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Until it wasn’t.
In an instant, the weight was gone. I sucked in air, desperate for it. Hands came under my arms, and I shouted, “No!”
“Sawyer!”
At the sound of the most beautiful voice yelling my name, my body tensed. Slowly, I twisted my neck and looked behind me. Jesse was there.
“Jesse,” I whimpered.
“Baby girl,” he rasped.
I didn’t know how he was there, but I didn’t care. “Oh my God,” I blubbered as I launched myself into his arms.
Jesse held me tight against him, his hold being like wrapped in a cozy blanket. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I held on to him.
I was vaguely aware of the guys behind us who seemed to have swiftly and expertly handled Kurt.
“I thought I was going to die,” I sobbed.
“I know. I’ve got you now, and it’s over. You’re safe.”
I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief. It was over, and I was safe.
I had what felt like a thousand questions running through my mind at that moment, but there was one thing I wanted more than an answer to any of them. I pulled back, looked Jesse in the eyes, and begged, “Take me home.”
His eyes searched my face for a long time before he nodded and led me away from the van and out of the woods.
“I’m off.”
Cam jerked his chin up at me and smiled.
I moved around from behind the bar and walked toward my friends who were sitting at a table on the far side of the pub.
It had been a week since the incident with Kurt, and we’d rescheduled girls’ night.
Everyone seemed to have been shocked by my ability to bounce back from what had happened. My coworkers, my friends, and Jesse.
Maybe it wasn’t so much a shock for them as it was disbelief, that I wanted to get right back to living my life.
That was just it, though.
There was something about having an experience like I had that only served to push me to get back to it. I wasn’t killed out in the woods that day. I fought hard to save myself, and I still had my life to live.
Twelve years ago, three girls I loved dearly didn’t get the second chance to live out their dreams. Their deaths and what immediately followed had crushed me, but coming back to Steel Ridge had given me a second chance.
I couldn’t have been more grateful for Jesse and the people he’d brought into my life. If Avalon and Liv hadn’t done what they did and followed Kurt’s van when he took me out of the parking lot here at The Steel Pub, I wasn’t convinced I’d be alive right now. I owed them everything.
There was still a lot being worked out with regard to Kurt and his crimes that crossed state lines. The bottom line was that Kurt was in some serious legal trouble for his attempted murder of me. I’d learned about how things had changed for Adriana, Russ, and a few others from Sweet Temptations, and I couldn’t say I was surprised to learn what else they’d done. After hearing someone admit that they wanted to kill someone based on a hunch, there was little that could surprise me about the unsavory and illegal things they’d gotten themselves into. It was my hope that justice would be served on that front.
One thing that had managed to surprise me happened when I came back to work two days later. Not one single person I worked with hesitated to share the love. Though, I had spoken with Deanna and Cam the same night I’d been kidnapped. They were both frantic, and Deanna had been devastated, believing she was responsible for putting me in a vulnerable position.
On the plus side, when I returned, I was happy to see that not only had everyone been overly ecstatic to see me, but Deanna seemed to be in a much better headspace. Apparently, after I spoke to her that night as Jesse and I rode back with Damon to Steel Ridge, she took a long, hard look at her situation. She realized that as upset as she was about the circumstances with Lance, she deserved better. Life was too short to waste it being upset about someone who could do what he did to her. Sure, she was still heartbroken, but it was clear she was determined to heal and move on to better things.
I made it to the spot where Tarryn, Mallory, Lily, Liv, and Avalon were all seated and waiting for me, and the moment I was there, Avalon declared, “You’re officially one of us now.”
Tipping my head to the side, feeling slightly confused, I asked, “In what way?”
“Jesse hasn’t told you?” Liv countered.
