Page 54 of Hammer

Dinner passed with more conversation than usual, the plans for Saturday dominating the discussion.Aura detailed her favorite fair attractions with her usual enthusiasm.I hadn’t even realized she’d been so often.Apparently, she and Sam had gone a few times.Chase asked practical questions about the schedule.Levi wondered about the livestock exhibits.Throughout it all, Amelia kept glancing at me with that same warm expression, like she could see right through my gruff exterior to whatever was happening beneath it.Something I wasn’t ready to name.

After the kids had cleared the table, Aura dragged Chase and Levi to the garage to show them progress on her motorcycle restoration project.I stepped out onto the back porch, needing a moment alone with my thoughts and a cigarette.The night air was cool against my face, the familiar scent of tobacco calming my nerves as I lit up.

I heard the door open behind me but didn’t turn.The light footsteps told me it was Amelia before she appeared at my side, wrapping a cardigan around herself against the evening chill.

“I already thanked you on the phone,” she said, leaning against the railing next to me, “but I wanted to say it again.This means a lot to them.To all of us.”

I shrugged, uncomfortable with her gratitude.“Just a fair,” I muttered around my cigarette.

“It’s more than that and you know it.”She turned to face me, her eyes reflecting the porch light.“Chase hasn’t looked forward to anything like this in years.Not since before…” She trailed off, but I knew what she meant.Before Piston had beaten the childhood out of him.

“Kids deserve normal,” I said simply.

“They do.”She hesitated, then added, “We’ve asked so much of you already.Taking us in, protecting us.You didn’t have to do this too.”

“Wanted to,” I admitted, the closest I could come to expressing what was happening inside me.

Amelia touched my arm gently, her fingers warm through my shirtsleeve.“Thank you,” she said again, her voice soft.“For giving us a chance at normal.”

Our eyes met, and something passed between us -- something deeper than the physical attraction we’d been dancing around for weeks.Understanding, maybe.Or recognition of what we might become to each other, given time and trust.

I briefly covered her hand with mine, feeling the delicate bones beneath the skin, marveling at the strength contained in such a gentle touch.Then I pulled away, suddenly needing space from the intensity of the moment.

“Should check the perimeter,” I muttered, dropping my cigarette and crushing it under my boot.“Make sure everything’s secure.”

Her smile told me she saw through the excuse, but she didn’t call me on it.“Don’t be too long.It’s getting cold.”

I nodded and descended the porch steps, walking the property line as I did every night.The security floodlights cast my shadow long across the grass as I moved methodically from one checkpoint to another, checking locks, testing the gate, scanning for anything out of place.The routine grounded me, gave me time to process the feelings I’d been fighting for weeks.

Dice had been right.I was afraid -- not of Piston or the Devil’s Minions or any external threat.I was afraid of how much I was starting to care for Amelia and her boys.Afraid of the pain that would come if I fully opened myself to them and then lost them.Afraid of not being enough.

But standing there in the darkness, looking back at my house -- at the light and life within it -- I knew I was already lost.Already invested.Already caring more than I’d intended to.And maybe it was time to stop fighting it.Time to stop wasting whatever chance at happiness had unexpectedly landed in my life.

I turned back toward the house, toward them.Toward home.

Chapter Fifteen

Amelia

I locked the register with fingers that moved on autopilot, my body feeling the weight of an eight-hour shift that had stretched to ten when Marla, another waitress, called in sick.The diner’s fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, harsh against my tired eyes as I counted out my tips -- decent tonight, enough to buy Chase those new sneakers he needed but wouldn’t ask for.Beyond the windows, darkness had settled completely over the parking lot, the diner’s neon sign casting alternating flashes of pink and blue across the cracked asphalt.I rubbed at the small of my back, dreaming of the hot shower waiting for me at home.At Hammer’s home.Our home, I corrected myself, still not quite used to the thought.

“Night, Phil,” I called to our evening shift cook, who grunted his goodbye from the kitchen where he was finishing cleanup.

I gathered my purse and jacket, tucking the tips inside my wallet before heading toward the back door.My car sat alone in the employee section, the only vehicle left besides Phil’s ancient pickup.The manager had left hours ago, trusting me to close up as I’d done dozens of times since starting here.

The night air hit me with a welcome coolness after hours in the stuffy diner.I inhaled deeply, letting the tension in my shoulders ease slightly as I fumbled for my keys.My thoughts drifted to home, to the boys, to Hammer.Saturday’s fair plans had lit something in all of them that warmed me through.Even Chase had seemed genuinely excited, though he tried to hide it behind his usual stoic facade.

My keys jingled as I shifted them to grab the car remote.The parking lot lights flickered, one of them buzzing before going dark completely.I made a mental note to tell Phil tomorrow -- the lot was too dark already without losing another light.For the first time, I was cursing myself for being so independent.Hammer had told me I didn’t need to work here anymore, and several people at the compound had tried to talk me out of keeping my shifts.Right now, I was wishing I’d listened, or that maybe Hammer had been a little less understanding and forced me to remain home.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled.

I froze, my fingers tightening around my keys until the metal bit into my palm.Something shifted in the shadows behind me -- not the wind, not an animal.A presence.Heavy.Deliberate.Watching.

I spun around, heart hammering against my ribs, and that’s when I saw him.The bulk of his frame separated from the darkness like a nightmare materializing.Broad shoulders.Close-cropped hair.The familiar swagger in his step that had once made my stomach flutter with attraction, now made it clench with dread.

Piston.

“Hey, baby,” he drawled, stepping fully into the weak pool of light cast by the flickering neon sign.“Miss me?”

---