Page 49 of Broken Bonds

“We aren’t—” Ace started to say, but I was quick to grab his hand to stop him. The three men across the circle were watching us intently.

“He’s my older brother’s friend, and you know how that story goes.” Barb laughed. “He just couldn’t stay away from me, and who was I to resist this handsome devil?” I giggled, twirling a strand of hair around my finger, looking at Ace like a lovesick puppy. His eyes widened in shock for a moment before he played along.

“Have you seen this gorgeous girl?” he teased. And fuck, the way he smiled at me, like I truly was the center of his entire universe… I wanted it to be real so damn badly. “I wanted her from the moment my eyes landed on her. I just had to make her my girlfriend.” His fingers that were wrapped around mine tightened, and my chest mimicked his hand, clenching tightly.

“Remember when we first met, Barb?” Oscar smiled an almost toothless grin at his wife. She nodded enthusiastically, reaching for his hand to lace their fingers together.

“It was the summer of eighty-five. I must’ve been fifteen and you—seventeen?” she asked him.

“Summer before my senior year, and this hot chick starts working at my summer camp. I was love-struck.” In the candlelight, Barbara blushed. I wanted a love like that so badly. To have someone I could depend on without a moment’s hesitation…

“We’re high school sweethearts,” Barb informed us. “After that summer, we were inseparable. I even followed him from the Carolinas to Florida for college, and then, he proposed the day I graduated from college. The rest is history, as they say.”

The attention was off Ace and me for now as another couple shared their story about meeting at a flea market. But still, Ace never let go of my hand.

After dinner, everyone went to their claimed spots and prepared for bed. The howling wind hadn’t lessened. Instead, it sounded louder in the big room. Goosebumps raised on my arms at the sound of something slamming against the building. What if Ace and I hadn’t found the shelter? What if we’d been stuck out there in that raging storm?

Ace’s warm hand wrapped around my arm, grabbing my attention. “We’re safe here, Celine. You’re safe.” I nodded, seeing the same fear reflected in his eyes from the flickering candle on the floor beside us. But still, he was trying to reassure me. To ease my fears. How could he be such a grump and so selfless at the same time?

“I want to go home,” I quietly confessed. “I miss my family.” He pulled me into his arms as my bottom lip trembled, and warm tears rushed down my cheeks. I missed home so much. I hated being trapped here.

“Soon, baby girl,” Ace quietly promised. “Soon. I swear to you, I will get you to them.”

He’d never called me that before. And I didn’t know what to do with the warmth that rushed through me. The need to hear him call me that so many more times.

After they listened to the eleven o’clock news advisory on their battery-operated radio, Donna and Barb did the last rounds of the evening and filled everyone in on what was happening outside. According to Barb, the storm was almost over us, and it wouldn’t be long until we could go home. I longed for my mother’s warm embrace so badly.

Donna handed me three Tylenol, sympathy in her big brown eyes before she walked away with her mother to the next group.

“Are they getting worse?” Ace asked, laying out the blankets and pillows we were given on the first night.

I carefully moved myself onto the makeshift bed, curling into a ball and pulling the thin blanket over my body. “Yes,” I confessed, my voice barely audible. Fear clenched my belly tight, making me nauseous.

He laid beside me on his back, staring up at the ceiling, then grabbed my hand under the blankets and squeezed it. “I wish I could take the pain away, princess.” I didn’t say anything. Clutching his hand tightly, I didn’t let go. I closed my eyes, willing sleep to come, trying to ignore the loud sounds of chaos coming from outside and the agony ripping my legs apart.

“I wish I could take all your pain away,” he whispered.

chapter twenty

CELINE

Silence rang in the gym the next morning—no heavy rain, screaming winds, or bursts of thunder. Everyone was silent in the room, too—no whispers, no snores. Just quiet, blissful nothing.

I sat up and looked around, trying to see in the darkness. Ace’s chest was rising and falling in deep, even breaths, and it appeared everyone else was sleeping, too. There were no windows in the large room, so we had no concept of time in the darkness, leaving me to wonder if it was morning yet or still night.

Donna, Oscar, and Barbara were missing when I looked to their corner of the room, more than likely making everyone food. I stood up slowly, my legs protesting with loud pops that made my throat constrict. I took one small step and almost crumbled with pain. I had to literally bite my tongue to hold back my moan of pain.

I took another step, biting my lip to stop my scream of pain from coming out, though I still made a strangled cat noise, which was downright embarrassing. Ace shot up into a sitting position, his eyes landing on me.

“What are you doing?” he snapped, his voice husky from sleep. He stood and helped me sit back down on my pile of thin blankets.

“I wanted to help make breakfast, Ace.” He rolled his eyes, lying back down, staring at the ceiling.

“Well, you can’t, so just sit and look pretty like a princess, and let me sleep.” He turned over, giving me his back. Just as I was thinking of a witty response, I heard his soft snores. I scowled at his toned back.

“Hmph, I’ll show him I can make breakfast,” I muttered to myself and braced for the pain that was going to come when I stood. This time, I stood slower, but the pain still burned with the first small step, then intensified with the next.

I could do this. I wasnotthat weak, pathetic girl anymore. I was strong.

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