Page 90 of Fragile Hearts

“Holy shit,” I mutter, my hand covering my mouth, and as awful as it is, there’s not a chance she isn’t going to serve jail time for it.

“Yeah, so you aren’t going to have to worry about her for a while,” Officer Pearson tells me, and it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. My body sags with relief, knowing she won’t be back for a long time.

Maybe she can get clean while she’s in prison. God knows she needs it.

Owen and I watch the police car drive away, taking with it years of trauma, and all I can hope is that this is the end. I will be filing the restraining order, but even if my mom is found not guilty on the involuntary manslaughter charges, she won’t have the money to get back to Hawaii anyway. It’s a mystery to me how she got to California and back in the first place.

But I refuse to dedicate any more time to thinking about her and her disastrous life.

“You okay?” Owen asks me, pulling me into his side for a hug. As his arms tighten around me, supporting me through all of this, he’s my forever.

There is no one like him, no one I’ve ever met who would stay through this and still love me the way he does.

“I’m okay. I really just want to go home,” I tell him, looking up, my eyes wet with tears, trying like hell to keep them at bay.

“You sure?” he asks. “We can go to my sister’s place. She’s not there. Or to Orchid Bay for the night.” He’s thought of everything, all for me, all to make sure I feel safe.

“I want to go home to our house, Owen. She doesn’t get to take that from me.” I let out a hard exhale, exhausted and mentally checked out. This has been a hell of a week, and something I never want to relive.

“Whatever you want,” Owen says sweetly, weaving his fingers through mine and wrapping Mochi’s leash around his other hand. “If you wake up in the night and want to leave, just say it. I’ll take you wherever you want. You and this guy.”

He looks down at Mochi, who is anxiously awaiting his walk home. His tail is wagging all over the place, happy as can be now that things have settled down.

“He looked pretty damn tough, didn’t he?” I say as we begin to head home. “He showed his teeth.”

“Mochi’s a badass.”

As soon as we get back to the house, Owen sets the alarm and checks the new doorbell camera. There’s been nothing. No activity since we left and none since the break-in, and the house feels quiet and calm like it used to.

It feels like home.

“You good?” Owen asks me as I stand in the living room, everything back where it should be.

I close my eyes, loving the sound of silence, the smell of the house, the beauty of a place I call home. It all feels perfect, the way I’ve wanted it to for so long.

“I’m good,” I tell him, nodding, and I walk over to where he’s standing. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull him in for a kiss. “Thank you. Because of you, this is my safe space.”

“Whatever you need, babe.”

“I need you.”

“You have me, always.”

“Yeah?” Sloane asks, a smile on her face.

“Uh huh.”

Her smile turns sly as she asks, “What about right now?”

Now it’s me smiling as I lean down, my lips against hers, I whisper, “Like I said, always, babe.”

She kisses me softly. “I was thinking of taking a shower,” she murmurs. “You wanna join me?”

Chuckling, I whisper, “Always.”

Sloane steps back, grabbing my hand. She leads me toward our bedroom and into the ensuite. Grinning, I lean in and turn the water on in the shower, turning back just as Sloane pulls her dress over her head.

“So fucking gorgeous,” I whisper, leaning back against the counter as I pull her into my arms, my hands smoothing up her back to her bra.

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