Just Let Me Love You (Judge Me Not #3)(3)

“He knows I’m strong,” I reply softly. “I mean, I think he does.”

“Show him you are,” Mom responds.

“How?” I whisper.

Her answer is simple, but powerful. “Go to him, Kay.”

Sage advice from a woman I thought had given up on me, a woman I almost gave up on myself. I feel elated that I’ve made this call; it was absolutely the right thing to do.

And since I’m ready to keep making better decisions, I announce, “I am going to go to him. I’ll book a ticket and pack as soon as we finish up here.”

I hear a smile in Mom’s voice as she says, “Then I’d better let you go, sweetie.”

“Okay.”

But before we disconnect, my mother adds, “Be safe, Kay. And if there’s anything you need, anything at all, just call me, okay?”

“I will,” I promise, and then I say, “Oh, and Mom…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Two hours later, I am on the turnpike, heading out of Ohio and into Pennsylvania. Another twenty minutes and I should be arriving at the airport in Pittsburgh. Surely, my presence will surprise the hell out of Chase. I expect he may resist the idea of me going with him at first, like he did back at the house, but I am not changing my mind. No matter what he says or does.

Nope, I am going to Las Vegas with Chase Gartner. I’m booked on the same flight, and I was even able to book the seat next to him.

There’s no going back now.

“Never doubt me,” I whisper to myself as I drive.

It’s what I’d say to Chase if he were here, because what he doesn’t realize is that danger doesn’t frighten me. I’ve faced a lot, and I’ve come through everything okay. Maybe a little roughed up sometimes, yes, but I’ve kept going.

Besides, when it comes right down to it, I’d walk into the fires of Hell for Chase. I love him that much, though I don’t think things will come to that.

The situation with Chase’s brother is bound to be resolved. I just hope it’s in a way in which everyone comes out safe.

But no matter what happens, one thing is certain: Chase and I are going to overcome this obstacle in the same way we’ve faced everything else—together.





Chase



“Chase, wake up. I’m here.”

A female voice, I know that voice.

Wait, I love the person that voice belongs to. “Kay,” I whisper.

“Yes, it’s me.” She shakes my shoulder then tries—unsuccessfully, I might add—to lift me from where I’m lying on my back in a corner area of boarding gate B17. It’s not the most comfortable spot to sleep—scratchy carpeting, no pillow—but when you’re exhausted you make do.

“I’m here,” the voice continues. “Wake up, baby.”

Kay, the love of my life, is here at the airport in Pittsburgh. I can’t believe it. My forgiving girl, she didn’t let the harsh words I spewed before I left the farmhouse—back where we live in Ohio—stop her. Sure, we kind of worked things out before I took off, but I have no doubt she was still all kinds of pissed at me.

Maybe she’s not so very angry, after all, seeing as she’s here with me, saying my name…again.

Relief floods me. Kay doesn’t sound angry at all. She sounds forgiving and beautiful.

Even so, I roll to my side and drift back to sleep. Kay is beauty, forgiveness, and love, but sleep offers blissful oblivion. And with what I’m about to embark on, I need a few more minutes of oblivion.

I drift back to where I was before Kay arrived—dreaming. In this dream, I am fourteen years old again, living in a beautiful, contemporary home. I know the house well. It’s the house my parents once owned, before we fell into financial ruin. And before my dad decided to drive off a cliff in the Nevada desert, ending his time on this planet.

Yeah, before those things happened.

My mom is happy in this dreamland of mine, having not yet discovered the lure of gambling, and my little brother Will is just that—little. He hasn’t yet learned of drugs and how they can make him feel. He’s bright-eyed and clear-headed. More importantly, the guns he plays with aren’t real; they are only toys.

Also in Dreamland, Will doesn’t have a girlfriend he feels the need to save. And that is a blessing I wish were real.

“Cassie,” I murmur, annoyed.

An image of Will’s ethereal-looking girlfriend infiltrates my good dream, turning it sour. Cassie may look like some waif-like, golden-haired angel, but she’s far from pure. In my opinion, she’s no good for Will. She’s as mixed-up and confused as my brother, which does him no good. Worse yet, Cassie is surrounded by devils. After all, it is her f*cked-up stepdad, Paul, who has given Will a reason to return early to Vegas.

Will was staying with me for the summer until he learned of Paul’s latest misconduct toward Cassie. Yeah, finding out that Paul had his hands on his sixteen-year-old girlfriend—albeit only briefly—was more than enough motivation to put that kid on a bus heading west.

A bus I hope to catch up to sometime tomorrow.

Hence the airport I’m lying in, dreaming; hence the flight I’ve booked to Vegas. If I don’t intercept Will, disaster could ensue. Because, shit, Lord only knows what little bro has planned. Unfortunately, I suspect it’s something that involves a gun. And with the right combination of fury and drugs, my brother could very well decide there’s a bullet in the chamber of that very gun with Paul’s name on it.