She needed it, too, before going off to college.
She might’ve annoyed me to hell and back, but I didn’t hate her as a person.
Hell, I felt sorry for her, having to go home to a father who barely gave her the time of day. When she was little, she used to cry on her last few days with us, begging to stay with Gramps forever.
When she got older, she tried to play it cool. But there was no hiding the change in her posture, the shadows on her face that crept in.
There was also no stopping her from upping the ante her last week.
That’s when I caught the baby of the family trying to climb out of her goddamned window into a tree that wasn’t strong enough to hold her.
All for some punkass boy.
Crazy, the things a girl will do for the sake of some pimple-faced little man-cub who has no plans in life beyond his summer job stuffing lobster rolls.
I stood back in the darkness for a second, watching her from the ground.
She had her hair tied back, wearing jeans and a pleated white shirt, a sweatshirt twisted around her waist in a knot.
The boy waited in the bushes below, obvious as day. The leaves rustled every now and then when he moved.
“Clee, hurry!” he whispered up.
“Iam!”
Then it happened.
Her fingers slipped on the branches and she squealed.
Cue action.
I wasn’t having her break her damn neck for a make-out session she wouldn’t remember in two years.
“Miss Blackthorn,” I snapped, striding forward. “Get back inside this instant.”
Predictably, she shrieked again.
Even more predictably, she lost her grip.
The thick tree branch wasn’t thick enough. It gave out under her, plunging her into free fall.
There are moments in life when the adrenaline hits so hard the entire world slows down.
I never moved so fast in slow motion, rushing over, snatching her out of the air, breaking her fall as she landed perfectly in my arms.
Crisis averted. A miracle.
“I’ve got you! Are you hurt?” My eyes searched hers before she said a word.
Stupid comment when she was safe in my arms, maybe, but she needed reassurance.
She stared up at me brokenly.
Then she blinked through her heavy makeup and slapped my chest.
“Holden? What the hell are you doing?” She flipped over, fighting me like an untrained puppy.
Grimacing, I set her down, clamping a hand on her shoulder once she was back on her feet.
