Page 71 of Never Give Up

“Ryan, take a seat. Your blood pressure,” Mom says, patting his arm. They sit down together on the couch and leave Maya and me standing in front of them.

“You know better than that, Maya. Now I’ve kept my peace. But you’re acting like a fool.” My dad starts berating her, and I let him do it. Someone needs to. “Not reporting the strange things around your house. Not installing security cameras the morning after the break-in that youdidreport. And then after the attack, you stayed in the house. And you wonder why your attacker hasn’t done anything to reveal himself. Hell, the only time he has done anything is when you spent the night at my boy’s house.” She tries to interrupt, but he just keeps going, his face staying red. “And yes, I do talk to the sheriff about things. I’m technically still an employee at that department, even if it’s only an honorary and part-time thing. So, you’ll shut your mouth about this and listen to me.”

“But—” she tries to interject and then thinks better of it based on the look on Ryan’s face.

“No buts about it. You need to stay safe. I know what he did to you, how close you came to dying. And I know how it messed with my boy. And if you think for one minute that I’m going to let you keep playing a game with not only yourself but him and those little ones as well, you’re mistaken.”

“Ryan, that’s not it at all,” she manages to get out, and I see the tears start to form in her eyes.

“Then tell me, peach. What is it? Because I can’t figure out why you’d say no to an offer like that. You’re part of this family and it has nothing to do with the things you two do behind closed doors. We protect our own, and right now, the monster who did this to you is out there. There’s nothing that identifies him, and you’re just a sitting duck at your house.”

“You’re right,” she admits.

Her words leave me stunned.

My father just keeps going. “And I’m not going to stand for it anymore. Wait, what?”

“I’m agreeing with you, Ryan. You’re right. I was just trying to keep myself in control.” She sobs, and in the next instant, I’ve got her in my arms, pulling her to my chest. “I just wanted to try and prove that he couldn’t take everything away from me. But he did.”

My heart breaks right there in my chest. She thinks she has nothing, when I’m willing to give her every single piece of myself, all the damaged and tortured little pieces that I don’t deserve to have.

“Hey,” I say and put my hand under her chin and force her to look up at me. “He didn’t take everything from you. I’m here. Those boys are here. Hell, the entire department is still here for you. What he did was make you feel like you’re not safe. And I’m going to make sure that you don’t feel that way again.” I lean down and kiss her nose.

“I can’t lose anything else, Brian,” Maya says, and right then I swear to myself that she won’t lose another thing because of the prick who hurt her.

“I promise, doll. We’ll find him and make this right.” I squeeze her into my chest and look over her head at my parents. My mother is openly crying, and my father is squeezing her hand, looking a little misty-eyed himself. When he sees me looking, he nods at me and pulls Mom into his arms.

“Okay, then. I’ll stay with you. Just until Jake figures out who did this to me.” Maya nods against my chest, and if she could have seen the smile on my face, she would have hit me.

“Let’s go tell the boys. Maybe you could help Ma with supper later. I’m sure she’d love to have you in the kitchen. If I try, we’re all gonna end up with food poisoning.”

“Of course, I’d love to.” Maya lifts her eyes and looks to where my mom is still resting her head on my father’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to make you cry.”

“Dear, you didn’t make me cry. It’s just all the bad things I wish I could take away from your life. But if I did, you might not be here with us now. And I know it makes me a bad person, but I’m so thankful that Brian pulled his head out of his ass long enough to know you’re the right one.”

I snort. “Okay, I think we’re going out back now. James and Jonathan will be getting restless.” I pull Maya with me and we go to the backyard together. When I walk out the door with her hand in mine, I know that the pieces are finally starting to fall into place.

26

MAYA

“9-1-1,what is the address of the emergency?”

A decidedly female whimper sounds on the other end of the call, and I wave my hand at Poppy to get her attention.

“Ma’am, can you hear me? I need you to tell me where you are so that I can get help to you.”

Yeah, I’m breaking protocol for answering the emergency phone line, but we’re dispatchers. We live in the gray area between the black and white lines, and the caller on the other end of the line sounds like she’s in trouble.

“Something’s wrong.” Her broken whisper comes through. “I saw someone outside my house, in the woods. And then he broke into my neighbor’s house.”

Terror slides down my spine, and my heart kicks up a beat. But I don’t give in to the fear and memories that begin to flirt dangerously at the edge of my mind.

She needs me.

I cannot let what happened to me interfere. I can’t let it slip in and destroy all the carefully won strength.

“Tell me where you live and which neighbor’s house.”

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