Ignite (3 page)

No one said no to Jeddediah Lindsay, not even me.

The pounding rain and the car’s windshield wipers were the only sounds I heard as we drove to Linda’s house. I knew my hands were freezing, and I felt completely numb.

I was jarred to my senses as we pulled over the curb of the driveway, and Jed killed the engine. Neither of us made a move to unfasten our seat belts or get out of the car.

“I don’t know them,” I whispered under my breath. Panic was rising in my chest.

Jed reached across the front seat to put one of his big hands on both of mine.

“I know you don’t, but just give it a chance,” he said as delicately as a giant of a man could. “Do what you can. I’m not asking you for any promises, I’m just asking you to try.”

I nodded slowly and followed out of the big black sedan. We walked up to the red front door, and Jed reached into his pocket for a loose key.

“Wait,” I said suddenly as he grabbed the doorknob. “What happens if I say no?”

He sighed and turned to face me. He looked as haggard as the day he lost his brother.

“They’ll go into the foster system. Then they run the risk of being split up.”

That little detail made it even heavier.

“Okay,” I said, shutting my eyes momentarily.

I didn’t want that to be my fault. My brother Tucker had gone to school across the country by choice, but I couldn’t imagine if he’d suddenly been taken from me involuntarily.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” I told him as he turned the key and pushed the door open.

“After you,” he gestured for me to go first, and I was hit by the heat coming from the house.

I smelled something like fresh baked bread wafting out toward me.

I nodded and gave him a little smile, but that still didn’t mean that I wanted to go inside. Going in meant that this nightmare was real. I was still waiting for Linda to pop out from around the corner with a candid camera crew, but there’s no way Jed would do that to me; not after my Dad.

The house was like something out of a magazine. Everything was placed perfectly, and every detail matched the décor theme. It was far too clean and looked almost unlived in. It wasn’t hard to see that I didn’t belong here.

It was strange to think that my dad lived in this house. None of the décor reminded me of him, and I wondered if Linda had redecorated recently, or if this was the exact state it had been when it was his home too. I always envisioned my dad living in a woodsy, cabin-like home. This house was warm, but much more clean, modern, and open than he would have preferred.

Jed shut the door and led me into another room where Mary sat on the couch reading a book. She glanced up when we entered. She gently took her glasses off and smiled weakly, the sympathy evident on her face. A fluffy blanket mostly obscured the child on her lap, but I saw a pile of curly blonde hair spilling out from underneath.

“Hello dear,” Mary said sweetly.

She shifted so that she could move free of the blonde little girl, who stayed fast asleep.

She hugged me gently, and then kissed her husband on the cheek.

“Where are Chase and Callie?” Jed asked gruffly.

Mary gestured upstairs.

“I’ll go get them. It’s been a long day for all of us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already asleep.”

I turned back to the sofa where the sleeping little girl lay. My heart ached for her, although I didn’t know how to help. She must have been the one who was so little at Dad’s funeral.

Jed put a hand on my shoulder, and as I turned to face him, I saw Mary headed down the stairs with a boy who appeared to be about ten.

“Chase,” Mary said. “You remember Lauren.”

He nodded meekly, but didn’t move toward me.

I smiled at him, unsure of what to say.

Jed cleared his throat. “Where’s Callie?”

Mary shook her head.

“She’s upstairs with her friend. Jenny, I think. She didn’t want to come down.” Mary looked at me. “I’m sorry, sweetie. She’s just out of sorts right now.”

That was completely understandable.

“No, don’t be sorry.”

I was her age when my dad died.

“I probably wouldn’t want to come down and meet a total stranger after what’s happened today either.”

Something beeped from the other room, and Linda turned to Chase.

“That must be the pizza,” she said, taking his hand. “Come help me, would you?”

Chase looked at me with blank eyes again, but turned slowly and followed Mary into what I assumed was the kitchen, leaving Jed and me with Emma.

He took Mary’s space on the couch and pulled the little girl closer to him. She stirred as he adjusted the blankets for her, but then quickly fell asleep again in his arms. My heart broke all over again for her. For Chase, and for Callie, wherever she was.

I didn’t know how I would fit into all of their lives, or how they would fit into mine. It didn’t seem like anything would work out, but Jed had me trapped here for at least the night since he didn’t let me drive my car.

“Lauren?”

I snapped out of my reverie. I didn’t even know I hadn’t been paying attention.

“I’m sorry, what?” I focused on Jed, who was still cradling Emma while I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, afraid to sit anywhere.

“Someone is knocking on the door,” Jed told me again. “Could you go check and see who it is? People have been asking for information all day, so if it’s some curious neighbor, take the cookies and tell her we’ll call later.”

“Got it,” I told him as I headed for the door.

Except the front door wasn’t where I thought it was, so I made a wrong turn and found Mary and Chase in the kitchen.

“Other way, you’ll get used to it,” Mary told me sweetly as she fanned a hot pizza with an oven mitt.

I smiled robotically and turned back the way I had come, unsure of whether I wanted to get to know this house any better.

I finally found the right hallway and paused with my hand on the door, afraid of who I would face. This was the last thing I had expected to do today. A sharp noise on the other side made me jump as someone knocked again.

