I’d told myself I was okay and that I didn’t need him. And I finally got to tell him that to his face too. So why did it feel wrong? Why when I watched him with the guys as I talked to the ladies did I want to scream that it wasn’t true?
Nope, I couldn’t risk letting him back into my life.
There was a big problem though. The women and kids that Stormi and I had met were wonderful. We both yearned for more connections even if we both put on a brave face like soldiers on the front line ready to take on anything that came our way.
But a front line had more than two soldiers and it would be damn nice to have more people on our side. If it was just us we would survive, but I didn’t want that for my daughter. She deserved more.
But… if we were around them, then Bronson would be around too.
How long would I be able to keep my walls up and my heart safe?
Was your heart ever safe when it came to Bronson?
“I’m so glad you decided to come back,” said the woman introduced to me as Capri.
She was the one at the crime scene that brought the man himself back into my life. In fact, Bronson had put his life on the line to protect her. While growing up, he’d always had a protective instinct and that seemed to have only grown by leaps and bounds. He was my protector for years.
What would it feel like to have that again?
“You helped Bronson and I am so thankful for that,” Capri went on. “I can’t imagine if he hadn’t made it after safeguarding me and my unborn child.”
What could I say to that?
As hard as it was seeing Bronson again and having past feelings dredged up that I worked to shove down brought to the surface, I would never want anything to happen to him. Seeing him hurt had emotionally killed me.
Thankfully I didn’t have to say anything because Ruby chimed in on another topic. Only issue, it was one I didn’t really want to think about either.
“The guys can really help you and Stormi if you’re having problems. They help many people, it’s what they are built for. And when it’s one of their own, they will go above and beyond.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “I’m not—”
Ruby took two fingers and slid them across her lips in a zipping motion. “The moment you showed up at Alley’s that night, you were one of us.”
I opened my mouth and closed it when Alley decided it was her turn to speak her mind. I remembered the raven-haired badass from that night at her house. She’d stood at the back of the ambulance with a purple baseball bat in hand. There was an air about her that said, ‘Don’t fuck with me.’ I liked her immediately.
“Don’t argue, you won’t win.” Her tone left no room for debate, but her smile was still warm and welcoming. “I thinkyou’ll fit right in. Stormi too. And just maybe…” She waggled her brows and looked across the yard.
My gaze followed hers and my breath hitched in my throat.
Bronson was running with the kids, making monster noises that had them all giggling in glee. He’d swoop one up, then the next. When he got to Stormi, the pure joy on her face had my heart racing.
I closed my eyes for a second to get my bearings. How many times had I wished for a moment just like that between Bronson and my baby girl?
“See something you like?” Alley whispered in my ear, causing me to turn and look at her.
“I can’t go there again.” They may not have all known my story but it was obvious after my outburst a while ago that we had a past. “It hurt too much when I was sixteen. Now I have Stormi to think about too.”
She cocked her head to the side, watching me for a second and said something I wasn’t expecting her to reveal since we’d just met.
“My husband was the love of my life. I was just a kid back then too.” She glanced over my shoulder and I assumed she was looking at Landon, the man I’d met earlier. The adoring gleam in her eyes didn’t leave room for it to be anyone else. “Some people may not understand that it is possible to find our soulmates so early in our life and understand love, but they’re fools.”
When she said soulmates, I froze. That was always how I’d thought of Bronson.
“When I lost our baby,” she went on, her words making me gasp as tears sprung to my eyes. “I let Landon go. I hurt him and myself in the process. I’d been a fool. I’m thankful every single day that we got a second chance and that he forgave me.”
This strong as steel woman’s voice cracked a bit, showing her soft side. The other ladies came up behind her as a united front and some reached out to touch her back.
God, I wanted that.
