Follow Me Back

Book 2: Fight for Me

by A.L. Jackson

Genres: Romance; Romantic Suspense

Synopsis

Dr. Kale Bryant is gorgeous, compelling, and married to his job. The only thing he has time for are one-night stands and short-lived flings.

Until the first time he sees Harley Hope Masterson sitting across the room. He wants her in a way he hasn’t wanted anyone.

Harley Hope doesn’t have time for another complication – one arrogantly beautiful doctor included.

When he begins to pursue her, her walls begin to crumble.

He’s irresistible.

One touch is fire.

One kiss, and they’re spinning out of control.

But taking this single-mom won’t come without consequences. Especially when he finds out he’s her son’s doctor.

Now Kale must decide if loving her is worth risking it all.

But sometimes even hope needs a hero . . .

"A.L. Jackson never disappoints! Follow Me Back is heartbreaking, uplifting, with twists you don’t see coming and a hero dripping with swoon. It’s truly a fantastic read." Corinne Michaels, NYT Bestselling Author

“This is the must-read book for 2018! – Storybook Romance Book Blog

Release date: February 2, 2018

Publisher: A.L. Jackson Books Inc.

Print pages: 409

Sample

Prologue

 

I stumbled out the sliding door and into the sunlight, which streaked like daggers through edges of the sky. It cast the last, fading moments of the day in a blaze of glittering red and blinding oranges.

Everything felt too bright. Too harsh. Too real.

Shedding the darkest light on what I’d done.

Hair fisted in my hands, I careened across the street. No destination when I no longer recognized where I belonged.

Still, a desperation took me whole, the need to get away when there would never be an escape.

With every faltering step, I felt the bond I’d thought would last forever stretching thin.

Prying and pulling until it snapped.

Until I had nothing left but the failure I held in the palm of my hands.

A mark forever left on my heart.

I’d tried.

I’d tried with every part of me, with everything I had to give.

But it wasn’t enough.

The sun shimmered around me. A glowing, dissipating orb.

Dissolving on the horizon until it dwindled to nothing.

That was the moment my world went dim.

 

 

 

 

One

Kale

 

“Kale, congratulations! You deserve it, even if you are nothing but a pain in my ass!” Ollie shouted over the din of the busy bar, finishing his toast, which basically was a roast.

Not like it wasn’t expected.

I fought an affected grin as I lifted my glass to join the ring of shot glasses that met in the middle of the round table.

I sat surrounded by my friends, who I considered more family than anything else.

Rex and Rynna.

Lillith and Brody.

Nikki.

Ollie.

They all shouted, “To Kale!” before all those little glasses were clinking together and shots were being tossed back.

Expensive tequila burned down my throat and pooled in my stomach. It landed in a splash of flames that licked and jumped, igniting in my veins.

Head to toe, a rush of satisfaction washed through me.

Contentment seeping all the way to my bones.

Smiling wide, I blew out a gratified breath as I slammed the empty down on the table. “I have to give it to you, man. That was a fine example of what your bar has to offer.”

Ollie smirked. The guy was nothing but burly muscle and tattoos. A fucking giant made up of solid stone.

“Now you can’t say I haven’t done anything for you,” he tossed out. “That was the best bottle of liquor in the house, asshole. Been keeping this baby stashed in the back for a special occasion or a rainy day, whichever came first. Guess the latter won out.”

“Well, it’s good to know my little accomplishment was deemed worthy of this level of praise.”

Ollie held up his thumb and index finger, leaving a centimeter of space between. “Barely.”

My body shook with laughter. “Always such an asshole.”

His expression lost some of its mischief. “You do deserve it, man. Hope you know that.”

Grief flashed.

A streak that blazed through me before it was gone.

Tucked back away where I kept it safe as a reminder of what I was living for.

“Thanks, man.”

I let my gaze rove over the faces of my friends, who were chatting, voices elevated so they could hear each other. It was the bar Ollie owned on Macaber Street, super cool and constantly packed. People flocked through the doors to get a taste of the most popular lounge in our small city of Gingham Lakes, Alabama.

It was located about a block down from my loft, and I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t frequent the place. If someone was looking for me and I wasn’t at work, they wouldn’t be too far off base looking for me at this bar, indulging in all the revelry it had to offer.

