“You Riscoffs think you’re so high-and-mighty—”

“Go away, Karma. Whatever you want, I’ll deal with you later.”

She turns her venom on me once more. “My mom’s home. I just wanted to let you know she’s unemployed. Good job, Whit. Way to come home and fuck everything up.”

Karma salutes and backs out of the shed, leaving Lincoln and me staring after her light brown hair flopping over her shoulder.

Aunt Jackie lost her job? Oh God. I have to fix this.

“Your cousin’s a bitch,” Lincoln says as the door snaps shut.

With a shake of my head, I sink onto the futon, devastated at what I’ve wrought.

“I thought your sister wouldn’t fire her over this.” I shake my head as I try to wrap my brain around what happened today. “I never should’ve come home. It was a mistake. I need to leave before I ruin anything else.”

Lincoln crouches in front of me. “Don’t say that. I’ll talk to McKinley. There’s gotta be something going on. She was with my mom. McKinley wouldn’t have had time to fire anyone, plus, she’s not spiteful like that. You might not believe it, but some Riscoffs are good people. She’s one of them.”

“Aunt Jackie needed that job. I have to fix this.”

“Let me worry about it. I can fix it. All you have to do is promise you won’t skip town before we have a conversation that’s long overdue.”

Just like a decade ago, my instincts go to war. His hazel gaze urges me to agree, but I know I should stay as far away from Lincoln Riscoff as humanly possible.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. There’s nothing we need to talk about.”

Lincoln’s features stay soft, but his stare intensifies. “That’s where you’re wrong, Blue. There is a hell of a lot that needs to be said. The way things ended—”

“They ended the only way they could have. Maybe that’s the way it should stay. It’s been a long time, and nothing good has ever come from a Riscoff and a Gable together.”

Maybe? Why am I already wavering in my conviction? Because this is Lincoln I’m dealing with, and refusing him anything is a legendary feat.

“I don’t know about you, but I remember a lot of good things that came from a Gable and a Riscoff being together.”

His deep voice turns rough, and my skin tingles like I’m wishing he would reach out to touch me.

What is wrong with me? Wait, it’s not me, it’s him. Just being around him sends my body and my mind into a tailspin.

Ten years ago, my addiction to Lincoln Riscoff was dangerous and altered my life in a way I never fully recovered from. Now? It would be even crazier. He’s the heir to a billion-dollar empire, and I’m infamous. The stakes are higher. We both have more to lose. He could never give me what I want—a quiet, simple life out of the limelight.