I’m gonna miss our bug.”

“Well, good thing we get to see her for the muster, isn’t it?”

As we head over to the ladder truck the guys are washing, I bounce Cricket a little. She giggles.

“It’s gonna be fun,” I promise her. “All the firefighters in the nearby towns are going to come here to Roseville and play games and compete.”

“Like field day?” she asks.

“Exactly like field day. And there’s gonna be food and carnival rides and everything.”

Cricket pops up off my chest and stares at me excitedly. “Would you win me a giant toy?”

“Heck yeah, girl. You pick one out and it’s yours.”

Again she giggles, tucking herself back into my chest. I know they had the meeting with the kid’s mom today to try and work out whatever was going on between them, and I know it probably wasn’t easy. They were stressed, but now that they’re in my arms, they’re happy and sighing. I can practically feel their worries melting into me.

I’ve never felt so powerful in my whole fucking life, knowing I can shoulder their pain, take it away, replace it with something soft and easy and good.

Tate grins at Cricket and makes a show of stalking over like he’s going to tickle her, hands out like claws. Already, she’s squealing and squirming, and when he reaches us, he gives a growl and attacks her ribs with wiggling fingers. I pass her over to him when he goes to take her.

“Heya, squirt.”

“Heya, punk,” she answers, calling him by her favorite nickname.

“How was school?”

“Kinda dumb.”

“Well, that’s just because all school’s dumb.”

“Hey,” Cass says, “I happen to love school.”

Tate cups a hand to his mouth. “ Nerrrrrrd .”

And Cricket giggles on eternally.

“Come on, wanna help us wash the truck?”

She shouts her affirmation and wiggles until he sets her down, then takes his hand and drags him toward the truck, asking a million questions including Can I hold the hose? To which he answers Absolutely with a mischievous look in my direction—the answer should have been a resounding no for fear that he shoots her off into oblivion from the force of the pressure, though I know he’d never hurt her.

I want to deck him anyway.

Cass is still under my arm, hers around my waist. She sighs again, and with the hand cupping her shoulder, I pull her a little closer.

“How’d it go?” I ask simply.

This sigh is noisy, touched with frustration. “We didn’t talk at all.”

I frown. “She didn’t show?”

“Oh, she showed. But all we did was argue.”

“You? Argue? Never.”

She pinches my side, and I pretend like it hurts.

“That’s part of the problem. I insisted on being there, but she was mad because Cricket’s mine.”

My heart skips a painful beat at her easy declaration. “Yours, huh?”

She doesn’t look up, just says, “Mine. I love her, Wilder. How could I not? And I would fight a bitch for her, hand to God.”

I squeeze her, kiss her hair, thank my lucky fucking stars for her and Cricket both.

But then she sighs again, and the sound drags me back to earth. “So, yeah. We argued. Cheryl warned me to be careful. The mom said we ganged up on her and told us she was going to the school board. Which, by the way, her father-in-law is the head of.”

Righteous fury flashes through me. “What the fuck? Her kid is bullying ours but we’re the bad guys? Fuck that lady.”

“I know. I just thought if I was there maybe we could work together. Support each other. We just want the best for the kids, or at least I do. Both of them. They don’t know any better—it’s our job to teach them. To help them figure it out. But all she did was say that Cricket is the one bullying Avery.”

The flash turns into a blazing inferno. “Are you fucking kidding me? That little shit has put her hands on my child?—”

“Well, Cricket put her hands on Avery too.”

I still. “Because she was defending herself?”

“Ultimately? Maybe. But no, she hauled off and pushed her this week at school unprovoked.” I’m fuming. She continues. “She’s angry and scared and hurt, and Avery has said some terrible things.”

“What did her mom say about all that?”

“She wanted to know if I heard them myself or if Cricket told me. She literally said, I’m not taking the word of some traumatized kid with no parents. ”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

For a second, we watch the crew with Cricket. Jake hoists her onto his shoulders so she can wipe off as much of the sideview as she can reach, his eyes squinted against the barrage of soapy water dripping from her sponge.

“What happens from here?” I ask.

“I don’t know. We try to keep them away from each other. Ms. Panko is going to try and manage it from her end. I told Cricket to stay away from Avery. We just have to hope it fizzles out.”

“I hate it, Cass.”

“Me too. But it’ll be okay. She’s about to start therapy, and I’m at school with her. The staff is keeping an eye out. I wish we had Avery’s mom on board, but things could be worse.”

“Good. I have some news too—Tate found out from the fire marshal that the prosecutor’s complaint on Trent was made public. So we read through that earlier.”

“What did it say?” she asks quietly. Her fingers are toying with my belt loop. Neither of us has made a move to separate.

“It laid out the facts that led to formal charges. Like some doorbell camera footage, Trent’s phone records, an eyewitness account from the landlord, who lives a few houses down and across the street. Past domestic disputes between them, inferences of his guilt. It looks bad. Really bad.”

“Jesus. You think he did it?”

“The file I read was damning. I just…I don’t know. Maybe he snapped.”

“But your gut says he didn’t?”

I teeter back and forth like I have since I read it. “My gut isn’t so sure. I trust Patty and Paul when they say he has good intentions, but reading out all of it…I don’t know. I hope he didn’t, honestly. But that’s why he’ll end up with a jury to decide. See all the evidence and figure it out. They let him out on bail—the judge used to coach his little league. Trent’s been a well-known figure in the community since high school because of the ball team. Maybe not upstanding, but outside of his temper and the shit with Ashley, it doesn’t seem like he’s evil or anything. Paul says he means well, and that’s my sense too. He just ends up getting in his own way.”

“It’s scary though. What if he comes for Cricket? Like, is he stable? Can we trust that he’s going to stay away?”

“I don’t know. Paul’s certain Trent loves Cricket and would never hurt her. I don’t fucking know him. Honestly, I don’t know Paul either, but I trust him enough to believe he’d die before letting anything happen to her.”

“But would he hurt us to get to her?”

At that, my stomach turns. I can’t even entertain that thought and shake my head. “Nobody’s going to hurt any of us. Okay?”

“Okay.”

She doesn’t sound sure. So I turn to her, catching her chin in my thumb and forefinger so I can tilt her face to mine.

“Do you trust me, Cass?”

She searches my eyes. “You know I do.”

“Then trust me on this. I won’t let anything happen to any of us.”

I see her relax with my own eyes, the corners of her lips softening, then curling. God damn, the desperation I feel for her is eating me alive, gnawing on my heart, my bones.

“Thank you,” she says softly, and I kiss her because I can. I kiss her so I won’t say something I shouldn’t.

She lets me because she wants me.

Suddenly, I cannot fucking stand the fact that we both want a thing that she doesn’t think we can have. But I’ll be goddamned if I give up.

Cricket bounds into us, wrapping her arms around our thighs.

Laughing, Cass strokes the curve of her head, and I watch them with deep, heavy longing.

“Well, bug, we should get going.”

Instantly, Cricket is whining.

“I know, I know, but I don’t know if your grandparents are going to show up early and I don’t want to keep them waiting.”

She’s still pouting.

“How about I let you pick the song on the way home?”

At that, Cricket perks up. “Anything I want?”

“Anything you want.”

“Okay!”

I scoop her up, and she grabs me around the neck. “Miss you already, baby girl.”

“Miss you too, Daddy.” When her feet are on the ground, she takes Cass’s hand. “See you tomorrow!” she calls on her way to the truck.

I wave. Cass and I share a look, and she waves too.

But that ache in my chest never leaves me, even when they do.