It was set in one of the old buildings that had been renovated during Gingham Lakes’s revival. Rex’s company, RG Construction, had been responsible for the restoration. It boasted red brick walls and atmospheric lights, and the never-ending rotation of local bands gave it the aura of somewhere you wanted to be.

But tonight wasn’t just any night that I was out looking for a reprieve from the rigorous demands of working in the ER.

Tonight, all my friends were there to celebrate this new stage in my life, which would take me in a direction I’d been feeling the call to all along. Hoping to give back. Help the most helpless and innocent among us.

Rex tilted the neck of his beer bottle my direction as his wife, Rynna, snuggled under the arm he had draped around her shoulders. “Seriously, Kale, I’m fucking proud of you. Always knew you were an amazing doctor . . . now you’ve got the office to prove it. Don’t let it go to your pretty head.” The last came out with a quirk of his brow.

“You just wish you looked this good.” I shot him my best grin.

“Cocky bastard,” he returned, chuckling and dropping a kiss to Rynna’s temple.

Gratefulness pulsed through my chest. Rex, Ollie, and I? We’d always had each other’s backs. Together through the worst of times and the best of times. And honestly, life had dealt out some damned bitter blows.

From Ollie’s sister, Sydney, going missing when she was sixteen, never to be found, to Rex’s first wife leaving him to raise his little girl, Frankie Leigh, on his own, to my devastating failure.

But somehow, it’d only made us stronger. We gave each other nonstop shit, but our bond was unshakeable. Did my best to always look to the bright side for them, be the strong one they could count on even though sometimes that felt like deceit.

Truthfully, it wasn’t so hard to put a smile on my face.

I enjoyed my life.

I was . . . content.

Really, damned content.

I had everyone who surrounded me tonight.

A career that I gave everything to, where my heart wholly belonged, and I did my best to make that change.

All except for the piece of my heart that belonged to Frankie Leigh and Ryland—Rex and Rynna’s kids. My godbabies.

Frankie Leigh had me wrapped around all her wily little fingers, and when Ryland was born just six weeks ago, it was instant. The way I loved that kid.

“Are you about ready to get out of here?” Rex asked Rynna.

Lillith and Nikki both booed. “No, it’s early!” Nikki whined.

The guys and I had all gone to school with Lillith and Nikki. We’d known them forever, hung out now and again, but they hadn’t been a part of our tight-knit group until they’d become good friends with Rynna, which of course meant Broderick Wolfe was part of the mix as well since he was married to Lillith.

“Says the girl who doesn’t have to get up at five in the morning to nurse,” Rynna deadpanned.

“If you stay a little longer, I promise I’ll be there at five to take on the morning shift so you guys can sleep in and do whatever else it is you want to do.” She waggled her brows. Pure suggestion. “And I volunteer Lillith to join.”

She nudged Lillith with her elbow. “You’ll come, won’t you?”

“Um . . . for some Frankie and Ryland time? Absolutely.”

Rex glanced at Rynna. “I do believe these two have just been promoted to my new best friends.”

“Nice, write me off so easily. And on my big day,” I said with a quirk of my brow, lifting my tumbler of whiskey to my mouth. 

Rex cracked a smile. “Hey, man, there are few things more important in life than sleep and sex. Nikki here is allowing me both. Boom. Best friends.”

An incredulous huff shot from my mouth. “Um, hello. This I know firsthand. I was an emergency room physician for the last three years, remember?”

Sleep had become my unicorn.

And sex had become my prize.

I allowed myself that pleasure. Getting lost in a willing body to forget about all the stress and trauma and horrible shit I saw every fucking day.

For a few hours, I’d let myself get lost.

Unbound and unchained.

No promises or commitments or loyalties that I couldn’t make.

Just . . . freedom.

Then I’d pass the hell out for hours.

It was enough to recharge and reboot. The push of knowing I could actually make some kind of difference in the middle of a fucked-up world. A world that continually marched forward in time, meting out tragedy after tragedy.

Truth was, I’d come to realize there were just as many miracles buried beneath the rubble as there were the disasters that had caused them in the first place.

For every heart broken, one was mended.

For every life lost, there was one to be saved.

