Page 5 of Whiskey

“Whiskey, could you join us for a minute?” Stella’s voice called out.

Whiskey turned to Ambrose. “You good with my brother and friends?”

Ambrose nodded and took the hand Beth offered.

Whiskey walked quickly toward the room. He still wasn’t sure why he cared so much about a woman he’d just met. Especially when she was someone else’s.

Stella waited for Whiskey to pass, then came in.

“Onessa approved me sharing a couple things with you. She didn’t want to go over it again. First off, she’s doing fine after the wreck. I have a list of things that you will need to watch out for, but I feel comfortable letting her stay here.”

Whiskey breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing he hadn’t done anything to hurt her by letting her come to their home was a weight off his mind.

“She also shared she’s running from the family of her deceased husband. Brother-in-law and father-in-law were determined she would marry one of them. I explained to her none of us were going to let that happen. Onessa would like to stay here with you. I offered to take her back with us to the compound, but she feels safe with you if you’ll have her.”

Whiskey nodded. He was a little ticked off Stella hadn’t asked him about Onessa going to Bluff Creek, but he understood why she had.

“Of course, we’ll keep you and Ambrose safe here. It might be a good idea for us to call you something besides Onessa. We don’t plan on talking about you being here, but just in case someone accidentally said something where someone could hear, a different name would be good. What’s your full name?”

Whiskey waited while Onessa decided if she was trusting him with her name.

“Onessa Vivian Charles,” she whispered.

“What about Vivi? A shortened form of your middle name would be easy. To be safe, we should call Ambrose something else. His name is very distinctive.”

“I like the name Vivi. Ambrose hates his name because he was named after my late husband. I’m fine with whatever he wants to call himself if it will keep us safer,” she answered. He was pleased to hear her getting a little louder as she talked. He was guessing her scumbag dead husband had not wanted her opinion ever.

“Okay, well, if you’re good, you can come out and join us for food or rest in here and I’ll bring you food in.”

Chapter Four

Vivi watched the tall, muscled, and tattooed man wait patiently on her answer. Her husband had been clean-shaven, dressed in a suit and presented an image to the world of the perfect man, but underneath the veneer was a black heart.

Whiskey, with his tattooed arms, beard halfway down his neck, and kind blue-green eyes, didn’t look as polished as her husband, but when she was close to him, she felt safe. She wasn’t quite ready to trust because her children’s lives were at stake, but she’d hold back judgment until she knew him more.

“I think I’d like us to have food out with all of you. I need to move around a little or I’ll be stiff.”

Vivi paused when Whiskey held out his hand. No one had ever offered her a hand up. When she was pregnant with Ambrose, she’d had to pick where she sat to make sure there were arms on the chairs to help her stand.

She placed her hand in his warm one. His hand wasn’t rough enough to scrape her skin, but it wasn’t the softened weak hands of her husband. Whiskey’s hands had some calluses from working. As she started to stand, he placed his other hand on her waist to help her up.

“I’m going to put some antibiotic ointment in your bathroom for that scrape, Vivi, and some other supplies just in case you need them.”

Vivi stared at Whiskey’s face while Stella went to her bathroom. In the last seven hours, her life had changed. Maybe they were here for a reason. She’d never believed in fate, but for the first time in her life, she wondered about a future. A future with her own choices.

“Let’s go let your son know you’re okay and maybe chat with him about his name?”

Vivi let Whiskey guide her out the door, feeling bereft when he let go of her hand. Ambrose was sitting on a couch beside Whiskey’s brother, who had helped them at the wreck. She couldn’t remember his name. She’d been too worried to take in everything.

“Mom, Hennessy said he’s named after liquor and so are his brothers. One set of his cousins are named after characters on a TV show. Isn’t that cool?”

Vivi fought back the tears. Her son was actually expressing an opinion, and they’d only been here a short time. She sat down on the other side of Ambrose, wrapping her arm around him.

“It’s very cool. Whiskey and his family have offered to have us stay here, and they’ll keep us safe. I’ve accepted, but we think it would be a good idea to change our first names so we can’t be recognized.”

Ambrose’s eyes lit up. “Like spies? Code names? What’s yours, Mom?”

“Well, since my middle name is Vivian and I’ve never used it, Whiskey suggested Vivi.”

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