Page 45 of Beautifully Broken Redemption

Her eyes lit with understanding. “I hate that for you.”

She didn’t move her hand, and I laid mine over hers as if the heat from her touch could somehow replace the cold of the memories battering at my brain. “My dad was sick. I don’t know what it was, but he had the highest highs and the lowest lows. Either could turn violent. And there was a paranoia in him. He’d accuse my mom of cheating or me of stealing things from him when he misplaced something.”

“But your mom never left.”

“No. She had this unquenchable hope in her. No matter what he did, she thought he would change.”

“They never do.”

“No, they don’t.” If someone was going to heal from that, it would take years of intensive therapy. Medication. And even then, I wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter because he’d never once tried for help. Even when my mom would suggest seeing a doctor or counselor. On a good day, he’d blow her off, on a bad one, he’d backhand her and send her flying.

“How old were you?”

“Fourteen. Juliette was only two.”

I could hear my father’s words as the car picked up speed. “You’re not going to leave me.” Maybe she had been planning to run. Maybe her daughter walking and talking had been a wake-up call. She hadn’t protected me, but maybe something about Juliette had made her want to fight.

“God, Mason. I can’t imagine.”

I didn’t want her to. I didn’t want anyone to live with the images that haunted me. The feelings. The burn in my lungs as I broke the surface. Juliette’s cries as she coughed up water. I’d wanted to dive back down and try to get to my mom, but I couldn’t leave Jules alone on the bank of the lake. I didn’t know how long I’d waited, hoping she’d surface. But she never had.

“We made it.” It was the only thing I had to hold onto. Jules and I had survived. And now, we were thriving.

“Who did you live with after?”

My jaw clenched reflexively. “My aunt and uncle. They were absent at best. Overwhelmed with their own three kids. So, I pretty much raised Jules. Went to college near their house so I could stay close, and she came to live with me full time when I was in law school.”

“You never got a chance to be a kid.”

“Neither did you.”

A soft smile curved her mouth. “It’s one of the reasons I always loved when Justin and Lyla came to visit. I got to do all the things with them that I always wanted to do growing up. Chelsea was good about that. Giving them what we never had.”

I traced circles on the back of her hand with my thumb. “We’ll keep giving them that. I promise.”

“That’s why you did this. Why you’re helping.”

“I won’t lie. It’s part of it. I don’t want anyone to go through what you and I have. But I care about those kids. I care aboutyou.”

There was the slightest hitch in her breathing. So small, I would’ve missed it if I hadn’t been staring so intently. I lifted my hand that had been resting on hers, curving it around the side of her face where her jaw met her neck.

Anna’s skin was so damn smooth but filled with heat and a buzz of energy. I’d never felt anything like it. Just this small contact lit everything inside me.

Her eyes locked with mine. Some invisible tether, one made of shared pain and understanding, of hope and fear, pulled us closer. Our lips were a breath away when her palm landed on my chest. “Wait.” She closed her eyes. “This is dumb. Monumentally dumb.”

“Or incredibly smart.” I didn’t move, not closer or to pull away. I simply waited.

“We can’t. This is so much bigger than us.”

An image of the two kids asleep in the house filled my mind. I knew she thought we didn’t need the complication of feelings for each other, but that ship had sailed for me a long time ago. Maybe the first time I’d ever met her. I brushed my thumb back and forth across her jaw. “We can. But I’m not in a rush, either.”

She blinked a few times, her lips twitching. “Cocky, much?”

I shrugged. “I know there’s something here. But I also know it scares you.” I was putting together the pieces as Anna shared more of her history. The boy she’d loved had betrayed her, and I doubted she’d truly let someone past those walls of hers since—not in a romantic sense, anyway.

She scooted back, bending to pick up her hot chocolate. “You’re allowed to think whatever you want, but I’m going to bed.”

Shit.I watched her stride towards the house and pushed down every urge I felt to chase her. This would be a marathon, not a sprint. And I’d just stumbled out of the starting gate.

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