So, my life was dedicated to saving.

 Ollie shook his index finger at me, tatted knuckles flashing under the light.

Funny, how we all looked so different sitting around this table. Brody and I in suits. Clean-cut and shaven. Rex and Ollie a little rough. Clearly, not ones to be fucked with.

“Told you, you were gonna be a doctor when I broke my ankle out by the lake when we were twelve and you set it with a damned stick and your shirt. Think you actually owe me all the thanks since I was the one with the foresight to send you that direction.”

Amusement rippled across my lips. “Dude, you wish.”

“No wishing about it. I expect royalties.”

My brow lifted. “What, you think I’m some kind of celebrity?”

Laughter moved across his face. “Nah, man. Not even close. But they sure as hell seem to think so.”

My gaze moved over my shoulder in the direction he’d gestured to. A rowdy group of women took up the entire opposite end of the bar. Five or six high-top tables had been pushed together to accommodate them, cheers and toasts going up, their laughter and voices ringing through the atmosphere.

Winding with the band that played behind them.

Celebrating and free.

With a grin, I started to turn back to Ollie, to tell him I was refraining tonight, when my attention snagged, tripping up and tangling on a girl in their party.

Like there was a goddamned chance I could look another direction.

A mass of lush red waves rolled all the way down her back. Not the kind that came from a bottle. But the kind that told me there was a smattering of freckles across her milky skin. Skin I was instantly itching to know whether it felt as soft as it looked.

From my vantage, I could see her from the side. The warm, muted lights that poured over her from above illuminated her profile—button nose and pouty lips and dimpled chin.

A knockout.

Because God knew she’d knocked the breath out of me.

But where the rest of her party was having a blast, she was sitting on a stool like she’d rather be any place than there.

My eyes traced across the cream-colored blouse, the crisscross V-neck lined in a wave of ruffles, and down the black skirt I could only imagine hugged perfect hips. Her ankles were crossed, heels hooked in the rung of the high stool. The girl was sipping a glass of rosé like she was terrified the next sip might be the one that put a hole in her rigid armor.

If anyone needed to be shown a good time, it was her.

Nikki sidled up between Ollie and me. “Looks like we’re about to lose tonight’s guest of honor. Look at you, drooling all over that poor girl sitting over there minding her own business.”

Tsking, she shot me a teasing smile. She was always goading me about the girls I followed home, saying one of these days one of them was going to stick.

She didn’t need to know that was never going to happen.

I threw a hand over my heart. “Nikki Walters . . . do you think so little of me? I was doing nothing of the sort.”

“Right,” she drew out, shaking her head and smiling as she gave a little shove to my back. “Well, go on, what are you waiting for? You never know, that might be the girl of your dreams waiting over there for you.”

I cocked a grin. “You know me better than that. This guy is not looking for the girl of his dreams.” I slammed the rest of my drink and smacked my lips. “But I am most definitely looking for a good time.” One look at the girl sitting across the haze of the dingy bar? Bam. The whole idea of refraining for the night had been sacked.

Nikki gave a little mock scoff of disgust. “One of these days, you’re going to get tired of the games you play.”

She stole a glance at Ollie. Pain pierced her expression before she covered it with a bright smile. Poor girl’d been head over heels for Ollie for all the years I’d known her. Sure, she dated here and there, but it was clear she was waiting around for Ollie to come to his senses.

I knew Ollie well enough that I wanted to tell her to move on. Live her life. Find someone who would appreciate her for who she was—this loving, free spirit who had the world to offer and deserved it in return.

Dropping a big kiss to her temple, I hugged her to my side. “And sometimes the only thing we’ve got time for are the games.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Married to your work. I get it.”

Only she didn’t. Only Ollie and Rex knew. The two people in this world I trusted with my secrets and my life and my shame.

“Go on, then. We’ll just be over here polishing off this awesome bottle of tequila Ollie was so kind to share.” She dragged Ollie back by the wrist. “You know where to find us . . .”

“In about an hour, it’ll be with your head buried in a toilet.”

She pointed at me. “Oh, dude, I’ll drink your ass under the table any time. But not tonight. I’m on auntie duty in the morning.”

“You’re on. A hundred bucks.”

“Hell no . . . I win and you go on an actual date.”

