Page 30 of Wildflower and Whiskey
I gripped the phone tight as my throat went dry.
How did he know?
Another message followed almost instantly.
Riley:Don’t forget, El. I told you to leave Montreal for a reason. Those people don’t stop. You think hiding out in some orchard makes you safe?
A shiver rolled down my spine. I had left Montreal because he basically told me I had no alternative. He owed the wrong men money, and they wouldn’t just come after him. They’d come after me. After Braden. That was enough to send me packing with no questions asked.
But I didn’t like Riley’s angle now. He wanted to use the Thornes against me. Since he grew up in Val-Du-Lys, he knew the Thorne family. Not that he was friends with Phoenix. We had all been a part of the same graduating class, but Phoenix Thorne did not associate himself with people like Riley Jansen. I went from feeling on top of the world over Phoenix’s attention to hitting rock-bottom. Riley never missed a chance to twist the knife. He wasn’t interested in seeing his son. He wanted to remind me he was still in the picture. That he still had control over me. I had fooled around with Riley in high school. It had been brief, but it was enough time for me to realize he wasn’t a good guy. When we bumped into each other in Montreal, he deceived me. I thought he wasn’t the same guy. He’d gone to university; he wore a suit. He could talk the talk. But I learned a little too late that he hadn’t changed. The core of who he was stayed the same.
It was probably Colette who told Riley where I was. She wasn’t happy I didn’t let her babysit anymore and in this small town, news travelled fast. I took a deep breath, contemplating my next move. I couldn’t let Riley bully me anymore. This wasn’t his first gambling debt. I had stupidly given him money when I was pregnant. But I wasn’t a fool anymore. Having Bradenchanged my life. I wasn’t going to let Riley walk all over me anymore.
Still my hands shook as I typed a reply.
Me:Your threats don’t mean anything to me anymore. Leave us alone. Don’t come here. You’ll lead those sharks to us and that’s the last thing your son needs. Let me protect Braden. Walk away.
The dots danced across the screen, and I braced myself. Then his reply came through.
Riley:You think you’re tough now, El? I don’t want to come there. I don’t want to drag them to you. But I need cash tonight. A thousand should hold them off. I know you have it. You’re working for the Thornes.
I froze. The little cushion I’d scraped together since coming home while pinching every corner. It was barely enough to keep Braden and me afloat. But Ididhave a thousand saved. Just enough to feel like maybe finally we were a little more stable.
Now Riley wanted to rip it away.
Me:This is the last time. You stay away from us. You hear me? Don’t come near Braden.
Riley:Fine, send it, and I’ll back off. Promise.
I didn’t believe him. But the thought of those men sniffing around Val-Du-Lys, or even looking in my son’s direction, was enough to make my stomach turn. I went into the banking app with shaky hands and hit transfer. My hard-earned money, my safety net vanished into Riley’s account.
Me:It’s done. Leave us alone.
No dots. No reply. Just silence.
I sank into the couch, my chest tight. It was going to set me back months. Months of scraping and worrying, months of no wiggle room. Braden deserved better than a mom always clawing her way to the surface.
For a split second, I thought about Phoenix. About how easy it would be to cross the yard, knock on his door, tell him everything. He’d know what to do. He’d shoulder it without hesitation.
But after what happened between us earlier. After the way his touch had me unravelling against the stockroom wall, I couldn’t go to him. I needed to apply the brakes on the steam train before it consumed me. I couldn’t be the girl who unraveled over a man again. This was on me to fix. I pressed my palms to my eyes, forcing the tears back, and whispered into the quiet, “It’s just us, Braden. I’ll protect you.”
But my chest ached, because a part of me wanted it not to be true. A part of me wanted to not feel so alone. I had been feeling alone for so long. Since Mom died unexpectedly. Sure, I still had Luc, but he was just a kid. We were both drowning, and it took everything I had to keep us both afloat. Between lashing out as a teenager on one hand and on the other hand working and being responsible to bring home the food, make sure he did his homework, to taking him for hockey practices all the time; I had become a mother to Luc when I was too young. Now my mistakes were coming back to bite me in the ass. I hated I felt this way because I could never look at Braden as a mistake. He was the best thing that happened to me. The only thing that had ever made me believe I could be more than the girl who fell apart after Mom’s death.
I walked into the bedroom and bent over his playpen, brushing a curl from his tiny forehead. He stirred but didn’t wake up. I watched as his lips parted with a little sigh that stabbed me right through the heart.
“I’ll do better for you,” I whispered. “No matter what it costs me.”
I straightened, allowing the words to settle like a vow in the room. Outside, the orchard was dark, the loft warm, and yet I feltthat prickle down my spine; the one that told me Riley wasn’t finished with me.
But for tonight, I curled on the edge of my bed, Braden’s breaths steady in the quiet, and clung to the lie I told myself over and over. . . we were safe. At least for now.
Braden let out a soft sigh in his sleep, but the loft was otherwise quiet.
Then came the sound of floorboards creaking. The steps were soft but deliberate. My body went rigid. My first thought wasn’t Luc. It was Riley. Or whoever Riley still owed money to.
My pulse thundered as I crept toward the bedroom door, heart hammering against my ribs. I held my breath, listening. Another scrape, the faint squeak of the lock.
I bit down hard on my lip, bracing for the worst.
