Jared stood over my mother in front of the tiny home that had once been mine and shouted down at her. Cody hid behind the bushes, his phone in his hands. He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face, and I knew I was probably going to kill someone. My little brother had a handprint on his cheek, a bright red mark on his pale skin, and I saw red.
I was going to rip Jared’s arms from his body and beat him with them. Only Natalie’s voice stopped me. She might not have been here in person, but I could hear her, nonetheless.
If I kill this man, or even get in a fight and go to jail, I will lose her. I will lose Natalie. The baby. I’ll lose everyone.
I moved forward and did my best not to fracture everything I had tried to build. “Get your fucking hands off her,” I growled, my voice low. I gripped Jared’s wrist as he went for another swing and pulled him back.
“You fucker. You’ve always wanted to ruin this. You didn’t like that I stepped into your daddy’s shoes. Get over it. I’m the man of the house now. You’re not.”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on in that twisted brain of yours, but that’s my mother. My brother. This is my family. You don’t get to step into my dad’s shoes. You’re barely half the man he was. Less. My dad was a fucking hero. He died for our country. What have you done? Gotten drunk and beat up on women? No. Fuck you. Get away from here.”
“Don’t you talk to me, boy,” he growled and tried to hit me again. I ducked the blow and slammed my fist into the man’s stomach.
“Mom, call the cops.”
“Cody has my phone,” she whispered before letting out a shaky breath. “I told him to get safe. I’m coming, Cody. I’m coming.”
“I’m calling, Mom!” Cody shouted from the bushes.
“You bitch,” Jared growled, and I shoved him away when I caught sight of the blade in his hand. He swiped at me with the knife, then looked down at his hand and growled.
“Look what you made me do. I don’t want to kill you. I just don’t want you here.”
“Tanner! Watch out!” my mom called, and I jumped out of the way of the knife again, nearly plowing into my mother.
I stood in front of her, protecting her, praying that Cody would stay put.
“The cops are coming,” Cody screamed, and Jared narrowed his eyes.
“Fine, fuck all of you. Fuck this. I’m done.” He closed the knife, stuck it into his pocket, and ran. I could have chased him. I could have held him down to make sure he stayed for when the cops arrived. Instead, I held my mother as she bawled, her tears soaking my shirt, and we fell onto the porch, me holding her as my little brother barreled into us. We sat there as a family. When the cops came, they told us they would search for Jared.
They believed us when we said we were the victims.
But I wondered what the hell we were going to do and how much longer it would take until I could get home.
To Natalie. To my future and not the past. It seemed I still threatened to break everything over and over again.
Twenty-One
Natalie
I put tape on the last of the boxes and sighed. This was it. We were moving. After over a year in this home, four years of living with most of the girls, we weren’t going to be roommates anymore. Yes, we had a few weeks together with the guys in their house, but we’d be moving on soon, and everything would change yet again.
“I can’t believe how quickly we packed everything up.” Mackenzie held her clipboard close to her chest as she looked around the living room where we’d shared countless dinners and girls’ nights.
I grinned as I looked down at her clipboard and shook my head, memories hitting hard.
“Is that the same one you used for the list to get us in here?”
“Of course,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “What else would I do?”
“At least, you’re consistent.” Elise winked as I grinned.
Nessa laughed from the other side of the towers of boxes, her eyes full of happiness and joy, something that had been missing for far too long. “Are you going to meet us at the restaurant?”
I nodded. “I want to wait here for Tanner, and then we’ll meet you and the guys at Dillon’s bar.”
“I love that we call it Dillon’s bar.” Elise snorted. “It irks his brothers just enough for a little brotherly competition.”
“We do call it Dillon’s bar, but anytime Dillon uses Aiden’s recipes, we call it Aiden’s food, so we’re not taking sides,” I joked. The baby kicked, and I groaned, putting my hand over my stomach. “I think the kicks are getting harder.”
Mackenzie smiled and leaned forward to put her hand on my belly. Only my core group of eight were allowed to touch me without permission, and even then, they could see it in my eyes. “The baby’s getting stronger. It only makes sense that would happen.”
“I still can’t believe this,” I whispered. “It still feels so strange that I’m sitting here about to have a baby.”
“With the love of your life,” Elise added and reached forward. I grinned and helped her place her hand on the right part of my stomach. “Wow, they are strong kicks.”
“The strongest.”
Nessa leaned forward. “Look at you, acting like an Earth mother.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not so much Earth mother. More like tired mom. I cannot believe the baby’s going to be here in only a few short weeks.”
“I feel like we just found out you were pregnant,” Mackenzie said dryly.
“That’s how I feel. Tanner and I are barely figuring out how we want to spend the rest of our lives, and we’re about to have another life to hold and cherish and grow with along the way.”
“You guys don’t do things in half-measures. Not the princess or the party boy stripper,” Nessa added with a wink.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us that he was a stripper.” Elise pointed her finger at me.
I blushed. “It wasn’t my place. Plus, I didn’t want you all thinking about him stripping for anyone but me.”
“I don’t know what I would do if Dillon wanted to do that,” Elise said before grinning. “Okay, maybe I’d like it.”
“Just for you. I’m a little more possessive,” Mackenzie teased.
“I’m possessive, too. Tanner might’ve shaken his hips for some people, but he always came home to me. At least he has for the past few months.”
“See? That’s sweet. And now this is going to be the last week we ever sleep under this roof.” Nessa sighed. “Not that we’re sleeping much here these days with so many boxes. We’ve all pretty much decided to sleep at the guys’ house more often than not.”
Elise moved forward and grabbed all our hands. “Tomorrow night, then. We still have the beds, we can make sure we have a set of sheets. We’ll all sleep here, or even in the living room. I don’t know. One last girls’ night.”
I looked at them and swallowed hard. “One last girls’ night.”
We all hugged, laughed, cried, and then I was alone, the rest of them needing to head out to their various appointments and to see their guys. All I wanted was for Tanner to check in with me so I could make sure he was okay. He hadn’t texted, and it worried me. But I knew he would get back to me soon. He had to.