I gasped. “The cruelty. And here I thought we were celebrating me?”

Her smile turned wry. “Oh, we are.”

The two of them turned back to the rest of our friends, who were laughing and chatting around the table, and I strode to the bar, got a refill of my whiskey, and asked for a glass of bubbly pink stuff.

When I turned around, I damned near stumbled again.

It was a flash.

The girl looking at me.

Eyes the greenest green.

A grassy plain.

Mossy, warm earth.

For a second, I lost my footing.

Lost ground.

Lost sanity.

Because just looking at her felt like something profound.

Before I could evaluate the feeling, I shook it off and twisted my mouth into the smile my ma said I’d always wielded like manipulation.

And I strode her way.

 

 

 

 

Two

Hope

 

He caught me staring.

Crap.

He caught me staring.

I jerked forward, trying to hide myself in the fall of my hair.

It was no use.

I could feel him approaching.

Shivers trailed down my spine. I stiffened it, gnawing at my bottom lip when I felt the presence roll over me from behind.

Potent.

Powerful.

Persuasive.

That was what the man looked like. Persuasion and dominance and sex.

Like one of those models in a suit with a single hand tucked in the front pocket of his pants, an understated watch showing off his masculine wrist, his face hard and chiseled and angled.

If he didn’t scream all man, he’d almost be pretty.

Turbulence shook my spirit.

I knew his type.

The type that oozed arrogance and pretension and ego. I knew to stay as far away from his breed as possible.

What made it worse were the chills that skated across the surface of my skin when he was suddenly right there, his essence a breath across my shoulder. My senses were slammed with a woodsy, citrusy scent. Like an orange zested on a pile of maple leaves and whipped up in a vat of sugar, the concoction doused with the warmth of a sweet whiskey.

Goodness. The man even smelled smooth.

A new glass of the same wine I’d been sipping slid in front of me while the man slipped into the vacant stool next to mine. “Thought you could use a refill.”

I turned to face him, and I had to fight to keep my jaw from dropping right to the floor, because the glimpses I’d been stealing from across the room did absolutely nothing to prepare me for what he actually looked like up close.

So tall. So obscenely tall. Muscle packed on his long, lean frame. Blond hair short, the front a smidge longer, styled in a polished, immaculate way. Lips plush and soft and dangerous.

He looked like discord.

Chaos with an easy, arrogant smile.

A perfect, controlled disorder.

I shook my head to break myself from the stupor.

What he looked like was a damned broken heart. I lifted my chin. “Is that so?”

As if it were evidence of a crime, I glanced at my glass that was still half full.

“Mm-hmm. I’m a guy who’s all about being prepared. What kind of man would I be if I ran the risk of you running out?”

“How chivalrous of you.” I tried my best to force the words from my tongue like darts of sarcasm. But with the way his lip twitched in amusement, I was sure the man picked up on the way my response shook.

God, I had to be careful, or else I’d be wrapped right around his finger. My gut told me it’d be easy to do.

Round, round, round, and I’d be nothing but putty stomped beneath the sole of his expensive shoe.

I traced my fingertip around the rim of my own glass. “But completely unnecessary. I have a one-drink limit.”

His brow lifted, and something playful danced around his flirty, sensuous mouth. “Ah . . . I see . . . you got wrangled into being the designated driver for your friends? Drew the short end of the stick?”

I fought the unease that welled in my chest and turned away as I admitted, “Something like that.”

Truthfully, I would never consider my circumstances as a negative. The short end. A chore or a saddle. But that didn’t mean I had free space to flit my days away. Especially with a man like him.

Angling his head around, he captured my attention with that potent stare. As if he’d immediately caught on to the current that ran through the center of me. I shook when I got the sense that maybe he was searching for a way to see it, to find what it was made of.

His brow drew together. “Or this just isn’t your scene?” The flash of a moment passed before he seemed to settle on a conclusion, his eyes dimming in some kind of softness. “I’d put down bets on the latter.”

Something about his response made my tummy twist and dragged my attention to my best friend.

Her laughter floated through the air, her voice buoyant as she talked with a few of our other friends, her smile free.

Everyone there to celebrate her.

