Page 3 of Cross Checked
Not fear.
Never fear.
Something uglier.
Possession sharpened into warning.
The hockey boys looked at women like temporary entertainment. Disposable. A good time until the next season started and they moved on to somebody newer, prettier, easier.
Bliss wasn’t built for men like that.
She was built for me.
The thought settled calm and absolute in the center of my chest while I watched her laugh again inside the bar, unaware I was sitting twenty feet away memorizing every expression on her face.
She thought distance changed things.
Thought college changed things.
Thought pretending hard enough somehow erased everything between us.
But Bliss had always confused silence with freedom.
Just because she stopped saying my name didn’t mean she stopped belonging to me.
A loud crack of laughter burst from inside the bar again as the crowd shifted near the front windows. Bliss glanced toward the clock behind the counter before reaching for her apron strings, exhaustion visible in the way her shoulders sagged slightly.
Closing time.
Finally.
My pulse started beating harder instantly, the sound filling my ears in dull heavy thuds while anticipation crawled slow and electric beneath my skin.
Outside, the town hummed softly beneath streetlights and late-summer heat. Somewhere farther downtown a motorcycle revved through the night while students spilled drunkenly between bars wrapped in laughter and cigarette smoke.
Normal Thursday night.
Except for the pressure building steadily inside my chest.
Because lately Bliss kept testing me.
Ignoring calls. Pulling away. Acting brave in ways she never used to.
And she still didn’t understand what happened if she pushed me too far.
The front doors opened a few minutes later.
Warm light spilled across the sidewalk as Bliss stepped outside alone, locking the door behind her while the humid wind lifted strands of blonde hair around her face.
Beautiful.
Mine.
My fingers tightened slowly around the steering wheel again, old rubber creaking softly beneath my palms while my heartbeat pounded hard enough to feel in my teeth.
She glanced down the street automatically before heading toward her Jeep, keys looped between her fingers exactly the way I taught her years ago.
Smart girl.
