Page 93 of When It Reins
“Good for her.” He turns his gaze to me and says, “You’re going too.”
It’s not a question, and I nod my head to confirm it. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He shifts in his seat. I want to check to see what time it is and send Juniper a text to let her know I’m all good, but I don’t want to pull my phone out and seem rude. “You need someone good like her in your life. Don’t screw it up.”
I bunch my eyebrows together in confusion, but I don’t reply before he speaks again.
“I know your past, Mitchell. I’ve been watching over you for years, just keeping my distance. I know what you did for your family, though you could have come to me to watch out for them, as I was already doing that.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I don’t reply.
“I know you feel a burden on yourself, son.” I catch his gaze and feel a strange rush of emotions filtering through me at the way he is looking at me. “I know you feel responsible for every member of your family, close and distant. But you need to be sure you’re looking out for yourself.”
He crosses a leg over the other and sits back in his seat, looking strangely relaxed and confident for a man his age. “From now on, if you’re serious about her, Juniper Weaver is your main concern.”
“So I’m just supposed to ignore the rest of my family?”
The words feel hollow, and there’s a churning in my gut at the thought.
“No, not ignore. Just let them handle their own lives, son. They’re all grown up now. You don’t have to worry about them.Your piece of shit father—” He closes his eyes and holds up a hand. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize for that, sir. He is a piece of shit.”
Cal chuckles. “Well, all right. Keith is gone, Mitch.” He eyes me seriously again and says, “He’s out of the picture. Your brothers and mom are safe, and so are you.”
I feel a chill slide down the back of my neck and readjust on the floor, feeling uncomfortable with how much this man, who I assumed knew nothing, has figured out without help.
It feels weird to hear that word.
Safe.
I am safe.
I don’t have a deranged father on the loose. I don’t have asshole druggies going to come and beat the shit out of me. I don’t have to worry about my brothers’ well-being, other than the mundane stuff.
“It’s time for you to take your life back, grab that girl of yours, and go live it.”
His words do something to my mind, and for the first time since I admitted my love for Juniper, I sit back and close my eyes, allowing the flashes that have tried to push into my mind to actually come to life in front of me.
I picture us on the road, singing together. I picture us in a bed every night, waking up with each other every morning. I imagine living with her and growing our lives together. I imagine working at the bar, even when I’m old and shouldn’t be a security guard, but I keep the job just to stay close to her.
I picture all of it, and peace settles over me.
Finally.
Hours pass, and I find myself smiling as I picture what our future is going to look like. Cal has fallen asleep, and I don’tbother waking him, waiting for the shoe that I know is going to drop.
It’s easier to handle that shoe when you know it’s coming.
Dawn is about to break when I finally hear the first tendril of sound. After hours of quiet and somehow keeping my mind from falling asleep, something getting knocked over snaps me out of the trance I was in, and I peek my head out of the stall. I’m not the only one who moves, and I see across the alley bodies moving in the tack room.
A body moves through the crack in the door at the end of the alley, and as if on cue, we all move in around them until it’s twenty to one.
Time to put this fucker to bed.
44
juniper