There was no question she was having a great time. Kind of the way she’d been hoping I would when she’d convinced me to come. “It’s my best friend’s birthday. Jenna,” I explained. I turned to look at him, unable to keep out the wobble of affection that fell into the words. “It was kind of mandatory that I show.”

The flirtation rimming his lips turned to straight seduction, and he edged forward, his words a murmur two beats from the shell of my ear. “And what would she say if I whisked you away from here?”

There was nothing I could do to stop it. The attraction that throbbed in the center of me.

Its own entity.

It lit in the air between us. Heat and a lusty kind of desire.

There was no denying this beautiful stranger affected me.

But even sitting there talking with him was reckless. “She’d probably say go for it. I’d say you’re wasting your time.”

Almost chuckling, he rubbed one of those massive hands over his defined jaw, grin growing wide behind it. “I promise you . . . I’d make sure it wouldn’t come close to being a waste of your time. I’d make good use of every second.”

The other thing I didn’t like about his arrogant, pretentious kind? They were also presumptuous. They thought they could reach out and take whatever they wanted without it costing them anything. Without a thought toward what it might cost you.

Ignoring the attraction that blazed at my insides, I rode on the offense and inched in a fraction. My words dropped to the hiss of a breath. “Do I look like the kind of girl who follows a complete stranger out of a bar? You might be on the prowl, but I’m here to celebrate with my friend. Give her my time, because she pretty much gives me all of hers. And honestly, I’m kind of tired of the idea that a man can just snap his fingers and a woman will start peeling off her panties.”

He jerked back, intense blue eyes going dark. Like the sun setting on Bora Bora, tossing its turquoise waters in a glittering black. As if he were shocked by the rejection and liked it at the same time.

Or maybe he was just envisioning exactly what that might look like, because his gaze was tracing down, over my skirt, and to my ridiculously high heels I’d had to crawl to the back of my closet to find.

Slowly, he dragged those darkened eyes back up to my face. A flush pulled across my chest as he went.

His tongue licked out to run along his bottom lip while I sat there watching the flip.

The way his entire demeanor shifted into something playful and casual.

 “Well then, as much as I love the idea of you peeling off your panties, you can see I’m not over here snapping my fingers. You just looked like you were having a horrible time, and I thought maybe I could rectify the situation.”

“Which I can only imagine included the two of us ditching our clothes.” I wanted it to come off as hard. Confident. Instead, it sent a rush to heat my face.

Ducking down, I bit my lip, cursing myself under my breath. I was so absolutely terrible at this. So out of my element. That alone was enough to remind me I didn’t belong there.

At a bar where all the rules changed.

Chuckling under his breath, he stood, towering over me. I shivered when he leaned down, his words just a whisper at my temple. “If that was what you wanted? Me to wrap you up and steal you away from here? I’d be a fool to pass up the chance. You’re wound up so tight, I’d spend the entire night undoing you. Time and again. But I would never ask you to do something you aren’t comfortable with.”

His response took me by surprise, and when he straightened, I was a shaky mess. The man cast me a smile and pointed at the full wine glass. “If you get the inclination, drink up. Let go. Just for a little while.” He looked around the bar. “I get the feeling you deserve it more than any one of us.”

Something gentle swam through the depths of those icy eyes, and my chest tightened in an almost painful way.

Kindness.

I saw it there, hiding underneath something so powerful I didn’t have the strength to fathom it.

“Thank you,” I said.

He dipped his head and turned away without another word.

I tried not to watch when he strode back across the bar. But I couldn’t help the furtive peeks, enthralled by the way the man weaved through the high-top tables.

All causal ease and confidence.

He got right back to living it up with his group of friends, instantly laughing as if he hadn’t missed a beat, slinging an arm around a big guy’s shoulders as if they’d been friends forever.

At the yank on my arm, I jerked to find Jenna standing there.

Brown eyes wide and intrigued, her voice was laced with the scandal. “Who was that tall drink of deliciousness? Good lord, if I knew what this bar was serving up . . .”

I shook myself out of the daze the man had me in and forced myself back down to reality. “He was nothin’ but a train wreck avoided.”

“Oh, come on, Hope.” She flung my arm all around with the plea. “You promised me you’d have a good time. One night, remember?”