I gathered myself and turned the shiny brass knob.

The face that I saw on the other side was enough to make me lose my words and my wits all in less than a second.

“Lauren Annabelle Lindsay,” he said, looking about as confused as I was. A slow grin spread across his face and I blinked one too many times to make the little stars in front of my eyes go away. “You are the
last
person I was expecting to open this door.”

Everything from the day compounded and it was all too much information at once. I’d already driven two hours to the Colorado Springs DMV from Boulder, dealt with all of that, and now I had to process this. My body tried to protect itself by shutting down. I’m not sure how long I stared at him before I faltered, but the next thing I remembered, he was reaching for me as my knees gave out. After that, the stars took over.

“HEY THERE.”

My head was resting against something soft. As my vision slowly swam back into place, I was met with a familiar, yet very unfamiliar face,
very
close to my own.

Oh god.

I tried to sit up quickly, but gasped in pain as I realized I had somehow hurt my head.

“Easy,” he said as warm hands came around my face to steady me. My eyes met his and I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was my injury or his intense gaze that was making me woozy. This was way too embarrassing.

“Alright son,” I heard Jed’s stern voice. “I think that’s enough.”

Thank god, someone needed to get him away from me before I fainted again. I rubbed the back of my head.

DMV Boy stood up and brushed his hands off on his jeans before holding one out to me.

“Sorry sir,” he said in Jed’s direction. “It’s just that we haven’t been properly introduced.”

I just sat there, wondering if I was dreaming. This was not happening. It just wasn’t. Why was Henry Cavill from the DMV in my living room? Correction, why was he in Linda’s living room, and why was he touching me?

He held his hand out expectantly.

“Dean Powell,” he said, oozing confidence and grinning in a way that made me think he did this regularly. Charming people, not rescuing girls who fell at his feet.

Well, that might be a regular occurrence too.

I held out my hand gingerly, feeling strange that Jed, not to mention Mary and Chase, were witnessing this little encounter.

“Lauren Lindsay,” I said. “But you already knew that.”

He flashed another million dollar grin and I felt my traitorous stomach drop.

“Lauren
Annabelle
Lindsay,” he said. “Can’t forget that little detail.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that. No one had called me that since my Dad. He had always loved the name Annabelle, and even had to convince my Mom to name me that, or so the story went.

“Dean!” I heard a little voice and the girl with a puff of blond hair appeared from beside me and clung to his knee. As my gaze followed her, I realized he was wearing the most perfectly tailored jeans I had ever seen.

“Emma girl!” he said with a smile as he swung her up in to his arms. She nuzzled into his neck and peeked out from behind her hair to look at me. The way she was so comfortable with him gave me the impression he was around this family
a lot.

“Dean, who is your girlfriend?” she asked him quietly, looking up at him with wide eyes.

I swallowed and froze. Medusa could have turned me to stone on the spot and it would have been fine.

“That’s my friend Lauren,” he said, tapping her on the nose. “You’ll like her.”

He winked at me.
Winked.

Seriously, where was Medusa when I needed her? I just wanted to sink into the sofa until I woke up from this mortifying nightmare.

“Okay,” Emma said, putting her thumb into her mouth.

“Alright, little one,” Jed said abruptly. “Time for bed.” He took Emma from Dean’s arms despite her protests.

“I’ll be back again soon, Emma girl,” he told her. “I have to check on you and Lauren, right?”

Emma nodded sleepily.

“I’ll take Chase too,” Mary said as she reached for Chase’s hand.

Traitor.

I couldn’t be left alone with Dean. Clearly, he wasn’t having any trouble with his wits, but mine were on vacation due to the fact that I had recently inherited children and was so stressed out about it that I quite literally hit the floor.

Jed gave Dean a look before he turned and walked up the stairway. At least I wasn’t the only one who sensed Dean was more in his element than I was.

As soon as they were out of sight, Dean sighed and turned to face me.

“You took it pretty hard just now,” he leaned down and put a hand out to touch my forehead where a small bump had formed. “I’m sorry to say it won’t feel great in the morning.”

I was unable to form words, which seemed to give him some sort of satisfaction, because he smiled the same sideways grin that might just cause me to see stars again in the near future.

“Here,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’ll help you to the guest room, it’s probably more comfortable in there.”

Woah. That escalated quickly.

“Um,” I shook my head. “No, that won’t be necessary.” I disentangled myself from the blanket that they had given me, which was the same one Emma had been using earlier.

“Well,” he said, scooping me up before I could protest, “I just don’t want you swooning again.”

My jaw dropped.
Swooning?
He thought
that’s
what happened?

“Excuse me?” I scoffed.

“I just mean—”

“Oh my god,” came a voice from upstairs. “Can you just stop hitting on people for like five seconds?”

I looked up to see two girls staring down at us. As I turned, my head bumped Dean’s chin, and I remembered that I was still caged awkwardly in his arms. As much as I hated to admit it, I didn’t actually want him to put me down right away.

“Jenny,” he said flatly.

I shivered when I felt the rumble in his chest as he spoke.

She walked down the stairs, and the other girl slowly followed. As they got closer, I could see that the second girl was blonde, and her eyes were red from crying. However, she couldn’t seem to tear them away from Dean.