There was a prickling sensation on the back of my neck as I stepped down from my perch. I scanned my surroundings, my gaze catching on Ford. A muscle in his cheek ticked wildly. Lacey reached out a hand, settling it on his biceps. I couldn’t watch, it burned something deep in my belly as if acid were festering there.

I startled at the hand on my shoulder. I must’ve been staring for longer than I thought, because Hunter was now at my side behind the bar. “What’s wrong? Is Ford giving you trouble?”

Something about the question had tears burning the backs of my eyes. I wanted to scream “yes,” say that Ford was giving me the worst kind of trouble, the kind that reminded me of how I had pined for the boy who was my sister’s. How I’d wished he were mine. I’d wanted it so badly that a part of that sixteen-year-old girl I’d been had worried that I’d willed my sister’s death into being. God, it had been so long since any of those thoughts had taken root in my mind. I thought I’d banished them for good. But all it took was Ford walking back into my life for me to realize they were still there, just simmering below the surface.

“Bell?”

I looked up into Hunter’s concerned eyes. “No, I’m fine. Ford and I made our peace.”

“Then why do you both keep looking at each other like you’re tempted to commit murder?” His gaze flicked back and forth between Ford and me, his jaw tightening. “Or…rip each other’s clothes off.”

Heat flared in my cheeks. Ford certainly didn’t want to rip off my clothes. He probably just couldn’t handle the idea of the girl he’d always looked at as a little sister talking to men. Heaven forbid. I had a sudden urge to lay one on Hunter just to make a point. And not only on his cheeks this time. “We’re just figuring out our new normal, and Ford needs to get used to the idea that I’m no longer a sixteen-year-old girl. I can handle myself.”

Hunter let out a chuckle and pulled me into a side hug. “He always was overprotective of you.”