Peering up at her, I worried my lip. “I’m sorry. Last thing I want is to be a downer on your party. But you know I have to be careful.”

“You think I don’t know that, Harley Hope? But that doesn’t mean you have to pretend like you’re dead. I mean, look at you! You are the prettiest girl in the whole damned place, and here you are, wastin’ it.” She hugged my head against her chest, basically burying my face in her boobs as she petted my head as if I were a brand-new puppy.

There was no stopping my grin.

“And for the record, the only way you could possibly be a downer on my party is if you weren’t a part of it. Now, get that gorgeous ass up and do a shot with me.”

“Are you crazy?”

She hauled me up onto my ridiculous heels, her grin wide and her gaze hazy. “Tonight I am.”

I hesitated. Sympathy lined her features.

Because Jenna?

She got it in a way no one else could.

She squeezed my hand. “It’s fine, Hope. I promise. You deserve to have a little fun, too.”

I shook my head, and I gave, letting myself get lost for a little while. Because I knew that, come morning, reality would be waiting for me. It wasn’t going anywhere.

 

Two hours later, I stumbled out the front door and into the slowed warmth of the Alabama night. Streetlamps poured a dingy glow across the sidewalk, the area still busy with people moving from one place to the next, the bouncer still at the door standing guard.

Jenna had insisted she’d walk me out, but I’d refused. The last thing I wanted was to break into her fun. But it was time for mine to end. I’d already indulged in a way I never allowed myself to do.

Head down, I rushed toward the street where a small line of cabs waited to whisk away the revelers of the night.

My heel caught in a crack in the sidewalk. My senses dulled, too slow to process it. The way it tipped me and sent me fumbling forward.

I gasped, nothing I could do but anticipate the nasty faceplant.

That gasp only grew when a big arm was suddenly around my waist, hauling me back onto my feet, steadying me there.

My chest heaved, and I already knew by the time he turned me around that it was him.

Those eyes searched me, carefully, the man almost out of breath as he demanded, “Are you okay?”

I stepped back, trying to get my bearings.

I blinked so many times the man had to think I was crazy.

But Mr. Panty Dropper was right there.

Hands on the outside of my arms, the contact sending tingles flying across my flesh.

The worry in his expression shifting to a wry grin. Face so beautiful I couldn’t help but stare.

Damn that shot.

Because ideas thrummed through my mind. The dangerous, dangerous kind. Ones that made me question and want and wish I could have something more in my life.

But I didn’t need more. I had enough—more than enough—and I knew I had to be content with that.

“You look fine to me,” he said, smirk kicking up at the corner of his mouth.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I clamored around for my senses, for something to say, mortified the second it came tumbling out. “Are you stalking me now?”

Amusement played all over that mouth. “Uh . . . you’re serious?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to put up a wall, a shield, because I could feel this man everywhere. “Of course, I’m serious?”

Leave it to me that it came out a question.

A disbelieving chuckle rolled from him, and he hooked his thumb toward the door behind him. “I was standing right here when you came out. Just put my friend in the cab to make sure she made it home safe. You’re the one that came blundering out, Princess. You’re lucky I was out here to save you.”

He took a single step forward, filling the space.

Fear tumbled through me.

Not in a way that made me concerned for my physical well-being. But for the fact this man made me feel things I couldn’t. Not yet. Someday, maybe. But right then, I didn’t have that luxury.

“Someone’s feeling a little full of themselves tonight.” It was all a rumbly tease.

“Not even close,” I managed, gulping around the words.

His expression was back to doing that gentle, knowing thing. His head tipped to the side, and the gorgeous man appeared as if he might actually have the capacity to understand. As if he could see right through me to the heart of the matter.

I didn’t know if that comforted or terrified.

“I really need to go,” I told him.

He reached out, tender when he barely grazed my chin with his knuckle.

I gasped.

Shocked by the zing that raced through my nerves. Blooming and tugging right through my middle.

Hooked.

A tether drawing me in his direction.

A magnetic force.

Powerful and potent and somehow soft.

Tucking his bottom lip between his teeth, he seemed to contemplate before he nodded and stepped back, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. I know. Go home, sweet girl. You don’t belong here. Just . . .” He wavered and then said, “Can you do me one favor?”

