Damn. One night with Julian Lodge and she was a lustful pervert.
But what was perverted about it? What she and Julian had done hadn’t hurt anybody. Why should it matter that she had fantasies that were slightly outside the mainstream? She’d spent her entire life being a good girl and what had it gotten her? She was forgotten in the community until someone needed something. Finn had found other girls to sleep with. Her sister treated her like crap. The one crazy thing she’d ever done in her whole life had netted her a night in bed with a veritable sex god.
Maybe being good was for the birds.
“Dani, I don’t like the look on your face.”
“Too bad, Finn.”
Dani was about to let loose, to tell her lying best friend that she didn’t give a damn, and he could go to hell. The smoke rising from her house made her stop. She felt her mouth drop open as Finn turned, and she could see a plume of gray smoke rising from her front yard. “What the hell?”
“Is that your house on fire?” Finn hit the gas, charging forward. Up ahead, Dani could see that the house was fine. The yard was not. The yard was littered with piles of trash, and it was, or had been, on fire. The small Willow Fork volunteer fire truck was out front, and they had put out the fire. They were rolling up the hose as Finn stopped the car. Val was in the front yard talking to a man in uniform. His name was Andy McKenna, deputy and resident all-around asshole. Dani squinted. A piece of bright pink fabric stuck out among the char. Dani’s heart sank. She knew what that was, or rather had been. It was a big pink elephant Finn had won for her at the county fair when they were sixteen. She’d moved it to Jimbo’s along with everything else she owned in the world. Now it was gone.
“What the hell happened?” Finn’s question came out as a shocked gasp.
Dani slammed out of Finn’s SUV and made a beeline for Val, who had a judgmental frown on her lovely face as she listened to Andy. Dani heard Finn’s door slam and felt him behind her. Despite her anger with him, she was damn glad she wasn’t alone.
“Well, look who decided to crawl home.” Val’s frown got deeper, putting creases on her face.
Andy turned toward Dani, a glare in his cold, dark eyes, and a smirk on his face. “Looks like you pissed someone off, Miss Bay.” He emphasized the Miss. “Take a look around and tell me if you recognize any of this stuff. Your sister was sleeping, and when she woke up, all this crap was in her yard, and it was on fire. She seems to think it has something to do with you.”
“Shit,” Finn hissed as he surveyed the damage. He kicked at a pile of books. A half-burned copy of Keats’ poems disintegrated before her eyes. Dani saw his face go red, but this time it was all about anger. He turned to Andy McKenna. “Are you going to call that fucking redneck in for questioning?”
McKenna stared through Finn, not bothering to take off his mirrored sunglasses. “I have no idea who you’re talking about, son. And I would appreciate you watching your fucking language around an officer of the law.”
Dani had the most insane urge to clock the son of a bitch. He was a year Finn’s junior. The “son” was pure insult. She felt her face flush. She wouldn’t get a lick of justice out of this man, but she felt compelled to push anyway. “He’s talking about my ex-fiancé. He obviously dumped my belongings here and then torched them. There has to be something illegal about that. If nothing else, isn’t there a burn ban?”
McKenna’s lips quirked up. “Now, Miss, if I were going to write a ticket for ignoring the burn ban, I would have to write it to the homeowner. That would be you, correct?”
“Obviously she didn’t destroy everything she owns.” Finn’s jaw was clenched in impotent anger. His fists pumped at his sides.
Tears burned in the backs of her eyes. She looked over at her sister, the woman she’d put her life on hold to raise, to put through school. She was shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
“After yesterday, who knows what Danielle would do?” Val proclaimed. She stood there in the jeans and flouncy top Dani had bought for her birthday and shook her head, looking at her sister like she was a pest to be dealt with.
Everything she owned. The truth raced through Dani’s system like a wildfire. All her clothes, her books, the chair her mother used to rock her in, all gone. Even her car was at Jimbo’s shop. She had nothing but her purse and the clothes she’d gone to the church in yesterday. Finn had picked those things up. It was the only reason she had a damn thing in the world. Her hands started to shake. Finn’s arms came around her.
“It’s all right, baby. I’ll take care of you.” His breath was warm against her neck.
She suddenly wanted to call Julian. She wanted to call him because he would come and take care of the problem. He would step in and shield her, and she wouldn’t have to worry about anything. If Finn tried to deal with this, he would get in trouble. He might get hurt. No one would hurt Julian.
He hadn’t given her his number.
She stepped out of Finn’s arms and turned to face Deputy McKenna. “I would like to file a report.”
“You don’t have any witnesses.” The deputy frowned at her and crossed his arms, showing his obvious disinterest in the process. “Val here was asleep, and there are no close neighbors. I already called Jimbo, and his mother is willing to say that he dropped these belongings of yours off late last night since you made it real clear you weren’t moving into the house he bought for you. I doubt this crap burned all night.”
No help was forthcoming from the Willow Fork Sheriff’s Department. It didn’t really surprise her. Andy was Jimbo’s drinking buddy. There was no way he took her side over his. The thought that Andy would do his job with no bias was completely laughable. “So you aren’t going to do anything at all?”
He shrugged as the volunteer fire department finished packing their equipment. “Unless you have an alibi, I would back off, Dani. Everyone knows you aren’t acting much like yourself lately. A lot of folks around this town are thinking you’re out to get as much attention as possible.”
Val stepped forward, getting between Dani and the deputy. “Back off, Dani. You can’t prove you didn’t do this. You don’t want to get into more trouble than you already are. Everyone is looking at us like we’re the trashiest family in Willow Fork, and that’s saying something.”
“What is wrong with you people? There’s no way she did this herself. That’s ridiculous. She was out at Jack Barnes’s ranch,” Finn countered.
Andy laughed, a sharp, short bark. “Yeah, I wonder what she was doing out there.”
“A man who’s way better looking than you.” Dani ignored her sister’s gasp of shock and turned on her heels to walk into the house. No one would help her. She might be able to force them to make a report, but unless she had irrefutable evidence, these good old boys would protect their own. Jimbo would get away with his revenge.
She walked up the rickety steps and started to slam the door, but Val was there following her.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Val’s claw clamped down on her elbow, whirling Dani around to look at her.
“I’m tired, Val. I’m going to bed for awhile.” Her old bed was still here. Val hadn’t gotten rid of it yet. She would curl up and try to forget that any of this ever happened. Maybe she would wake up and find out it was all a dream and Finn was still gay and her world was still crappy, but familiar.