Page 27 of Wildflower and Whiskey
The message preview flashed across the screen:
You think you can just disappear with my son?
My chest tightened, anger and dread warring inside me. Of course he’d text now. Of course he’d remind me in the most venomous way possible that no matter how far I ran, Riley Jansen still lingered like a shadow I couldn’t shake.
I locked the phone with shaking fingers, pressing it to my chest as if that could muffle the storm clawing at me from the inside.
Braden shifted in his sleep, a soft sigh carrying through the room, and I forced myself to breathe with him. To hold on. To remind myself why I left and why I’d keep fighting, no matter what Riley threw at me.
But deep down, I knew this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
I stared at his message until my vision blurred, my thumb hovering over the keyboard. Part of me wanted to ignore it. But ignoring Riley always made things worse.
I typed back quickly before I could second-guess myself.
Me:Riley, coming here isn’t a good idea. You’re the one who told me to leave. Be a good person and do the right thing for once. I want Braden safe. You should want the same thing.
The dots appeared right away, then vanished and reappeared. My stomach knotted.
Riley:That’s why I told you to leave, but he’s my son too. I didn’t think you planned on leaving forever. I have rights.
I swallowed hard, forcing my fingers steady. How could he speak of his rights when he’d done nothing for us since he found out I was pregnant?
Me:Did you pay off your debts?
For a long minute I waited and nothing. Then my phone buzzed again.
Riley:No.
Just that single word. My blood went cold. What a jerk.
Before I could respond, another message came through. A photo this time. His face filled the screen, swollen and bruised, one eye purple and nearly shut. I gasped and nearly dropped the phone. Whoever he owed money to wasn’t playing games. The photo wasn’t just a warning. It was a reminder of the world he was tangled in, the danger that always trailed him like smoke. But why did he have a sudden interest in our son when he never cared before? I didn’t trust Riley. It felt like he was up to something, but I didn’t know what.
Braden stirred softly in his playpen, letting out a little sigh, and I pressed the phone to my chest like I could shield him from it all.
But the truth gnawed at me because Riley wasn’t just a bad memory. He was a storm on the horizon, and sooner or later he was going to crash into our lives again.
CHAPTER 15
Phoenix
She’d let her guard slip for just a moment. Told me about Riley and what a loser father he was. How he hadn’t been there for Braden. Her voice was shaking before she snapped the wall back into place. I should be happy she put her walls back up because mine were crumbling from the broken tone of her voice, from the way the love for her son dripped from her every word. If she’d looked at me one second longer, if she’d let the silence stretch between us, I might’ve told her things I hadn’t said out loud in years. I might’ve admitted I wanted to take her problems on, carry some of that impossible weight she refused to set down. Instead, she squared her shoulders, tossed me a coolthanks for dinner, and that was the end of it. It was for the best. At least that was what I told myself all night as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling until I drifted off into a restless sleep.
By the time I walked into the brewery the next morning, I already felt wrung out.
Dominic spotted me first, grinning from ear to ear as he polished the bar top. “Well, look who’s finally smiling these days.”
I was scowling, so I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Not smiling.”
“Sure, you’re not,” he muttered, sharing a knowing glance with Cooper, who was lugging in a crate of bottles.
Cooper smirked as he set it down. “So, did you two have a cozy night then? She settle in all right?”
I slammed a stack of invoices on the bar harder than I needed to. “We’re not talking about my night.”
That shut them up for a minute. But every time I glanced toward the door, like maybe I’d catch sight of Elyna walking in, both of them caught me. Smiles twitching, eyebrows raised, their amusement at my expense was thick in the air.
The whole shift went like that. Me trying to focus on work while last night’s dinner filtered through my mind. It wasn’t just her vulnerability I couldn’t stop thinking of, but the way her nipples pressed against the thin cotton of her shirt.
