Burn (Elemental Series Book 4) Page 5

  She froze, however, when she realized it was actually a brief handwritten note. It wasn’t addressed, nor was it signed, but her gut told her she knew exactly who it was from.

  You’re making the wrong friends.

  There was only person—by extension, one family—she was aware of having upset. For the life of her, though, she couldn’t work up any level of fear or concern for her own well-being. She was too overwhelmed by her instant irritation. Dean had been right, apparently. They were actually the type to threaten her over their precious bruised egos. Plus one black eye. Her lips twitched. She was more satisfied with that punch now than she’d been when she’d thrown it—and it had been fairly satisfying in the moment.

  With a faintly aggravated sigh, Arianna tossed the paper toward the passenger seat. Threatening notes were too cliché for her to get worked up over, and she wasn’t even sure this one really counted as threatening. I’ll make whatever friends I want, thank you very much. In fact, she was going to pursue that friendship. But not just because it’ll tick these idiots off. No, she definitely wanted to see Dean again for her own sake, even if there was a chance he was no good for her. She’d come to Darien to get away from the L.A. scene, but that didn’t mean she was exactly looking to settle down. She was only twenty-three, after all. But she’d also promised herself that she’d settle down a little, so if she wanted to spend time with Dean she was going to have to be sure it meant something—to both of them. Meaning she might have to let him in.

  Her hands tightened around the steering wheel and she pulled in a breath. One step at a time, Arianna. There was no need to get ahead of herself. Who said Dean would even care to know her? A little physical chemistry, which they undeniably had, was not enough to warrant genuine interest. So she would just have to find him, talk to him, and see what happened from there.

  ****

  Dean dragged his hand through his hair and crossed his ankles as he leaned against the bumper of his car. It had been a horrendously slow day at work, so when Arianna had texted asking if he was free, Chief Bradford had been happy to let Dean off early. So now he waited in the parking lot across from the park, wondering why she had wanted to meet. He should have been dead on his feet, since he’d stayed out far too late and hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours. Instead he was wide-awake, his stomach was doing somersaults, and his palms were sweaty.

  His palms were never sweaty.

  He pulled in another long breath as the black ‘60s Mustang he’d seen at the beach before swung into the parking lot. As the car got closer, he found he recognized its driver. Her hair was down and she appeared to be wearing a jean jacket, but that was all he could see before she’d claimed the open spot on the other side of his Camaro. It was time to figure out what had prompted her to contact him.

  Arianna stepped out of the car as he rounded his bumper, and he stayed far enough back to give her some breathing room. He couldn’t help but notice the tight jeans clinging to her long legs before his gaze lifted to the sway of her long, dark hair. His smile was easy as she looked over at him, purse slung over one covered shoulder. “Thanks for meeting me,” she said by way of greeting.

  It actually took effort to keep from laughing at the idea that he might have said no. Instead he just let his smile broaden and replied, “Glad to. What’s up?”

  A grin settled on her face and she stepped into his personal space, lowered her voice, and teased, “What, a girl can’t ask to meet up just for the hell of it?”

  Well. He didn’t know exactly what to say to that, but damn did it get his hopes up.

  She eased back, her grin softening, and slid her purse down to the crook of her arm. Dipping her hand inside, she said, “Unfortunately, I suppose you could say I had a reason. Although I don’t really think it’s worth mentioning.”

  She extracted a torn-off piece of lined paper and his stomach sank. Instinct assured him that wasn’t an innocent piece of paper. Arianna returned her purse properly to her shoulder, extended the paper, and confirmed his suspicion far too casually. “I found this on my windshield when I got off work.”

  Dean obligingly took the paper, turned it around, and read the short note. He was almost surprised by its subtlety, but that reaction was instantly overshadowed by anger. He clenched his jaw to keep from cursing like a barbarian in front of her, but when his fingers rubbed against the paper with the tensing of his muscles, the paper burst into flame.

  “Whoa!” Arianna exclaimed, stepping back to avoid losing an eyebrow.

  “Shit,” Dean grunted, quickly wrapping his hand around the paper and extinguishing the flame. And that is why I have to tell people. Although he was a bit surprised by how easily he’d lost control. He hadn’t lost control like that in … years. Not since high school. He shoved that thought aside, rolled the burnt paper until the ashes crumbled from his palm, and mumbled, “Sorry.”

  “Well,” Arianna began, lifting her gaze from his empty hand, “I guess I won’t be adding that one to my collection.” Her grin had returned, deceiving him into almost chuckling along with her, but something in her delivery of the comment made him hesitate.

  “Collection of what, exactly?” he asked, eyes narrowed marginally.

  She shrugged nonchalantly, angled herself to walk around him, caught his wrist as she moved, and replied, “Hate mail. Sometimes it’s downright entertaining. But that one was boring, anyway, so it’s no loss.”

  Dean blanched and spun around to face her. “Hate mail?” he repeated incredulously. “You have a collection of hate mail? Why?” He couldn’t decide which was more absurd—the concept as a whole, or that it applied to Arianna. Apparently.

  Her lips twitched. “Because people have too much time on their hands?”

