Page 2 of An Unexpected Everything
I knew that had to be killing her.
“Anyway, since the patriarch of the Cages decided to keep both families secret from each other, I can only imagine the dynamics over those family dinners they are forced to have. You heard about that, right? They must have dinner once a monthin order to keep their inheritance. And considering thistownis part of inheritance, I sure hope they find a way to break bread. Could you imagine what would happen to Cage Lake if the Cage assets were divided and dissolved? Why, they own over eighty percent of this town—including the homes around the lake itself and the resort that brings in the town tourism budget. In other words: No Cages. No town.”
I ground my teeth at that. Hudson didn’t like talking about what his father had done and I had no desire to learn the details. If he needed to talk, I’d be there like he’d been there for me when I’d been forced to raise my three siblings and was so out of my depth it wasn’t even funny. But if he made me talk about it beyond the superficial, I’d be required to think about the one person and time in my life I’d done my best to forget.
Not that I could truly forget.
After all, she survived in my dreams, my memories, and my waking regrets every day.
“That gives you something to think about for sure.” I cleared my throat before she could continue. “I’m headed out to the lake to catch up on something. You have a nice day, Ms. Patty.”
“Oh yes, my mouth and I have kept you for too long. Be safe, Weston. This town needs you.”
And without waiting for her to say another word, I headed out to my truck. I needed air and I knew the best place to do that wasn’t going to be on the primary street with everyone watching me. They might not know my past, but they always knew when something was beneath the surface.
The problem—one of many—with a small town.
I drove down Main Street and turned toward my favorite thinking spot. Right on the edge of the mountain itself, it had a great view of the town and the beauty that was the Rocky Mountains. The best part of Cage Lake was that most of the views were breathtaking. It was hard to find a shitty spot of town—something the residents and Cages who didn’t live here full time worked hard on.
I turned off the engine once I made it to the parking spot at the edge of the trail and hopped out of the truck. I took a deep breath of that mountain air and told myself I needed to get out of my head. It had been eight years since my world had shifted and I hated the idea that my brain couldn’t help but focus on the two months of peace I’d had in between when life had been normal and when it had broken.
The math just didn’t add up. I hadn’t spent enough time with her to regret her and yet that was a damn lie.
I turned the corner, eager to sit on the cliff’s edge and breathe, when the scream echoed through the forest. I took off at a run, hoping to hell I wasn’t about to end up on the wrong side of a bear’s claws—or worse.
Then I realized the edge of the cliffside where locals didn’t stand since the ground turned to shit once the rain hit had shifted. Meaning part of the place I liked to sit and think was now gone.
Another scream.
I ran toward the side, chest heaving, and finally knelt to get a good look at the situation, hoping to hell I wasn’t too late. I held back a curse as I realized a woman clung to the side of the mud and rockface, her limbs shaking, and dirt covering her body and clothes.
Then she looked up.
It was as if someone had kicked me in the chest.
She might not have been able to see me clearly with the angle—but I could see every inch of her face. Reality froze in time as my world crashed. Because I knew that face. That voice. I knew the fear in those eyes. Those eyes I’d fallen in love with when I’d been too damn young to understand what love was.
Isabella Cage Dixon.
The ghost I thought I’d excised long ago.
Another rock fell from beneath my grip, and I cursed, pushing out thoughts from the past because there wasn’t time for that. There never had been. Bella was one moment from falling to her death and I’d be damned if I failed her again.
“Reach for my hand, damn it!”
Bile coated my tongue as I clung to the side of the rockface, my hand outstretched. My voice came out as more of a growl, but I didn’t give a fuck right then.
“Come on. I don’t have a firm grip and we’re both going to fall off this fucking mountain if you don’tmove!”
Scrambling, her fingers bleeding, she reached out, trying to grip my hands. Her fingers brushed mine before she fell down another inch, and a scream ripped from her throat.
“I can’t reach!”
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” I kept repeating the words as she tried to climb, tried to save herself.
My world narrowed to that pinprick of time.My Bella.The woman I hated because of what she represented, the woman I used to love because she’d been mine, wouldnotfall.
I refused to even allow the idea to come to fruition. So I moved farther down the side, knowing if I leaned too far, we’d both fall and there would be no coming back from that. And I’d leave behind the ones I’d broken everything for.
