Page 81 of Limbo

I force a decision and bend over for a bottle of water.

“God, I’ve missed that ass.”

The voice hits like a fucking meteor about three seconds before a hand connects with said ass. The slap stings, and the sound cracks through the store. I jerk up, the cooler door slamming shut. Brock’s arrogant asshole reflection grins at me until I spin around. Then the actual arrogant asshole grins at me until my knee rams the fuck into his crotch.

He folds in on himself and growls out, “Shit, Callista.” He sputters out more bullshit, but I couldn’t care less.

Down the aisle, Connor’s facing away from me, blocking Jordan, who is holding a scared Cate in his arms. Probably best for everyone if he stays away with the murder in his eyes and blood being harder to clean than blue ice and all.

Brock looks up, his hands on his knees. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Can you seriously be asking me that?”

I head for Cate, but he grabs my wrist to stop me. I rip my arm from his grip and drive my hands into his chest. The force knocks him back. To catch himself, he swings his arm out, and in the process, he clears a shelf of plastic booze bottles and the only bottle of wine the store carries. The glass shatters, and a cheap merlot spills over the floor.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me again,” I tell him. “Better yet, forget you met me.”

My pulse races as I walk away from him. It’s a moment almost three years in the making, and I won’t forget it this time. Jordan’s jaw muscles work overtime, clenched and strained when I reach him.

I pull Cate from his arms, swipe a slushie cup, and smile just for him. “Let’s go.”

“You okay?” Rhonda asks.

I nod on my way past. “Call Trey if he doesn’t clean up his mess.”

As I back through the door, Connor and Jordan remain unmoved. I consider dragging them out, and with the adrenaline pumping, I could, but the little girl whimpering against my shoulder deserves top priority. She sniffles as I rub her back.

“You’re okay, my monster.”

Needing to reroute her attention to keep her from dwelling on what happened, I go around the corner of the building and set her on the picnic table no one ever uses. I wipe my thumb over her cheeks to dry them and offer her the cup. Her head shakes, the tears reforming, so I steal a move from Jordan and drink her slushie in front of her. Well, I pretend to because my body rejects the idea.

The performance—a blue trickle even drips down my chin—get me a giggle.

“Cal, stop.” She pulls the cup away from my mouth and puts college kids everywhere to shame, chugging the hell out of the colored slush. She burps and slaps her forehead. “Brain freeze.”

“Oh no,” I say, feigning shock. “We have to warm it up!”

I grab her, the slushie cup falling to the ground as we take off toward the street behind the gas station. Once we emerge from the building’s shadow, I let her down.

“The sun should help, but you need to spin in circles to be safe.”

Not questioning me for a second, she drops her head back and looks up at the sky. Around and around she goes, her arms outstretched and a smile on her face. “It’s working.” Her hand catches mine as she prances by. “Come on, Cal.”

I laugh and twirl with her. Each rotation carries us farther and farther away from the scene inside. Exactly what we both need.

I’m getting dizzy when I feel Jordan watching. Sure enough, a blur develops into him when I stop. He stands next to Connor, witnessing us spinning like crazy people in the middle of the street. Of course, my brother shares in our particular brand of crazy and barrels toward us. The heaviness from earlier is gone as he grabs me by the middle and swings me around. He switches to Cate, her squealing until I help her bring him to the ground. We lie in a pile, laughing. All of us feel weightless at the same time, which is becoming more elusive and harder to hold on to.

After a few minutes of trying to keep away from Connor, my little sister drags Jordan over. She demands he protect me before she dashes off again.

He folds his arms around me, his lips pressing into my hair. “Hey, beautiful.”

I bury my nose in his shirt and inhale everything Jordan. In his arms, with Connor and Cate happy for the moment, that damn sun finally shines while it rains. Or maybe I’ve just found someone to help me see it. Either way, things are better than they’ve been for a long time.

“Are you ready to run yet?” I ask, gazing up at him.

“Only if it’s to chase you. But I’m hoping you’ll stay caught this time.”

Sounds like exactly what I want.

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