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“He was going to find out anyway. I guarantee he’s calling the nursing home right now to cut off funds to your dad and he’d have found out about my involvement. This town is too small not to.”
“Shit,” I say, turning my back on Callum. I start pacing the room, wondering what in the hell I’m going to do with my life. I mean… I can easily find an apartment to rent, but Joshua will stalk me. I know it beyond any doubt.
I could move away, but I can’t leave my dad.
Should I just go back to him and let things settle down?
Hands come to my shoulders and Callum stops me mid-stride. Turning me around, he touches under my chin. “Whatever self-sabotaging thoughts are running through your head, just stop them. I’m going to protect you and help you through this. You have my word.”
“But I don’t want you to,” I manage, my voice clogged with emotion. “I let you go, Callum. It took forever for my heart to heal, but I did it by releasing and then forgetting about you. You can’t come back into my life now.”
His thumb grazes along my jaw, his eyes brimming with remorse. “I don’t blame you for feeling that way. But no matter what happened between us—no matter the mistakes I made—I never stopped caring for you, Juni. And now that I know what’s been going on here, I am not walking away from you. I’ll help you get out of this farce of a marriage and make sure you’re safe. I’ll make sure your dad is taken care of. And you’re going to let me do this because I still care about you, okay?”
I want to say no. I want to be strong and part of me wants to even punish him for cutting me loose all those years ago. But I’m also scared, and I know Joshua isn’t fully balanced in the head. He likes hurting me and I know he’s itching to throttle me right now. He’s going to want to make me pay for this embarrassment I’m causing him.
It’s one thing to leave him for what he did to me, but to do it with the help of my first love—my one and only true love, if I’m honest—it means Joshua’s going to come gunning for me.
I have no choice but to accept Callum’s help.
CHAPTER 7
Callum
I never did get an overt endorsement from Juniper regarding my role in helping to extricate her from her marriage to Joshua. She didn’t say yes or no, but the truth is, she has no choice. She has to let me help her. If what she said is true, that Joshua is going to put up a fight, she needs me at her back.
We spent a bit of time talking about what the immediate future will look like. In the next few days, as my mom continues to heal and hopefully is released from the hospital, I will try to figure out what to do about her and the very real probability that she was hurt intentionally. I also have to devise a plan for how to keep Juniper off Joshua’s radar. I delved into her life here in Incline Village, curious if she had any other support like girlfriends who would rally to her side.
Sadly, though, she’s been slowly alienated from everyone because of Joshua. He methodically—using his financial support of her dad as leverage—cut her off from everything she cared about. The one thing she put her foot down on was her job, unwilling to give it up. As it stands, she has to work tomorrow as she’s giving nutritional coaching sessions at the local YMCA.
I got Juniper settled into her room with instructions for her to rest up. I assured her that she could order whatever she wanted from room service and I asked her not to leave without me by her side. I don’t know the lengths Joshua may go to hurt her, but I’ve seen the physical proof that he’s not afraid to dole out pain. She had no problems agreeing to my requests, insisting she had actual work to do. When I left her, she was sitting in front of her laptop, seemingly able to put the nastiness aside and concentrate on the tasks before her.
I always admired that about Juniper, the strength and resilience that make up her core. It’s why it’s still hard for me to reconcile her ever staying with someone like Joshua, but I honestly can’t fathom the dark depths to which she’s probably sunk in recent years. I know Joshua’s financial hold over her dad’s medical situation was instrumental, but there’s no doubt that Juniper has probably been slowly groomed to accept this lot in life.
I’m struggling with guilt when I consider the possibility that I pushed her right into that position. By refusing to commit the way she needed me to made her easy pickings for someone like my stepbrother. I was so sure I was making the best decision for us both, but I was being a stubborn, self-centered asshole when I wouldn’t budge an inch once she laid down her ultimatum.
Biggest fucking mistake of my life. Not only did I pay for it because I’ve never had anything remotely close to what I had with Juniper, she’s paid for it ten times over.
I try to push those thoughts away as I enter the hospital. I have no clue if Preston is here, but he’s had plenty of time to visit since I saw him this morning. Truth be told, part of me hopes he’s in the room so I can confront him on his supposed treachery but deep down, I know that’s not smart. I don’t want him to have any clue that I suspect a thing. I most definitely don’t want him to know I know there’s no video of my mother’s fall.
However, now that Joshua knows I’m involved with Juniper’s escape from that life, if they’re smart, they’ll watch the feed from today and know I was at the house. They’ll know Juniper and I went into that IT room. I have to figure out how to play this.
When I reach the nurses’ station, I check in to see if the doctor has made any further rounds. I glean that my stepdad was indeed here to visit but left over half an hour ago. Guessing he didn’t stay long.
I’m glad to see my mother sitting up in bed, working on a bowl of soup before her. She smiles when I walk in.
“How are you feeling?” I ask as I pull a chair alongside her bed.
“Like someone was rooting around in my brain.” She grimaces but it’s said with good nature.
I study her critically, notice she has more color in her cheeks, although the massive bandage on the side of her head lends an aura of frailty. It’s a reminder she did just have brain surgery. “You look better than you did even this morning.”
“You just missed Preston,” she says, her smile lighting up, and it makes my insides boil. While I’m confident beyond measure that Juniper has no tender feelings for Joshua, my mom still loves her husband, no matter what he’s done to her in the past.
The doctor said that she should be able to go home in a few days, which doesn’t leave me a lot of time to figure things out. I know this may not be the absolute best time, but I’m going to take advantage of my mom feeling better right now.
“Mom,” I begin, and her eyes leave the soup bowl and come to me. “I’m going to ask one more time… did Preston do this to you?”
Anger suffuses her face and she tosses her spoon down. “You’ve already asked that and I’ve told you he didn’t.”
