The Rebel - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,26

part of the bet.” I tried my best to make eye contact with him.

His eyes snapped to mine. “You’re never going to come to the bar again?”

The thought of not seeing him again made my stomach twist. Our little foray into touching each other again had lit me up like a fucking fuse, and the thought of having sex with him sounded better than any drug I’d ever done.

But I knew why it was a bad idea.

And I was an adult, trying to do the goddamned right thing.

“I know it’s for the better,” I said. “Right?”

Red was silent, his eyes scanning my face like he was trying to figure out if I was serious or not.

“I mean it,” I said. “I know how well we... fit together, physically. But I also know that any time I suck someone into my world, they regret it. I’m trying to stop doing that. And of all people in the fucking world, I definitely am not doing it to you.”

“Right,” he said, but he seemed unable to muster any other words. In typical Red fashion, he was no big fan of expressing his own feelings, even though he could spend hours helping other people work through the biggest problems in the world.

“I’m going to respect the bet,” I said again, resolutely, swallowing over the tightness in my throat. “I promise.”

I pushed out the front doors into the heavy rain, started my car, and put my foot to the pedal.

5

Red

“Um, Red, you might want to get back here—”

Sam’s voice came from the back hallway, but I was still standing in the spot by the front doors where Liam had left.

“Give me a minute,” I called back.

“This is bad, though,” Sam said, his voice alarmed. I was sure his complaint would have something to do with being out of size large tank tops, or something equally innocuous. Sam was always freaking out about something.

And right now, I couldn’t even process what had just occurred, let alone whatever was going on in the back of the bar.

“Oh, fuck!” I heard Mitch say a moment later.

Shit. If Mitch was worried, then it had to be something big. I was still in a daze as I walked through the hallway to find the two of them standing around the inventory computer, looking at a weather site.

“It’s a tornado warning,” Mitch said. “Look at the radar. It’s right here.”

I glanced at the screen. “We get tornado warnings all the time. It’s fine,” I said.

I couldn’t help but notice the list of five right red warnings and alerts for our area, though. The minute I saw where the worst of the storm was on the map, all I could think about was one thing.

“Liam just drove off right in that direction,” I said.

“He’ll be all right, I’m sure,” Mitch said.

I bit the inside of my cheek. “He’s from Los Angeles, though,” I said. “He’s not going to know what to do. They don’t have real weather there.”

“They definitely don’t,” Sam said. “Oh my God, if Liam Hardy gets swept away in a tornado, I’m going to cry for an entire year.”

I clenched one of my hands into a fist. “He should be okay.”

It felt strange talking about Liam so casually, when I’d basically just lost my fucking mind with him, ten minutes ago.

I’d wanted him so fucking badly that I hadn’t been thinking at all. I hadn’t been so completely claimed by lust since… well, since I was last with him. My whole body had needed to be against his.

The worst part was that I’d recognized the same hunger radiating from him.

The power of that mutual desire was dangerous. Liam and I had been feeding off of each other, and I knew exactly how all-consuming that could be. I would have done anything for him in that moment.

I couldn’t handle the thought of him scared and alone during his first Kansas tornado. I was used to them by now, but the first time I’d seen one, I was scared shitless, too.

My phone vibrated in my pants and I pulled it out, secretly hoping I’d see Liam’s name on the screen.

It was a message from Mom, though.

>>Mom: You safe out there, hun? The news is chock full of warnings about Amberfield.

>>Red: We’ll be okay. The basement’s here for a reason. Love you, Mom.

Soon our chef, Perry, appeared in the doorway to the room. His silvery hair was windswept and still damp from the rain, and he had a faraway look in his