Bound To Fuse

Skylar POV

Wow.

A lot could change in five years. I stood on the edge of the Carter family barbecue, lemonade in hand, and watched complete chaos unfold around me.

The good kind of chaos,the familiar kind, the kind I’d missed more than I’d ever admitted.

Children ran through the yard screaming, adults laughed, music drifted from the clubhouse speakers. Grandpa and dad was cooking enough food to feed a small army.

Normal.

Completely normal and God, I’d missed it. A smile tugged at my lips because five years ago I’d left Creek Wood chasing a dream and now I was standing here again.

Home.

The realisation still felt strange. Good but strange.

A squeal cut through the air. I barely had time to react before four-year-old Jessie Carter launched himself at my legs.

“Sky!”

I laughed, immediately bending down.

“There you are.”

Jessie grinned up at me. All blonde hair and blue eyes. A miniature version of his father with his mother's eyes but with enough Carter attitude to cause problems. His little brother Toby followed at a much slower pace. The two-year-old stopped directly in front of me, considering me carefully, just like his father, always observing, always thinking. I smiled.

“Hi, Toby.”

The toddler nodded solemnly, then climbed into my lap without invitation. Fair enough, apparently I’d been accepted.

Again.

I wrapped an arm around him. Jessie immediately looked offended.

“He’s sitting with you.”

“Very observant.”

“I was first.”

I laughed. The dramatic sigh that followed sounded suspiciously like Uncle Roman, which was terrifying.

Across the yard Aunt Harper caught my eye she immediately noticed the boys and immediately smiling.

God. I loved her, everyone did.

The woman somehow managed to walk into our lives and become the centre of them, Uncle Roman smiled more, Lola was happier. The family was stronger.

Grandma Stella adored her, which was saying something.

Grandma Stella adored very few people.

Actually.

That wasn’t true, she adored everyone, she just terrified them first.

Speaking of terrifying. Grandma Margaret sat beneath a large umbrella directing people around like she owned the place, which honestly wasn’t far from the truth anymore. Tank was carrying her a fresh drink.

Again. The poor man had been running errands for her all afternoon, not that he seemed to mind.

I shook my head. Some things never changed and others changed completely.

Lola was eighteen now, off at culinary school living her best life.

Still calling me every week to complain about assignments.

Tommy had headed off to college too. Football and Business degree.

We are proud of the following their dreams, big dreams.

The twins were eleven, still impossible, still loud and still capable of causing trouble in under thirty seconds.

Emily was ten and somehow bossier than all of them combined, while little Enzo followed her around like she personally controlled the universe.

Honestly? She probably did.

The entire family had changed.

Grown, expanded. Yet somehow remained exactly the same, which was comforting, more comforting than I’d expected because if I was being honest… Coming home had scared me a little.

What if things felt different?

What if I felt different?

What if Creek Wood wasn’t home anymore?

Turns out I worried for nothing because it still felt like home, even if some things had changed or rather…

One thing.

My eyes drifted across the yard automatically like they always did, searching, finding.

Fuse.

The name still felt strange because in my head he was Maddox.

Always Maddox.

The boy who carried my backpack when I was ten, the teenager who sat through art shows he didn’t understand because I was excited about them. The seventeen-year-old who helped me paint until three in the morning because I’d left a project too late.

My best friend.

Only, the man standing near the clubhouse wasn’t the boy I’d left behind not anymore.

The cut rested comfortably across broad shoulders, his dark chocolate hair was shorter at the sides now. Longer on top, just messy enough to look effortless. Honey-brown eyes focused on something Bolt was saying.

He laughed.

The sound carrying across the yard and for a second I found myself staring a dangerous habit, one I needed to stop.

Immediately.

A movement near the clubhouse door caught my attention.

Candy, even I knew who she was, everybody did. She wasn’t dressed the way club girls usually were during evening parties.

Today she wore jeans and a fitted top, helping Grandma, Mia and Lottie carry trays back and forth from the kitchen. Being useful, included.

Every now and then she’d smile at Fuse and then he’d smile back.

Polite, friendly, normal and yet something uncomfortable twisted in my stomach anyway. I immediately pushed it down because that was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous, Fuse was my best friend.

That was all, had always been all and would always be all.

The fact women looked at him wasn’t exactly shocking, he was handsome, successful and respected of course they noticed.

Good for him. Really. Good for him.

The uncomfortable feeling stubbornly refused to leave, annoying, very annoying.

I took a sip of lemonade. Across the yard Fuse looked up.

Honey-brown eyes immediately finding mine likke they always did. The second he spotted me his entire expression changed.

Softened, relaxed.

Home.

The smile that followed hit me straight in the chest and suddenly.

The uncomfortable feeling became even harder to ignore.

---

Fuse POV

Five years.

That was how long she’d been gone, five years. Eighteen hundred and twenty-five days not that I’d counted.

Much.

A laugh caught my attention and automatically my eyes found her like they always did.

Sky.

Standing near Harper a glass of lemonade in her hand her long honey-brown hair falling down her back and green eyes bright with laughter. The flowy dress she’d chosen moved in the summer breeze.

Artist, even the way she dressed screamed artist.

A smile tugged at my mouth.

Home.

That was the stupid part, the dangerous part. The second she’d come back, everything felt right again like something I’d been missing had finally returned.

I took a sip of beer, trying very hard not to stare but failing.

Completely.

“You’re doing it again.”

I didn’t even look up because I knew that voice. Dad or Bolt to othes. A Pain in my ass.

“What?”

“Staring.”

I looked at him. Deadpan.

“I’m not.”

Dad laughed.

The traitor.

“Sure.”

I considered telling him where he could put his opinion. Instead, I took another drink. Safer that way.

Across the yard Sky laughed again my attention immediately shifted. Dad noticed of course he noticed the man missed nothing.

“Five years.”

I froze. Just slightly.

“Yeah.”

He nodded, watching Sky. Not me.

“Must’ve sucked.”

The understatement of the century because five years ago I’d watched my best friend leave.

Knowing she needed to go.

Knowing she belonged there.

Knowing she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t chase her dream.

So I smiled, helped load her car, told her she was going to be amazing. Then spent five years pretending I wasn’t counting down the days until she came home.

Healthy, very healthy.

Dad looked amused. I hated that look.

“She’s back now.”

My jaw tightened.

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Simple word, heavy meaning. I looked away because this conversation was getting dangerous. Very dangerous.

The clubhouse door opened, Candy stepped outside carrying another tray. She’d been helping Mom, Stella and Lottie all afternoon, something Mom appreciated, which automatically put Candy in everyone’s good books.

She spotted me.

Smiled. I smiled back.

Polite, friendly, normal, nothing more.

Never anything more. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to realise that. Dad noticed. Again because apparently today wasn’t hard enough.

“Candy likes you.”

I nearly groaned.

“Stop.”

Dad laughed. Actually laughed.

“Just saying.”

I looked across the yard toward Sky, toward the woman I’d spent thirteen years sharing everything with, the woman who still called me first when life went wrong, the woman who knew every secret I’d ever had, the woman nobody else had ever measured up to.

Not once, not ever. Then I looked back at Dad.

“No.”

His expression softened, not amused now, just understanding.

The dangerous thing about parents is eventually they figured everything out. Dad nodded once like he’d expected that answer like he’d known it already. Then he clapped a hand against my shoulder.

Hard because apparently affection was illegal in this family.

“Thought so.”

I watched Sky laugh at something Harper said the sight settling somewhere deep inside my chest.

Warm, familiar, comforting.

Home.

The problem? Best friends weren’t supposed to feel like that and if they did?

I was in a hell of a lot more trouble than anyone realised.