  Frowning, Dean replied, “You know that’s not what I was asking.”

  Arianna sighed and looked away. “It’s a small collection, and that sort of thing’s just par for the course, especially when your name is attached to a couple of really terrible movies.”

  Dean stared at her for a second, feeling as though he was having difficulty processing her words. Movies…? “How exactly have you been involved in really terrible movies?”

  “I was broke and gullible,” she replied with a rueful smile. “Some hoping-to-make-it-big producer walked up to me one day and asked if I wanted to be a movie star.” She paused, shrugged again, and added, “What nineteen year old says no to that?”

  Another second passed before the amusement hit. Fighting the twitching of his lips, Dean asked, “But that didn’t pan out? Or you decided a movie star life didn’t sound as glamorous as a lifeguard?”

  She laughed. “It definitely did not pan out.” She threw in a wink and added, “So if you think about it, you got lucky. If it had, you wouldn’t have met me.”

  This time he did chuckle. “I always knew I was lucky.” And yet, even joking, the sentence felt wrong on his tongue.

  “Come on,” Arianna began a moment later, an infectious light in her eyes, “I didn’t actually call you out here over a lame note. Show me around or something.”

  That would be a terrible idea. Spending more time with her, out in public no less, was going to center her even more on the Matthews’ radar. But that little piece of logic wasn’t nearly enough to make him keep his distance. “You mean you haven’t seen the town yet?” His words were teasing and he had the strongest urge to reach for her. He shoved his hands a little deeper into his pockets instead.

  She met his flirtatious grin fearlessly. “Not properly. I still need an insider’s perspective.”

  His feet were moving before his brain caught up, and Arianna kept pace beside him with ease. “You know,” he began, “you’re living with one of the town’s most notorious gossips. I’m sure you’d barely even have to ask.”

  Arianna laughed quietly and he swore he felt the look she slid toward him for the long second before she replied, “Georgia’s isn’t the perspective that interests me.”

  Dean sw
allowed hard as he guided her across the crosswalk, toward the park, and said, “Well then, I guess it’s fortunate you have other options.” What the hell am I doing? Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing. He just knew better than to be doing it in the first place. The only question was whether or not he was going to come to regret it.

  ****

  “I still say this is stupid,” Eric Matthews ground out, his hand clenched tight around the phone at his ear. “We haven’t gotten revenge for Emma, why are we switching targets?”

  On the other end of the line, Jacob let the sigh slip through as he said, “I’ve explained this, Eric. We lost our advantage. Our actions became predictable. If we want to regain that advant—.”

  Blah blah blah. “Why am I even listening to you again?” Eric interrupted impatiently. An older man, walking past him on the sidewalk, paused and cast a curious glance his way, so Eric pulled the phone down for a second and hissed, “Mind your own business, old man!”

  “Eric,” Jacob called, tempered patience oozing from his tone.

  Eric turned his back on the old man, who was already continuing on his way, and settled the phone over his ear again. “As far as I’m concerned,” he began angrily, “you should be listening to me.”

  “You’re an impulsive, hot-headed, eighteen year old,” Jacob returned shortly. “This situation calls for a more level head. We need patience.”

  “Screw that,” Eric snapped, shoving his free hand into his pocket and wandering further from the quickly-crowding street. “Your brand of patience got our sister killed!”

  “That was Father’s plan,” Jacob reminded. “If you have anger toward it, take it up with him.”

  Eric pulled in a breath and bit back his retort. He was furious with his disloyal brother, and even more so over the fact that Emma’s death was so far in vain, but he didn’t want to be seen as disloyal himself. His father was the only family he felt as though he had left. So he redirected the conversation to a point he could better argue and said, “That’s right. It was your plan to play up the Buchannon angle. So it was your fault we lost our advantage, and that brings me back to wondering why I’m taking orders from you. You’re the one who threw us out like yesterday’s trash.”

  He could practically hear Jacob grinding his teeth on the other end of the line. “Don’t overdramatize it, Eric. You and Father were never planning to stay permanently, and I promised Sarah…”

  “I don’t care what you promised that woman!” Eric snapped. He took another breath, not wanting to yell the wrong thing in public, and coldly declared, “She’s softened you, Jacob. Father can barely stand the sight of you now.” Well, that part was probably not true, but Jacob didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t like he spent half the time with their old man that Eric did.

  Jacob was silent for several seconds and Eric’s lips twitched. His brother’s silence meant his words had hit their mark. When he did finally speak again, Jacob’s tone was tight and detached. “Remember the plan, Eric. We’re changing our focus in order to throw them off-balance. End of discussion.” The line went dead practically before the words were out of Jacob’s mouth.

  Eric released a breath and dropped his phone into his pocket. Fine, I’ll play along. Their father would probably agree, anyway. And it wasn’t like they would never get their revenge. First, though, it looked like he was going to have to start spying on Dean’s new lady-friend. A grin tipped his lips as he considered that assignment. Arianna Carosella wasn’t at all hard on the eyes. This might not be so bad.

