Page 8 of Crossroads

Maybe it wasn’t the murder they thought of when they stared at me. Not anymore. Odd to think I’d almost forgotten. Almost let myself believe that I could breathe again.

I hadn’t been the one to kill my father. Yet, I had been the one to push him back from trying to kill my brother. To kill me. And when he had fallen back on his own knife, he’d been the one to cry out, that blade sinking into his belly and chest like hot metal into butter.

The man who had tortured us, who had killed our mother, was dead.

And while I hadn’t technically killed him, some of the town had marked me as such.

“Well, hell,” I muttered.

“Everything okay?” I turned as a familiar man lumbered toward me, leaning heavily on his cane. I tossed the screws into my hand basket and moved forward.

“Hey. I thought you were staying home for now. What are you doing out?” I asked, noticing that Jessup’s face had grayed considerably in the past couple of weeks since I had seen him.

He had survived a stroke in the past year, and the fact that he was walking at all was a miracle, but I hated to see it.

Jessup just growled at me. “I’m fine, boy. And just like my sons, always hovering as if I can’t handle things on my own.”

“You look like you could keel over at any minute. Not quite sure what you’re handling? Other than your pride.”

When Jessup grinned at me and barked out a laugh, I knew he’d understood the barb. I wasn’t that much of a jackass. I was just damn worried about the man. Just like his sons were. I looked over his shoulder at Jesse, who was staring at his dad with worry etched on his face.

I’d made sure the old man got back to his son, and Jesse trusted me with that. None of these family members had ever once thought I was the worst of the worst. And that was why I still shopped there. Because they deserved my support.

And afterwards, I would pick up groceries and head back up to my place, doing my best to ignore the world.

It was easier said than done, I knew, but I didn’t have any other choice.

“I hear you have a visitor,” Jessup said, and I paused, my hands stiffening.

Nobody should know Kiera was at my place. Not unless one of my siblings was talking. And while Teagan had messaged me about Kiera ahead of time—a message I had promptly ignored incorrectly—she wouldn’t have told anybody. She protected our privacy, especially here, at this moment.

“Oh?” I asked, my tone harsher than I had intended.

“Briar and Gabriel are in town, right? And they brought that baby girl of hers. Of course, she’s five now. Not so much of a baby.” Something flashed over the old man’s eyes, and I realized he was thinking about my kids. The fact that they would be older than Maisie by now. I pushed that thought away and let my shoulders sag in relief, be it infinitesimally. I didn’t need anybody to catch on that it wasn’t my sister that I had been thinking about.

“They got here last night. I haven’t seen them yet.” I would, it wasn’t like Briar would let me be for too long. She and Teagan constantly took care of their brothers, because it wasn’t as if we’d had a mom around to do so. I wanted her to thrive because it wasn’t Mom’s fault, or our stepmom’s fault, that they hadn’t been able to survive the torture that was living with our dad. But they had done their best by us, and I would never hate them for that fact.

“Well, you say hi to them, and you make sure they come and say hello to me.”

My lips twitched. “You know they will. Briar loves you.”

“As she should.”

His gaze darkened, and I looked over my shoulder to see who he could possibly be glaring at. Dread pooled in my gut, but I ignored it. I wasn’t surprised Nathan was around, lurking, but it still annoyed the fuck out of me.

“Why don’t you get your things and go out the back? No need to deal with him.”

“He doesn’t get to own this store or my time. Don’t worry.”

Jessup gave me a look, but nodded, conceding.

I sighed, gathered the rest of the things on my list, and made my way to check out.

“Well, look at you,” a sly voice whispered from my side.

I turned to see Nathan and shifted my head. “I don’t want any trouble today. I’m not in the mood.”

And I needed to get back to Kiera. I didn’t have enough food for her, and there was no way that I was letting her come into town. At least not yet. Honestly, with Briar and Gabriel here, the town would be able to focus on their celebrity and then turn ranks so they could protect them from any onlookers. Maybe they’d figure out how to do so for Kiera, but she didn’t need the attention of paparazzi or the public. Not on everything she had done. Not on everything else that was happening to her at the moment.