Wildfire Griffin (Fire & Rescue Shifters: Wildfire Crew #1)(42)
“You really think he feels the same way about me?” she asked him. “Truly?”
“I don’t think it. I know it. Promise me you’ll talk to him?”
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the thought of confessing her true emotions to Rory. Her racing thoughts spilled over. “I want to, really I do. But I’m not good with words. And maybe it’s the wrong moment. We’re about to go on active duty. Is it fair to distract him now? Even if he does like me like I like him, we shouldn’t rush into anything. It could affect the squad. I think I should wait.”
She discovered she was walking by herself. Wystan had stopped in the middle of the path. One hand covered his eyes. His shoulders shook.
“Wystan?” she said, worried. “Are you okay?”
He dropped his hand again. “Excuse me for a moment.”
He walked over to the nearest tree. Slowly, gently, and very deliberately, he bashed his own forehead against the trunk several times.
“Uh.” She’d never made someone literally bang their head against a wall before. “Wystan?”
“My apologies.” He turned back to her, offering her a rueful smile. “But you two are unbelievably alike. Edith, I know your head is coming up with a hundred good reasons why you should hide your feelings. It’s understandable—baring your soul to someone else is terrifying. But if you are honest with each other, truly honest, then all will be well. I promise.”
Her throat had gone dry. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because—“ He seemed to catch himself, changing his mind about whatever he’d been about to say. “Because he’s my friend. I know him as well as I know myself—better, perhaps. And I can’t stand to see him suffering needlessly. I beg you, just talk to him. As soon as you can. Promise me?”
She swallowed hard. She couldn’t be honest with Rory the way that Wystan meant.
But she could at least be honest with him about some things. And maybe…maybe that would be enough.
“I promise. I’ll tell him how I really feel.” She lifted her chin, setting her shoulders. “Tonight.”
Chapter 19
“Rory, there’s been something I’ve been wanting to tell you.” Edith took a deep breath, lifting her chin. “I think that I’m falling in love with you.”
She studied her reflection in the mirror critically.
She groaned, hiding her face in her hands. “Now I look like I’m telling him I ran over his dog,” she said out loud to the empty bathroom. “He’s going to think I don’t want to be in love with him.”
No matter how she practiced, she couldn’t get her expression right. Widening her eyes in a winsome fashion had just made her look like a brain-damaged deer. Smiling had given the impression that she was on class-A drugs. Not smiling had turned out to be even worse. She’d briefly tried on the Instagram duckface pout, and had immediately vowed never to do so again.
She pushed her hair back, scowling. She rearranged her face one last time, trying to strike that perfect balance between serious and sultry.
“Rory, I think I’m falling in love with you,” she declaimed to the mirror. “And now I will club you over the head and drag you back to my sex dungeon. Gaaaaaah. Why is this so hard?”
She wished she could confess her feelings via text. But she knew it was rude to end a relationship over the phone. It was probably even ruder to try to start one that way.
It would have been easier if they were in fourth grade. She could have just passed him a note in class: I LIKE YOU DO YOU LIKE ME Y/N?
She stuck her tongue out at herself, giving up. She’d just have to wing it. Maybe she could persuade him to come out on a late-night walk, where the darkness would hide her face. Or, even better, dive into a bush and make her confession while completely hidden.
She left the bathroom, emerging into the small corridor that joined her and Blaise’s rooms. She hadn’t heard Blaise come back into the cabin yet, but she knocked on her closed door just in case.
“Blaise?” she called. “I’m going to dinner. Are you in there?”
Silence answered her. Frowning, Edith checked the time on her watch. Blaise and the others should have been back an hour ago. She couldn’t imagine what they could be doing out in the woods for so long. Maybe they’d gone straight to the mess hall.
Her stomach growled at the thought of food. Three hours of daily physical training followed by hikes, briefings, tool practice and equipment checks burned a lot of calories. She would have been embarrassed about how much she wolfed down every meal, except that everyone else on A-squad ate at least twice as much. Even Joe usually polished off three helpings, no matter how he grumbled about the hired cook’s unadventurous seasoning.
She headed for the mess hall, the setting sun slanting low through the trees. Most evenings, people liked to eat outside—even a room as big as the hall was cramped for the whole crew. Not to mention that at the end of a long day, twenty tired firefighters made for a powerful aroma in an enclosed space.
The majority of the crew were already tucking into their meals, seated comfortably on the picnic tables scattered in front of the large building. She noticed Tanner a little way off, gesturing with his fork while he explained something to his gathered squad. Leto sat next to him, the two men’s shoulders and thighs touching. Of course those two were partners. It was obvious, now that she knew.