  ****

  “You were right about this view,” Arianna declared as she pulled in a long, deep breath of the salty air. The sun was setting on the horizon, but the fog was still far enough out that it didn’t spoil the view. The colors in the sky were warm and bright—blurring shades of orange, pink, and something near lavender. The sun reflected over the water, like it was sinking straight beneath the surface. She’d seen a few sunsets over the ocean since moving to Darien, but somehow this one was a hundred times better. She doubted it had all that much to do with her higher vantage point.

  “Glad you think so,” Dean commented from beside her. She slid her gaze to the side without turning her head, sneaking yet another glance at him. He was standing straight, hands tucked into his pockets, the edges of his lightweight jacket just barely dancing in the breeze. But what struck her most was how he almost seemed to be glowing against the sunset. Like it was whispering a secret in his ear.

  Feeling ridiculous, Arianna returned her attention to the sunset. Already the world around them was starting to darken, like a blanket slowly falling over them. It was hard not to realize, in that precise moment, how alone they were. They were standing on the side of a cliff, in the outskirts of town, surrounded only by towering pine trees. Their cars were parked at the end of a trail a little way back, and the only flashlight Arianna currently had with her was the app in her phone. For all intents and purposes, they were completely isolated. Alone with a man you’ve only known since yesterday morning.

  So why did she only want to get closer?

  “Arianna,” Dean began unexpectedly, his tone oddly somber, “I think it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room.”

  Blinking, she turned to properly face him, finding he was already watching her. Still she could see the faintest reflection of the fading sunset in his blue eyes. “What elephant?”

  He frowned, and it did nothing to dampen his appeal. “I’m dangerous, in more than one way.” He paused, exhaled, and as she was processing the subtle increase in temperature around them, he continued, “I don’t usually lose control like I did earlier, but these people hunting us … you don’t want to get mixed in with this crap, Ari.”

  She studied his expression, watching him watch her for her reaction, and said nothing for a long minute. It was hard to decide whether she thought his attempt to protect her was sweet or frustrating, but it was much easier to decide she liked the way he said her name. Finally, she took a breath and deliberately stepped closer, wrapping her arms around one of his and tugging him away from the cliff as she said, “It’s getting colder already, let’s get out of here.”

  He found her eyes with his stare, letting her lead the way, and his frown deepened. “I’m serious, Arianna.”

  She stopped and released his arm in order to plant one palm over his chest. She could’ve sworn she felt his heart jump, but she ignored it and held his gaze stubbornly. “I appreciate your concern, Dean,” she offered honestly. “But I’m a big girl. I’m not going to let some lunatic decide who I spend my time with.” She paused and her hand slid up slowly as she found herself leaning in, instinctively drawn in by his warmth and strength. Her voice lowered to a whisper as she added, “And you don’t scare me, either.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed and his hands landed on her hips, his touch warm even from the outside of her clothes. “I could change your mind,” he rumbled even as he pulled her closer.

  She could feel his breath against her skin now and it sent a delicious round of chills dancing down her spine. Her fingers brushed the underside of his jaw and she murmured, “Or I could change yours.”

  He grunted something in the back of his throat as the last of the evening chill was chased from her skin. Her eyelids were drooping, lips parting in time with his, when they were startled apart by the intrusion of a ringing cell phone.

  Arianna huffed an agitated breath as Dean released her, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest. They’d been so close she could practically taste it, and the disappointment flooding her now nearly frightened her. “You get signal out here?” she asked, her voice colored with the flush of desire heating her blood.

  “Sometimes,” Dean grumbled as he glanced down at the screen. Another frown settled on his lips and she knew their evening was over before he’d even lifted the device to his ear. “Yeah?” he answered curtly. She couldn’t help but take a little satisfaction in his blatant frustration. Her satisfaction was short-lived, howev
er, when his expression tightened and he said, “Of course not. Just stay put, I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

  Guilt already churned in her stomach as he dropped the phone back into his pocket. Had she caused him to miss something important?

  “Sorry,” Dean offered quietly, meeting her gaze again. “That was my sister. She’s out with her friend and her friend’s car died. She needs a jump.”

  His sister… She remembered, now that she was thinking about it, seeing him have a short, obviously tense conversation with a younger girl on the beach the morning before. She knew they had a younger sister, so it stood to reason that was the same girl. Her smile was easy, even if the regret and resignation still lingered in her stomach, as she replied, “Don’t even apologize. Family should always come first.” In a perfect world, at least.

  One corner of his lips lifted in an understanding half-smile and he settled his hand over the small of her back even as he began leading them back to their cars. It was only then that she realized just how quickly the darkness had settled in around them. Already she could only barely distinguish the shapes of the trees against the foggy night sky. “When we hit the interstate,” he began, “turn the opposite way I do. That’s the fastest way back to town.”

  “I wasn’t worried,” Arianna teased, bumping her shoulder into him without thought. “I do have GPS on my phone.”

  “Force of habit, I guess,” Dean explained lightly. He ducked as he spoke, narrowly avoiding tangling his short hair in the reaching branches of a tree.

  Arianna watched the spindly limb until it was behind them before returning her attention to Dean even as she registered the glint of filtered moonlight on the hoods of their cars up ahead. A strange thought popped into her head and she blurted, “Does your power come with side-effects?”