“Yes! Or I’m gonna do it myself!”
Tate shrugged his shoulders before he bent down and took the other end. They carried it downstairs to the pile that lay on the lawn. Audrey threw down her end, and without much choice, he threw down his. She ran inside, retrieved matches and the lighter fluid from the grill, and reemerged. She started to drench the pile then, making sure it was good and wet, struck a match, tossed it on the pile, and watched it become engulfed in flames.
It was beautiful, seeing Levi’s things burn. She hadn’t realized that doing this would be better than sitting on the bathroom floor bawling her eyes out. As the fire burned, she felt Tate take a step closer to her and she remembered he was there.
“Please don’t tell Lucas or Fallon,” she whispered as her couch—the same couch she had made beautiful sweet love to Levi on—burned.
“I won’t,” he said softly. “Can I ask why?”
“Because they will think I’m psychotic.”
“No they won’t. It’s not like you’re rocking back and forth on the floor, crying. That’s when you have hit rock bottom.”
Audrey looked up into Tate’s soft eyes. “I did that before I started the fire.”
Tate seemed to cringe as he looked away. She studied his profile, the light from the fire bringing out the stubble that lined his jaw. When he turned back to look at her, he smiled. “Come here,” he said, then took her hand in his, bringing her close to him before wrapping his arms tightly around her. She went willingly, needing a hug at that moment. As tears rolled down her cheeks, she took a shaky breath as the two of them watched the fire burn.
“Are you allowed to burn things on your front lawn?” Tate asked.
Audrey shrugged. “I don’t care.”
They stood there wrapped in each other’s arms for a long time. Audrey’s body was in overdrive, from waking up to Levi’s leaving, from de-Levi-ing her house, and now from being in someone else’s arms, which tightened around her body. Tate rested his head on top of hers. She knew he didn’t want anything from her, which put her at ease. He just wanted to hold her because she was hurting, and that alone was refreshing. She was tired of people always wanting things from her. For once it seemed that someone was being nice to her because they cared and were worried about her.
Tate made her feel like that.
Just like her things, Audrey’s body also was on fire. She wanted Tate. She wanted to stay in his arms forever. She missed him more than she had ever missed Levi, even though she had no clue who he was. She didn’t care, though. He seemed like a good person. Young, but solid, steady.
Not that she was thinking about any more than the present. She knew she couldn’t think seriously about being with anyone right now, after everything with Levi. And also because Tate probably thought she was a psychotic slut. She hadn’t started out on a good foot with him, so her hormones would need to slow down. She really needed to get it together.
When a fire truck, a fire marshal, and four cop cars pulled up, Tate’s body shook with laughter.
“I guess you can’t burn things on the front lawn,” he said.
Tate watched as the emergency response teams left. Audrey stood beside him taking deep breaths as her eyes stayed on the pile of junk that had been drenched with water from the fire trucks. Tate still couldn’t believe the show she had put on for him. It was quite the sight, watching her grunt and cuss as she threw each item out on the lawn. When she got the matches and lighter fluid, he wanted to laugh but could tell she wouldn’t like that much. She was visibly upset, and he wanted to know why.
When she glanced up at him with a sheepish smile, he smiled back. Then they both started to laugh. She held her stomach as she laughed loudly, adding a little snort here and there. That made him laugh harder, and soon he was bent over laughing.
“What a show, huh?”
Tate smiled. “It was interesting.”