Page 24 of Fallen Flame

Ever laughed for what felt like the first time all morning. “I’ll take that,” she said. “Come on, Jude. We need buckets, disinfectant, and every rag we own.”

Jude nodded toward the back hallway. “There’s a mop bucket in the storage room.”

“I’ll grab the cleaning stuff.”

The two of them disappeared through the swinging door into the kitchen, their voices fading as Ever started rattling off everything she’d need.

The Dairy Bar suddenly felt... quiet.

Too quiet.

I glanced around at the empty booths, the sticky floor, and the streaks that still needed to be scrubbed away.

Leather shifted beside me. Oliver reached up, shrugged out of his cut, and folded it once before laying it carefully across the back of one of the chairs.

I frowned. “What are you doing?”

He looked over at me like I’d asked why the sky was blue. “Taking off my cut.”

“I can see that.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “If we’re going to get this place cleaned up,” he said, “we should probably start cleaning.”

I blinked. “You’re... helping?”

Another look. “Lark.”

“What?”

“You planning on talking all day or actually doing something?”

I crossed my arms. “You don’t have to.”

He was already rolling up the sleeves of his black T-shirt. “I know.”

“No, I mean...” I shifted my weight. “You don’t have to help clean. Wrecker told you to babysit me. He didn’t tell you to scrub floors.”

His hands paused for just a second before he looked at me. “I’m not babysitting you.”

“Stick to me like gum on a shoe,” I parroted Wrecker’s words.

“Those were his words.”

“Exactly.”

He held my gaze for a long moment. “I’m here because he told me to stay with you.”

“I know.”

“I’m cleaning because you and Ever shouldn’t have to do it by yourselves.”

The words landed somewhere deep in my chest.

He didn’t say them to impress me. Didn’t puff himself up or wait for me to tell him how nice he was.

He simply stated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

We needed help, so he was helping. That was it.