AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Julietta refused to accept defeat. She’d spent her whole life hiding from anything messy or real. It was finally time to fight for her future, but Sawyer might not be ready. The first test had failed. The path ahead might be a losing battle, but she wasn’t going to step neatly aside and let the man she loved isolate himself because he was afraid he had no emotions left to give.
Screw that.
Wolfe watched her face with a deep worry she ached to soothe. each step Sawyer took away from them, the boy suffered. They’d formed a bond within this short time pe-riod, and she sensed Wolfe’s constant premonition that anything good would eventually be destroyed. Julietta swore if Sawyer walked away from them, she’d never let Wolfe go.
She’d cling to him like a fierce mama bear and spend the rest of her days proving her devotion.
Max took a seat next to her. “I haven’t seen Sawyer since our night out. Working round the clock?”
Julietta slid a glance over to Wolfe and pasted on a bright smile. “yeah, the opening for Purity is coming close.
We’re all putting in extra hours to make sure we don’t miss the deadline.”
Wolfe paused midstroke. His gaze assessed her face as if he knew there was a deeper problem. Dante sensed something amiss and pushed his head into the boy’s palm, bump-ing his attention back to the task at hand. Wolfe looked down at the demanding cat and gave a half smile. “Pain in the ass,” he muttered under his breath. “Want some milk?”
Dante jumped down in perfect understanding and stalked toward the kitchen, not bothering to look back to confirm Wolfe followed. She watched the boy disappear and turned toward her brother-in-law. “Something’s wrong, Max. Do you know anything about his past?”
Max shook his head. “No, it’s obviously a closed subject.
I never pried.”
Julietta struggled between needing help and not wanting to disrespect her husband’s privacy. “There’s someone who’s come back from his childhood. It’s dredged up a mess of memories, and he’s distancing himself from us.”
“Do you think he just needs some time to process?”
She clenched her fists. “Maybe. But my gut says the more space I give him, the more he’ll slip away from us.
This person is trying to blackmail him.”
“Bad stuff?”
“yeah. Nothing that he did wrong, though. But he doesn’t believe that.”
“Sawyer doesn’t take crap from anyone. He’d never buckle from a threat. I’ll visit him tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Julietta didn’t know if she was making a bigger mistake recruiting Max. Her husband could lose his temper and slip even further away from her, but she trusted her gut. It had never failed in business. Time to put her instincts to the test in her personal life.
Max gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Sawyer is one tough son of a bitch. He’s going to be okay. you probably knocked him sideways with his feelings for you. He’s obviously fallen hard, and he’s never committed to anyone before, let alone marriage.”
She forced a smile. “I hope you’re right.”
Please don’t leave us, Sawyer. We need you.
Chapter Seventeen
Sawyer made his way toward the basement and followed the sounds of grunting. Three a.m. The time of night terrors and ghosts that took flight. He pushed open the door and found Wolfe in the middle of the mat, going at the punching bag like rocky in the final round with Apollo Creed.
Sweat gleamed from Wolfe’s skin. His focus told a deeper story, and Sawyer felt a pang at how distant he’d been lately with the boy. He’d missed workouts this week, not ready to face him while he wondered about the status of his marriage.
Wolfe didn’t deserve to be around emotional conflict or deal with his whiny shit. He deserved more than that.
Sawyer dropped his bottle of water and towel, waiting for him to finish.
Wolfe tore off the gloves and panted for breath.
“Nice jabs. But your hooks still suck.” Sawyer waited for his smart-mouthed comeback, but the boy ignored him.
He turned his back and grabbed his own bottle of water, chugging it down. “Hard night?”
Wolfe wiped his mouth and glared at him. “What do you care?”
Sawyer jerked back. “Listen, I’m sorry I missed a few of our sessions. you know work has been killing me. Purity has to come first.”
“Got no problem with that. Just don’t like lies.”
He frowned. “I’m not lying. I can’t let up until opening, and even then the first year will take everything I got. I thought you were on board with that.”
Blue eyes glittered with banked rage. “you think I’m stupid, man? you think I don’t know you’re thinking of taking off?” He gave a bark of laughter. “I’m the king of that move, so don’t try to pretend it’s about Purity. It’s about Julietta. Me. Us, together. This whole thing is not working for you, and you got itchy feet. Fine, I don’t give a shit. Just be a man and tell us to our faces instead of this bullshit about work.”
The ground roared up and swallowed him whole.
Sickness churned his stomach. Dear God, Wolfe believed he was cutting out on him, just like everyone did in his life beforehand. He shook his head hard and took a step forward. “Listen, Wolfe, you’re wrong. Dead wrong. I am not leaving you, and I never will. We’re a team going forward.
I’m just going through some shit with Julietta, but I’ll figure it out.”
Wolfe made a low growl deep in his throat and backed off. “Lie. I see the way you look at me now, at her. Like you can’t wait to get away from us. We remind you of something we’ll never be able to fix. It’s just a matter of time before you bolt. But I’m not waiting around for it. I like Julietta; she’s given me more respect than I ever had, other than you. She makes me want to do better. I’m not going to hang around while you tear her apart and then start on me. I’ve been down this road, man. I’m done.”
Panic hit. Sawyer scrambled for balance. “you’re important to me, damnit! I don’t want you to leave, and I’m not going to bolt. even if this thing doesn’t work out with Julietta, I’ll never let you down. I can’t let anyone else down again!”
The boy studied him in the dim light. Foo Fighters blared in the background. In those endless blue depths, Sawyer saw a deep truth that shook him. An understanding and disappointment so ingrained there was nothing he’d be able to utter to wipe away the doubts.
