Starting Point - Elle Aycart Page 0,36

jacket. Heather was going to have wood for the next two winters after he was done.

He had never shied away from a tough situation, but getting involved with Megan meant jumping headfirst into a world of unimaginable pain. If it were a matter of convincing his dick, he could do it, but this was Megan. His Megan. She was carved so deep in his heart that even if he’d wanted to—which he most definitely didn’t—there would be no way to extricate her.

He hacked another log, splintering it into kindling. He needed to kill something. Punch it into oblivion. Being punched would work too. Maybe he should go visit someone from his crew. Drake was out of town. Cage and Wolf would still be asleep. Marc, on the other hand, rose with the chickens. Maybe he could convince his friend to spar with him. It would be a fair fight, with a reasonable chance of Alec being beaten to a pulp, especially with his concentration as shot as it was now.

He was so damn angry. Sinking into despair was not his thing. Whatever the problem, he worked to find a solution. Give him a dragon to slay, he’d do it. Save the day. Rescue his princess. Only now he didn’t get to put on his armor and ride into battle. All he could do was watch while the dragon feasted on the love of his life. He was helpless, and he couldn’t stand it.

“What has that poor log done to you?” came a voice from behind. Heather.

He looked at the chopping block. He’d totally destroyed the log. “Sorry. Did I wake you up?”

The old lady smiled. “Nah. You know I wake up early. And I think some of Carol’s disinfectant fell on my fish, because my stomach feels a bit funny. What’s wrong, Alec?”

Man, where did he begin? “I think—no, I’m pretty sure I’m in love.”

“Megan?”

“How did you know?”

“Please, son. Everyone saw how you looked at her at the cookout. I know you. You had the same look in your eyes every time you came back from the lake, that first summer you were with us.”

And he’d thought he’d been so clever back then too. “It’s the same girl. And she’s sick. Very sick.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too. What do I do?” He didn’t know how to be helpless. He’d spent all his adult life working very hard to be the opposite.

Heather sighed. “You destroy all the logs you need to destroy, until you are totally spent. Then you go back to her with a clear head and a smile on your face.”

Chapter 8

When she opened her eyes, Alec was beside her, his arm across her back, her head on his chest. Nothing weird about that, except that he was fully dressed and lying on top of the quilt.

“Bonehead?” She shook him lightly.

“Hmm?

“Do you sleepwalk?”

That seemed to get his attention. He cracked one eye open. “What? Oh. No,” he said, looking down at himself. “Had an errand to run this morning.”

“What errand?”

“It’s a surprise. Come on. Get dressed.”

She studied him, looking for any signal that would give him away. After all, she’d dropped a big bomb yesterday. People ran for the hills at the C-word. At the D-word? Most fainted or went into shock. Either way, they couldn’t look at her straight in the eye afterward without pity. And sadness, and guilt, and all sorts of other emotions Megan didn’t care for.

But she wasn’t finding anything like that in his gaze. For that, she was infinitely grateful.

“Chop, chop,” he added, giving her a peck on the lips and getting up.

When one didn’t use makeup, didn’t have a complicated hairdo, and kept one’s choice of clothes to black and gray, getting ready fast was a piece of cake.

She opened the door to a surprise indeed. “My car!”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to call that thing a car, but yes,” Alec muttered. “Now, do you see this?”

It was a screwdriver. “Ye-es.”

“Your car is so old, the door can be opened with a screwdriver. The same is true of the ignition. This is for next time you get locked out.” He took a piece of duct tape, slapped it across the screwdriver’s handle, and attached it to the inside of the mud flap of one of her rear wheels. “That duct tape is strong as hell. It won’t come undone. When you’re in a pinch, use the screwdriver. Modern cars have more complicated locks, and hot-wiring them is tricky, but this here is a