Unnerved, I blinked.

Waiting and unsure, because I was sure this man was so utterly different from my first impression of him. So much more than the assumptions I had made.

“Take care of yourself. Let yourself off the hook once in a while. You deserve to be happy.”

I let the emotion wind to my mouth. “I am happy.”

“But fear is holding some of that back.”

And I knew it then.

He could see straight through me.

“There are some things important enough they are worthy of that fear,” I told him, not sure why. Not sure how he made me want to split myself right open and reveal it all to him when I didn’t even know his name.

His chin ticked up in a quiet kind of understanding, and I gave him a small nod before I turned and opened the door to the cab waiting at the curb.

I stalled when I heard his voice hit me from behind. “I truly hope whatever is holding it back resolves itself quickly.”

From over my shoulder, I cast him a small smile. “Don’t worry. My heart is always hung on hope.”

Before I allowed myself to say anything else, I hopped into the backseat of the cab, slammed the door, and didn’t look back when it drove away.

I gave the driver my address, my thoughts all over the place as we traveled the short distance to my sleeping neighborhood. He pulled up in front of the one-story house on the left, the grassy yard literally hedged in a white-picket fence.

My emotions warred between satisfaction and dread. This little place rang with hope. I just had to make sure it stayed that way.

I tossed a twenty into the front seat, mumbled a, “Thank you,” and then stepped out. The click of my heels echoed against the walkway that cut down the center of my yard, the towering trees swaying overhead as I made my way up the two steps to the covered porch.

I already had my key out, ready to slide it into the lock as I approached the door, when I sensed the movement.

The hairs lifted at the back of my neck.

Shivers raced.

A flood of dread. A sea of apprehension.

Slowly, I turned, watching as the shape emerged from the shadows.

Ominous.

Cold.

My heart roared, an erratic crash that thundered through my body, lifting to a deafening pound in my ears.

I took a step back toward the door. “What are you doing here?”

He laughed a malignant sound.

That was what he was.

Malignant.

Set on destroying the best part of me. For years, I had kept faith that one day he would see. That the stones of anger that lined him would finally crack, and his eyes would be opened to what true beauty actually looked like.

That he’d understand the world’s definition of perfection was nothing but a falsity.

Now, I knew better.

He approached, his steps slow as he moved. “I think the better question would be, what are you doing just getting home?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

He laughed again. As if I were ignorant. Small. Foolish. “Anything you do is my business, Harley. Do you really think running off is going to change that?”

“Yes.” I said it with as much power behind it as I could manage, the sound of the word reverberating through the dense air.

“I won’t let you walk away.” He edged forward. “Tell me where you were tonight.”

I didn’t want to give him the honor of an answer. But the last thing I wanted was to give him ammunition to feed his twisted mind. Funny, how he demanded perfection, respect, when he’d lost all of mine so many years ago. “You know it’s Jenna’s birthday. And why do you even care? I’m giving you an out. I’m not asking you for anything other than to leave us alone.”

Desperation wove into the last. All I wanted was for him to leave us alone.

His eyes blinked black fury, and he inched closer, his voice dropping to a threat. “You think you can take my say away? Leave me to look like a fool? I won’t allow it.”

Disbelief pulled from me in a scoff. “That’s all you’ve ever cared about, Dane. Appearances. Control. Inheriting your grandfather’s goddamned business as if it were the only important thing in the world. I told you when I left that I was finished, and there’s nothing you can do or say to change my mind.”

I turned my back to him and pushed my key into the lock, needing to escape. Working it open, I started to push the door open but he clutched me by the wrist. I whirled around to the anger on his arrogant face.

But his arrogance was cruel.

Proud in the most twisted kind of way.

“This ends now, Harley, or you’re going to regret it.”

I yanked my arm free. “You’ve already made me regret every single second I willingly stayed in that house. That I willingly stayed with you.”

I shoved away from him, quick to slip through the door and slam it shut, fingers frantic as I worked the deadbolt.

Never before had I been physically afraid of Dane. Was I terrified of him? Yes. But I was terrified of the kind of control he’d always wielded. The disgust that had only grown in his eyes with each year that had passed. The hardness that had stamped out his spirit.

I had no idea what lengths he would go to keep that power.