Page 36 of Panther's Magpie
I shake my head. “I can manage.”
The longer we walk, there are more rocks and sticks I step on that dig into the bottom of my shoes. I make a vow to never buy footwear for fashion again. Only what it will do for my feet.
When we get to the large lake, I realize it was well worth the walk.
“Wow,” I mutter.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? In the summer we can swim in it. It’s still a bit too cold now.”
I swallow hard. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulders. “I like coming out here when I’m feeling lonely or depressed. It reminds me that Iam only a small piece of this world. There is so much more out there than me. It helps me put my big problems into perspective. Makes them seem not so big anymore.”
“I don’t know. Aspen missing is still a pretty big problem for me,” I admit.
He squeezes me tighter. Somehow it helps me relax.
“For me too. Still, Aspen is a fighter. She reminds me of a hawk. She seems so small when you see her from a distance, but then she crashes into your life, wreaking havoc.” He chuckles.
“She is good at creating chaos. You really think she’s okay?” I ask.
He is quiet a long time before he finally answers me.
“The men who took her aren’t kind. I won’t lie to you and say she is drinking tea and running those assholes around in circles. She is going through something really fucking terrible right now, but she is resilient. I know we will get her back alive, and then we can help her work through what she has gone through. Trauma changes a person. You need to be aware that the Aspen we bring back might not be the same Aspen who left us.”
I wrap my arm around his waist, hugging him closer at his words. He’s not wrong. I keep imagining my spitfire Aspen telling those men where to shove their dicks, but if that were the case, Aspen would be home already.
She isn’t coming home on her own, which means they are doing unspeakable things to her.
I start to shake. Panther pulls me into his arms, crushing me to his body.
“Let it all out,” he whispers as he caresses his fingers up and down my back.
He lets me cry for several minutes as he whispers soft reassurances into my ear. I melt against him, soaking in the comfort his body offers.
When I finally pull back, he wipes the tears from my face as he looks me in the eyes.
“Magpie, I…”
His phone rings, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
I think he might have kissed me right then and there. He looked like he wanted to, or maybe that is my own wishful thinking.
“I’ll be right there.” He hangs up, looking back down at me. “I need to go. It’s almost time for church.”
I nod. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“I’ll bring you here anytime you need,” he promises me.
Why does that sound like heaven to me?
PANTHER
There is something about Maggie that calls to me. It’s the same call I felt when I first joined the Mountain River MC. Like it was meant to be.
It can’t be, though.
“Can I ask you something?” she asks, stumbling on a rock.
