The Rebel - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,15

he was unsure how much he should say. “Other than wondering if I made the stupidest decision of my life moving here… sure, everything is all right.”

I cleared my throat, watching as he bent down to wrangle Bandit. A slow heat passed through my body as I saw the waistband of his underwear peeking out of the top of his jeans. They were tight, cute, and the color of a strawberry. Liam had always liked the brightest underwear even though he mostly wore black clothes. The first few times I’d stripped him down, it had always felt like a surprise gift to find him wearing hot pink or patterned boxer briefs.

“Amberfield treating you that badly?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” he said. “Everyone here has been nice to me, actually. I’m just…”

He trailed off, casting his gaze toward the creek. There was real pain in his eyes, the kind of pain I used to see when he talked about his childhood. He always used to drown that kind of pain out with alcohol.

“Just lonely. I guess,” he said. He turned to his puppy. “C’mon, Bandy. Let’s go back inside.”

“Wait,” I said as he started back toward the cottage.

He looked at me over his shoulder.

I wasn’t sure why I’d told him to wait. It had been a week since he’d come into my bar, and ever since, he’d floated through my head every day, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.

Every time I’d gone into the grocery store, my eyes scanned the aisles, knowing I could run into Liam at any time. At work I’d found myself checking the door every time someone walked in, thinking it might be him.

I’d been trying to avoid him, and yet now that he was right in front of me, I didn’t want to see him leave.

I knew some part of me wanted him to demand things of me, pull me back in, let me care about him even though I knew I shouldn’t.

“What is it, Red?” he asked.

I was suddenly aware of my heart pounding in my chest. “I have one,” I said.

He paused. “You have what?”

“A fenced in yard,” I said. “It’s not huge, but it’s plenty enough for Anna and Elsa to run around in. I’m sure it would be good for Bandit, too. You could drop him off sometime, if you wanted.”

A flash crossed over Liam’s eyes. “Really?” he asked.

I shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t say things I don’t mean.”

Just then, a bird darted across the air above us, heading toward the creek. Bandit leapt after it, yanking the leash hard as he barked, pulling Liam straight down to the ground.

“Shit,” Liam hissed as his palm fell to the ground. I took a step closer as he stood back up. Blood was falling in rivulets down his palm. There was a jagged rock on the ground that had cut him up good.

“You all right?” I asked, inspecting the gash. It was still seeping blood and coated with murky mud from the ground, and when Bandit tugged on the leash again, Liam winced.

“I’m fine,” he said, his voice tight.

“You clearly aren’t,” I said.

“You should just go home—” Liam started to say, but he stopped abruptly when bigger drops of blood started hitting the dirt below him.

“You’re not fine, Liam,” I said.

“God, I hate the sight of blood,” he said, his face already pale.

“I know you do. Let’s get you inside,” I said. I took Bandit’s leash from his hand, whistling at the dog. Bandit looked at me right away. “Come on, girls,” I told Anna and Elsa, and when they followed me, Bandit happily bounded after them.

“I don’t need any help,” Liam said. “I can handle it.”

“I’m sure you could, but I’m already here, so I’m going to help you.”

“Okay, okay,” he said. “I just don’t need any pity.”

Cocky bastard.

“Remind me to slap you after I tend to your wound,” I said.

“Threatening me with a good time?” he said as he let us into the house. A line of blood started to run down his arm and he winced. “Fine. Fuck. I need this to stop.”

He led me from the living room down a small hallway to the bathroom. The place smelled faintly of the woodsy clove-scented cologne Liam wore. I wanted to curl up in this house already, just so I could be around that scent again.

Bad.

It was small, but had nice wooden beams lining the ceilings of the living room and kitchen, and it looked like Liam had already made