Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills #2)(92)

Everyone teasing and playing.

Easy.

Right.

“Different, of course,” Eden added, “but in the end, it’s always the tragedies, the mistakes, our scars, and our regrets that hold us back from the goodness—the gifts—that are waiting for us to receive them.”

“Me and Jud? Oh, we’re just having fun.” The lie felt like a thousand-pound weight. “We both agreed that neither of us are in a position to fall in love.”

Eden let go of a soft scoff, one made of gentle disbelief. “You think that man doesn’t love you? I doubt I’ve ever seen anything so blatant as what he feels for you.”

Fear bottled tight. It constricted my throat.

“He can’t…”

I trailed off.

Because the truth was, I couldn’t…I couldn’t let myself fall.

Be so reckless.

I was just worried I was already there.

“Let go, Dad!” Gage shouted. “Faster! I gotta go faster!”

“You’re sure you’re ready?”

“Yep!”

“Remember how to brake.”

“I know, Dad, I know!”

Trent let Gage go.

Gage wobbled for a second before he took off by himself.

He screeched when he realized he was unassisted. “I’m doing it! I’m doing it! Look it, Mommy! Look it, Juni! I bet you can’t catch me! You see that mountain over there? That’s where I’m going all the way to the top.”

His entire face was full of a grin.

Juni followed behind, Jud right behind her.

Her rock.

Her fortress.

“You ready to try, Juni Bee?” he asked her.

“I don’t knows!” she shouted at him, terror in her eyes as they whizzed back by on the other side.

He chuckled. “I’ll be right here beside you. You need me, I have you.”

My heart rattled.

“Okay, I can do it! I wants to be like you, Motorcycle Man!”

He let her go.

My daughter soared.

Rode and played and lived.

My chest stretched. Pressed full. Overflowed.

I thought there was a chance it might burst.

Jud ran along beside her. “You’re doing it, Juni. Look at you, big girl.”

“I’s doing it!”

Trent jogged beside Gage, and the four of them headed up the road.

“Come on, let’s go.” Eden giggled and tugged at my hand, and we jogged after them, laughing, too.

Juni was singing, “I’m riding, all by myself.”

“You can’t catch me,” Gage shouted at her.

Juni pedaled faster in a bid to catch up. She pedaled up and over the little hump in the road, pulling away from Jud who ran behind her.

She was cracking up when she passed by Gage. “I’m winning!”

I wondered if Jud saw it at the exact same time as I did. The car sitting at the curb that radiated evil.

The way a bolt of rage struck in the air when Jud recognized it.

The way fear spiked through the heavens like a fiery, poisoned arrow.

Jud was no longer laughing but sprinting behind her. He grabbed Juni from the bike and yanked her against his chest in a bid of protection. Her bike kept going, flying forward, tumbling and skidding across the ground.

The driver of the same black car that had been outside Jud’s shop suddenly tore from the curb and sped away.

Jud held Juniper like he was a shield. His giant shoulders heaved with aggression.

Trent grabbed hold of Gage and stilled him as the squeal of tires at the end of the road echoed through the neighborhood, as the engine accelerated before it disappeared in the distance and a bated silence took over.

Nothing but panted, shocked breaths, clanging, horrified hearts, and the frantic clattering of my footfalls as I ran for Juni.

The second I had her in my arms, my legs gave, knees going weak.

I dropped to them on the hard pavement, hugging my daughter to my chest.

“Salem.” Jud’s deep voice rolled through the tense, bottled air.

A sob of torment—the truth that this would never end—tore from my lungs.

Strength and hope gone. The truth that he would always, always catch up to me.





TWENTY-EIGHT





SALEM





TWENTY YEARS OLD





Salem edged down the hall of Carlo’s office. She didn’t know what stalled her feet. Why she slowed. Why the hairs at her nape lifted in dread or why sickness churned in her belly.

She’d dropped by his realty office on her way back from the store. She’d thought she’d stop to offer her help since she was bored out of her mind. Maybe fiddle around at the front desk. Organize something. Make calls. Find leads.

Whatever.

The only thing she knew was she ached to go to school. To work. To create something with her mind and hands.

To do something other than flit her days away at the ostentatious house Carlo had built for them where they now lived on the opposite side of the city.

Miles away from her mimi.

An eternity away from her heart.

She’d thought she’d at least try to do something that mattered.

Give it a shot.

Make Carlo see she was more than a pretty face meant to be waiting for him at home.