The Fire Still Burns by Crystal-Rain Love Read Free Book Online Page B

better than Zeke, but now that he's dead…”
    “Your mother has martyred him, and you want her to keep thinking he was perfect.”  Brynn let her disgust at supporting the egomaniac woman drip into her words.  “Dammit, Adam.”
    Brynn shoved the door open and jumped out of the truck, needing the space.  What she really needed was to hit something or someone, but she paced instead.  She whirled around the moment Adam's feet hit the ground.
    “What is wrong with you, Adam?  Your mother has commanded perfection from you since the day you were born.  A saint couldn't live up to the expectations she placed on you and Zeke.  Are you really going to sabotage this arson investigation just so Mommy Dearest can continue on with her delusions that she gave birth to the world's first non-sinners since Jesus?”   
    “Don't talk about my mother—”
    “I'll talk about that hateful old bitch any way I want!  Do you really think I'd just forgive and forget the way she had me run out of town?”  The yell burned her throat on the way out, but it felt good to finally get her feelings for the woman off her chest.
    “You ran yourself out of town.”  Adam growled and stepped around the truck to face-off with her.  “You shouldn't have slept with my best friend if you couldn't deal with the shame of it.  My mother may be suffocating, opinionated and overbearing, but at least she's not a wh—”
    “Don't even say it.”  She pointed her finger at his face.
    “First of all, you've been lying to me from day one so don't bother casting any stones in my direction.  Second of all, you don't realize how screwed you are.  You lied to the fire chief and you burned evidence.  Those are the only two things I witnessed first-hand.  Who knows what else you might've done before I showed up.”  She stepped closer, putting herself only a breath away, and lowered her voice for emphasis.
    “Keep on insulting me and see how fast I go to not only the fire chief, but the sheriff as well.  My daddy was the sheriff before he died and everyone in the department admired him.  Believe me, supposed slut-ness or not, they'll take my word.”
    “You really would do that?”  His voice shook disbelievingly. 
    “Try me.”  She crossed her arms.  “You know I never allowed anyone to walk over me when I lived here.  I haven't lost my backbone.”
    “Why did you allow them to run you out?”
    Brynn stepped back.  His question hit her with the force of a hard slap and she searched his eyes only to find cold, blue fury.  His whole body tensed, his hands held at his sides, the fingers slightly curled.  “What do you care?  You wanted me to leave.”
    “I couldn't look at you then.”  He shook his head, and briefly closed his eyes.  “I definitely couldn't handle seeing you and Cal together.  I'd have killed him.”
    “Then you should be happy I left.”
    “You left with him.”  His voice was barely an angry whisper.
    “Yeah, so?”
    “You don't think it’s worse knowing you were with him, in his bed?”
    Brynn stared at Adam, shaken by the anger in his voice, the ferocity in his gaze, and didn't know what to say.  She knew she hurt him all those years ago, but she hadn't known how badly he still hurt.
    Her own heart ached, and she wished she could say something to make it go away for both of them, but she couldn’t.  Not without telling him exactly what happened thirteen years ago and that would destroy him, crushing her, too. 
    “Honestly, Adam, I would have stayed despite what your mother and her Bible belt friends thought.  Hell, I would have stayed just to tick them off.  I left because of you, because of the way you looked at me that day—”
    “You should have seen me the day you left with a child that should have been mine growing inside you.  My best friend left town with the woman who should have been my wife, had a little boy who should have been my son.”  He slapped his palm against his