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Timber hadn’t burned it. Lasagna really was simple to make, and she felt a little silly for burning it the first time, years ago. She hadn’t told Wreck this part, but she’d cooked it for her ex, and he’d made so much fun of her for burning it. He’d brought it up over the years in front of friends, in front of her family, and he’d gotten others to tease her too. She’d just shied away from ever trying to make it again. She hadn’t wanted anything to do with the pressure, or the uncomfortable experience.
Her phone vibrated. She blinked and dragged her gaze to the glowing screen of her phone. It wasn’t Wreck texting, but she hadn’t expected it to be. He’d made his choice, and now she needed to move on from thinking about him.
Standing a woman up was unforgivable, especially if this much effort was involved.
It wasn’t just meeting at a restaurant. She’d pored over the menu, gone grocery shopping just for tonight, cleaned her home, counted down the hours, and then spent the evening in the kitchen.
After her last relationship, she’d realized what she deserved, and she deserved better than this.
The text was from Hallie of the Fastlanders.
Timber frowned, dragged the phone closer to herself, opened up the text thread, and read.
How’s it going with Wreck?
Truth be told, she’d talked to Hallie a few times. Not to spy on Wreck or anything, but Hallie had been kind and funny on the phone. Timber had even told her she was cooking for Wreck tonight, and the woman had seemed genuinely happy for her.
Her heart ached as she typed out,He didn’t show.Send.
A video file came through, with the caption:I figured. Just so you know, he doesn’t seem happy about his decision to stand you up.
Confused, Timber pushed play on the video. Her heart dropped down to her toes as she saw the flames. A few men with bright, glowing eyes were outside of a single-wide trailer—two with hoses, dousing flames that lapped at the left side of the home, and one with a fire extinguisher. A man was yelling in the background. The video panned around to show a tall, barrel-chested man yelling at Wreck, who was sitting in a lawn chair, his boots propped up on some rubble that looked like it was probably a firepit at one point. Wreck was staring, unblinking and vacantly, toward the flames.
A few of the trees were burning in the woods in the background. There was a flurry of motion there, but she couldn’t make out the individual people who were fighting the fires.
It was chaos, but Wreck looked completely calm. Numb, almost. Like he didn’t care.
“Say hi,” Hallie’s voice rang out from behind the camera.
“Fuck off,” Wreck said in a monotone as he lifted his empty gaze to the camera.
“I’m sending this to Timber.”
An enormouswhooshingsound crackled across the video as Wreck blurred toward the camera. Timber gasped and nearly dropped the phone as the screen went dead and the video cut off.
Heart pounding, she replayed the video, but stopped it on the last part, dragging it through slow motion to try and see what had happened. Frame by frame, she watched Wreck’s eyes ignite and his body catch fire as he flew toward Hallie.Flew.His feet weren’t touching the ground. He was so fast, she could barely make out his form at all. It was just…fire.
Are you okay?she frantically texted Hallie.
Yep. It was a bluff, thank God.
He’s a mess.Send.
I think he could use a friend.
You’re his friend.Send.
If you asked him, he would say we are not his friends. But you? Before he lost control, he said your name.
She read that a few times, baffled.So, I make it worse then? I make him lose control.Send.
No. The way he said it…he was trying to use your name to stop his fire. He said it like a prayer.
Chills.
Chills, chills, chills.
He could use a friend.That combination of words tugged at her sympathy. This was a man who hadn’t learned how to reach out, or how to stop his own destruction, and she had a feeling she understood part of why he was that way. Likely, he tried to keep his life simple. No emotion that was unnecessary. No turmoil, so that he could have a chance at controlling the animal inside of him, but clearly he was going through something now. Something she didn’t fully understand. Something he perhaps didn’t understand himself.
