Page 111 of Rescue Me (Forget the Past 1)

“We never had a dog when Paige was growing up. I was too scared of them. Got bit by a dog when I was a young girl. Never told Paige that. Maybe she would’ve thought twice about bringing Pumpkin home if I had.” The woman shrugs as she steps off the curb to cross an empty street. “But she didn’t know, and so she brings home this huge scary-looking animal. Well, you know.”

Despite the fact I’m sure beyond a doubt that Pumpkin is as sweet as they come, I still sympathize with Mrs. Herbert.

“I tried to tell Paige to take it back. She refused. I told her it’s dangerous. She quoted studies and facts at me. Still, I was sure the dog wasn’t safe.”

As we meander through my neighborhood, I listen to her story, trying to figure out why she needed to drive over to my shitty side of town to tell it to me.

Mrs. Herbert looks up, meeting my eyes.

“But I only needed to be around Pumpkin for maybe a week to realize something. I was wrong.” She sighs out a chuckle. “Paige was right. She saw that dog and realized it just needed love. She wasn’t scared of something most other people are terrified of. She wasn’t blinded by prejudice. Paige has always been good at that. Looking past the surface and finding the good underneath. Just like with her job, she pulls out the best in everything around her.”

My chest squeezes tight, so much so that I have trouble dragging in my next breath. Still, Mrs. Herbert stares at me.

“Sometimes, you think one way for so long that it becomes comfortable, and you need someone to give you a good shove to realize how off-track you are. How close-minded. Mr. Herbert and I jumped to conclusions, judged you, and for that I am sorry.” She sighs, then offers a rueful smile. “My husband is slower to admit when he’s wrong, but Paige really laid into him. I think, if you’re ever willing to give us another chance, you’ll find the older Herberts have learned the error of their ways.”

A thick lump in my throat makes it hard to swallow, but Mrs. Herbert doesn’t seem to be waiting for a response.

“Now that that’s said, on to what I really want to talk to you about.”

I swallow a couple of times before I can speak. “What do you want to talk about?”

Her lips split into a wide grin.

“Cars.”

“Who is that young man sitting in my car?” Mrs. Herbert’s question comes out with only mild curiosity, as we return to my house. When I follow her line of sight, dread pulses through my veins.

“That’s…” I don’t want to give voice to the image, but keeping quiet won’t make him disappear, “my brother.”

When did Leo get out?

He sits in the driver’s seat of Mrs. Herbert’s Camaro, running his hands over the steering wheel like he owns the thing.

“Leo!” I bark out his name, trying to keep the angry bite from it. For some reason, Paige’s mom has decided not to condemn me for my past transgressions. That doesn’t mean I suddenly get a free pass to be a scary asshole in front of her.

At the sound of his name, Leo’s head pops up. Our eyes meet through the windshield, and while I’m doing my best to keep all expression off my face, my older brother breaks out his shit-eating grin.

He slides out of the driver’s seat, movements casual as if he didn’t get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Baby brother! I was just waiting for you to get back.” Leo’s voice is jovial.

I wonder how he knew I was even gone. Most likely he saw me walk off with Mrs. Herbert because if he’d actually knocked on the door and been met with Luna, there’d be a lot more shouting going on right now. Probably a few things on fire. Maybe some broken bones or openly bleeding wounds.

“I’m back.”

Paige’s mom is a smart lady, and she clearly picks up on the tension pulsing across the air like a sonic beam between my brother and me. “I should be heading home. Still have a full day’s work to put in.” She turns to face me, wrapping a reassuring grip around my forearm and waiting until I give her my attention. “Consider what I said.”

I nod, my neck suddenly creaky and stiff. Her smile is gentle as she lets me go and walks to where my brother lounges against the hood of the Camaro.

Unlike most well-off women, she doesn’t shy away from Leo, scared of his dark stare, tatted up arms, and a general air of menace. Instead, she stops right in front of him, dragging her eyes from his boots to his smirking gaze.

“You any good with cars?”

My brother’sdon’t give a fuckpersona wavers slightly at her question, surprise curving his eyebrows. After a moment he nods.

She reaches out to pat him on the shoulder, then moves him to the side with a firm hand. “There’s hope for you, yet.”

Leo’s left standing, wide-eyed, as Paige’s mom climbs behind the wheel, revs the engine, and slides away from the curb. The purr of the Chevy hangs in the air even as she disappears around the corner.

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