Page 13 of Odin
“Seriously?” Tarynn hoots and bangs the arms of her chair. “That’s amazing!”
“I might do it yet. My mom chose my name and I’m not in the mood to give her any brakes.”
“You should call her.” The words are out before I realize that I’m even going to say anything. Willow’s head snaps up. Her stark blue eyes searching my face for clarity. “If you’re staying, you don’t have to tell her where you are, but you should let her know you’re safe. She hasn’t earned the right to your peace, but if I was her, I’d want to know that my child was safe.”
Her face wasn’t hard before. It hasn’t been hard or closed off, angry or bitter, throughout any of this. She hasn’t allowed herself to be broken, and she’s not going to be forced into becoming something she’s not. Her beautiful, almost dainty features, soften further still. “Okay. I can text her, just so I can be sure that I can say what I want to say without reacting emotionally, and then I’ll shut off my phone.”
It feels like the warmth of the sun has been stolen away when she slides her gaze back to Tarynn. “I’d be grateful if I didn’t have to sleep in my car again tonight. If the clubhouse isn’t an option, I would gladly stay with you, or even camp out on the floor upstairs. I might need a night to think about where I’m going to end up, but your offer sounds amazing. Everyone has been so nice already, I just don’t want to take advantage.”
“No advantage,” Tarynn assures her again.
“Okay.” Willow drops her eyes and bows her head. She tries to sound confident, but her posture makes her look younger, smaller, and more vulnerable than ever. “I just need to get through tonight and then I’ll see.”
“The first night’s always the hardest,” Tarynn agrees. “It usually looks better after those first few rough hours. When I left my parents’ house, there was no looking back. Iwanted to, but my parents didn’t want anything to do with me. I still don’t talk to them, but it’s not from lack of trying. I keep hoping they’ll come around. It’s not the same scenario. I get that. But, after the shit storm passes, it gets easier and easier to see the sun again.”
“Thanks.” Willow’s eyes brim with tears that she stubbornly doesn’t let fall. She’s still half raw wound, half vibrancy. If that sun doesn’t come out for her, she’ll make her own. “I hope so. I kind of already had my first night yesterday. I slept in my car at a truck stop.”
Tarynn gasps, and despite my best efforts to blend into this chair and not make a sound, I can’t keep a low growl from rumbling up my throat. “Shit, girl. Tonight will definitely be better than that. Look at you. You’re here. You’re carving out a new life for yourself. You got his name erased and you’re moving on. You’ve done that all by yourself. That takes serious lady balls.”
“Or serious stupidity.”
“Nope. No way. It’s lady balls all the way. That’s the best thing about this club. We stick together. We’re sisters and best friends and we support each other. There’s no cattiness, no competing, no tearing each other down. Life is tough enough. There’s no need to make anything worse.”
Willow carefully brushes her eyes, but keeps perfectly still beneath her shoulders as she does it. “That sounds like a dream.”
“The whole too good to be true thing? It doesn’t apply to us. We’re awesome, and we’re very real.”
The smile that arches over Willow’s naturally dark pink lips is half wobble, half careful, but part something that wants to justletgo. “That sounds amazing. All of it. There are no words for this tonight, but thank you again.”
Tarynn nods, echoing the sentiment, her throat probably as thick as Willow’s.
This. This is what instant friendship looks like. Found family. Sisterhood.
It’s fucking beautiful. Tarynn gets to live her life this way now, but she didn’t always, and Willow probably hasn’t been able to either.
How much of her life did she feel like she was having to fake? Was she locked away in one of those pretty gild cages? She gave up her dreams to support a man that she thought she loved. How much of her energy had to be contained? How much of her personality dialed back to suit those around her? How much of her past tucked away, forgotten, and unspoken?
She could be radiant. She’s bold and fairly bursting with life. She’s made for living. What did it cost her to stand in the shadows instead of basking in the sun? Did shetrulywant that, or did she just think that she did?
More importantly, why do I care?
I can’t. Not about the details.
I can want to see this woman safe because I’m allowed to be protective over her as someone who almost married my son and was wronged by him. I can be allowed to want to make it up to her, to see her safe and well back into the world, but any and all other protective instincts have to die. Thatraw feeling in my gut, the little details I keep noticing despite telling myself not to, the insane amount of admiration that I already feel—all of that is impossible and impossibly wrong.
It gathers as a thudding pain in my chest. Every breath makes it worse, even when I edge forward in the chair and bend over, my elbows on my knees.
There’s no relief.
For a moment I think I’m having a heart attack, but then I realize what it is. This strange hunger in my gut has nothing to do with food. It’s all heat, all animal, and allsomethingmore.
There’s no time or place. That’s the only thing I have to remember, whether Willow stays in Hart, or whether she decides to leave.
Chapter 6
Willow
Now that I’ve given up on my plans of vengeance and the initial shock and disbelief has worn off, the reality is starting to settle into mybones. I know the sick feeling in my stomach is anxiety. I have a thousand questions, ones I don’t even really want answers to, but I can’t stop thinking them.
