Page 36 of An Unexpected Everything
“Weston told us you played field hockey,” Sam said with a smile. “It’s okay that you picked Sydney’s sport. I’ll win you over in other ways.”
They talked a mile a minute, taking Isabella away as if this had all been planned for months rather than a few hours.
And Isabella didn’t even look behind her in fear or need. Instead she fell right in with the girls, and I followed them, running around the house for whatever they needed.
And by the time their friends and boyfriends showed up, things felt normal. As if we had done this countless times.
I had no idea what to call Isabella, no idea how long she would stay, but in this moment, it felt right. And that worried me. I saw the questioning looks from some of the other parents, and there would be those questions spoken aloud soon. This was a small town after all, and Weston Caldwell bringing a woman to any form of social function was unheard of.
Let alone a Cage.
Let alone the fact that I wanted this to happen again.
Isabella met my gaze before going back to take photos of the twins, and I knew I was well and truly fucked.
Chapter Ten
ISABELLA
A hand slidover my mouth and squeezed. I thrashed, trying to get out of their hold. Another arm slid around my waist, locking me to them. I kicked, tried to bite, but it was no use.
“He says hello,” a voice whispered but it wasn’t a voice I knew. It wasn’t William’s. But I thought it had to be. Because who else would be there? Who else would be holding me? I kicked out, but it was no use.
And then I blinked, and we were no longer in the garage, but at the hilltop facing the lake. And this time I knew the voice was William’s.
“You think you can get away? He never got away. I’ll come back for you. I always said I would. Don’t you like my letters? You’ve been waiting for them, haven’t you?” he whispered, and I scratched my nails down his face. But William only laughed, and then it shifted once again and I was holding on to the cliff side, screaming for help.
And familiar blue eyes blinked down at me, but he didn’t hold out his arm.
“Dad! Daddy. I need you. Help me!”
“Why would I? You know I have to leave. I always leave.” And then he wasn’t my father anymore, but Weston. Staring down atme, before he got up off his knees and walked away without a second glance.
My fingers slipped, blood on my skin, a scream ripped from my throat, and then I sat up in bed, sweat soaked and shaking.
I ran my hands over my face, annoyed with myself. “Well, I don’t need to go too far into the symbolism of that, do I?” I asked myself before I swung my legs over the side of the bed and forced myself to get up for the day. I glared at the alarm clock since it wasn’t even six a.m., but I didn’t care. I turned off my alarm on my phone and set out to get ready. I had a few more places to visit today. While Hudson usually got it done for James if James couldn’t visit the town, now I was the one in charge. It felt odd to have that part of my family position on top of everything else, and yet it felt right.
Years ago when the town had been founded, it had been by a few families who needed a refuge. There were dozens of small mountain towns within the area. Some that had been for coal mining, others for gold. Cage Lake had been for a few different reasons. Yes minerals, but it also had a large water source that came from the natural tributaries from the mountain peaks. So it was one of the coveted land spots for travelers. The Cages had been one of the founding families, and then it had turned from a small grouping of families into an actual town itself complete with a sheriff, firehouse, and all of the municipalities that a small town could need. It didn’t have everything, and some things were shared with other towns, but it was one of the larger ones. Yet still a small town.
So very different from the city. Even though I was a suburb girl, and my job was in downtown Denver, I was still used to highways. Hell, my old job used to be in Centennial, and those high rises were trying to rival Denver, just like Parker was. The area was growing so much that the I25 corridor was all onegiant grouping of homes and businesses and city. Cage Lake was different.
And because the Cages owned so many of the properties, they did their best to make sure that they weren’t the overbearing landlords who took and didn’t give.
From what I was gathering from the town residents, that hadn’t always been the case. Dear old Dad had left behind so many broken promises, and not just within our family.
I quickly got in the shower and washed my hair, trying to also wash away that dream.
I still didn’t know who that voice was at the beginning. The man who had attacked me. The authorities didn’t know, and while I could go back home and try my best to act normal, I wasn’t sure what normal was anymore. Yes, I was afraid he was still out there, and frankly I didn’t know if it was connected to William at all. William was still situated in Wyoming, far closer to the woman he had attacked brutally. It was odd to think I had gotten off easy, and it made me ill to even say those words. But I had in the end. So I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go home. And it didn’t have everything to do with William.
No, I had given into temptation. I had taken Weston into my bed, or rather, the guest bed, and I hadn’t wanted to let him go.
It had been rough and erotic and everything that had been missing in my life.
And I had no idea what it meant. Because not only had we slept together, but I had also ended up at his house, helping the girls get ready for prom. We had fallen into a situation that others would call a relationship so quickly, and yet, it didn’t make any sense.
Because we hadn’t spoken. Not really. And now I wasn’t sure what the timeline was. Because my time here was finite. I did not live in Cage Lake. I didn’t have one of the many homes the Cagesowned. I didn’t work at any of the businesses that I was speaking to today. My life wasn’t here.
And Weston’s, once again, was.
