Flawless: (Fearsome Series Book 4)

by S. A. Wolfe

I reach Finn, and I grip his bicep, knowing that I could very well break his one good arm with what I’m about to do.

  “Finn, you have to let go of Talia now and hold on to my arm really tight.”

  Finn hesitates.

  Talia’s knuckles are turning white, and I don’t know how much longer she can hold on to the tree with a hundred-pound kid on her back.

  “Now!” I urge Finn.

  He lets go of Talia’s neck, and my grip on his bicep tightens. He yelps in pain as I pull him up with all the force I can muster. I’m worried I’ll snap his bone, but arms can be fixed.

  It happens quickly. I yank hard, and Finn is launched up and over my head. Harmony catches him, and I release him.

  My arms feel like they were stretched in a torture device, but I immediately turn back to Talia to pull her up. With only Cooper holding me now, I reach for her with both of my hands.

  She doesn’t hesitate, letting go of the tree with one hand and grasping one of my hands before she lets her other hand go. We’re in sync, no commands necessary.

  She holds on to me, and I jerk her up fast, using her weight as momentum so she can clear the cliff edge. Cooper pulls my whole body back hard and fast so we’re on solid ground, and then I have to twist and roll onto my back while I pull her. She crash-lands on top of me, her elbows and head colliding into my ribs. The muscles in my arms and back scream with agony.

  “Jesus,” I say, out of breath. Another sharp pain shoots through my back, and my arms fall to my sides.

  Talia immediately rolls off me and collapses onto her back. Harmony is sitting on the ground at my feet, holding Finn in her lap. Cooper is on his knees, looking as if he’s about to throw up from the sheer physical and emotional intensity of the situation.

  I raise my head and look at Finn. “Are you okay?”

  He holds his injured arm and nods with tears pricking the corners of his eyes. I look at all their dazed faces and let my head fall back on the hard, cold dirt. The pain in my body and my racing heart tells me this was a close call.

  “I take it back. This is Satan’s Lair.” Cooper holds his head and takes a deep breath. “Don’t tell Imogene I said that.”

  “Let’s not do this again,” I say.

  “Amen, brother,” Cooper replies.

  • • •

  One sling, one air cast, and three hours later, we leave the hospital in Kingston. Finn is asleep, sprawled in the back seat of my truck, and Harmony is sitting up front. In the emergency room, we talked privately and both agreed not to fight or place blame, that we should just be thankful that Finn is all right.

  After we all witnessed Talia’s heroic efforts, Harmony was fairly quiet, except for questioning Finn. Apparently, he was overly excited to be at my place on his own and didn’t think a little bike ride would get him in trouble. In his excitement, he forgot to take his phone and, as we expected, when he passed the blocked entrance to Harper’s Lair, the lure of the infamous trail was too tempting to our nine-year-old mini-me.

  I predict a future filled with many long lectures.

  Once we all knew Finn was going to be fine, it hit me hard what extremes Talia had gone to in order to save him. He took the curve too fast and was thrown off his bike and over the cliff. He said he couldn’t see anything but felt his shirt get tangled in tree branches, which is what stopped his fall.

  He had his one good foot on a rock ledge and used his uninjured arm to hold one of those branches that curled like a jungle vine. Then he waited, because he realized he didn’t feel the weight of his phone in his jeans pocket. He estimated he had been hanging on to the tree and ledge for about twenty minutes before he heard footsteps approach.

  It was Talia’s good instincts to take that trail, and when she spotted Finn’s overturned bike, she carefully climbed down and found him. He admitted that, when she told him she would give him a pig ride up, he cried because he was so relieved an adult was there for him, and because he had no idea what a pig ride was until Talia explained. I laughed loudly in the hospital emergency room when he told us that.

  “Anything you want to say?” I ask Harmony, who’s leaning against the passenger window with exhaustion.

  “I was thinking we’re lucky. It could have been very bad. And I was thinking I’ve been a little too hard on you, this town, and other people.”

  “Other people? You mean Talia?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You have to agree that her trail of business cards was good.”

  “It was clever. More clever than offering T & A services.”

  “That’s one of the things I like about her.” I smile to myself. “There’s a certain naïveté, but she always means well.”

  Harmony gazes out the window.

  “I’m still pissed at you,” I say, lowering my voice so Finn doesn’t hear this or wake up. Harmony turns to look at me. “Did you threaten Talia?”

  “I told her to stay away from you.”

  “Why?”

  “At first, it was because I resented her. I resented you, I guess,” she says, barely above a whisper. “It was a reminder that I’m a single parent.”

  “Is that what …?” I look back to make sure Finn is still sleeping. “The first time I was at your house … when I was leaving, you hugged me in a way … Were you hoping we’d get back together?”

  “Yes. I suppose I was thinking it was a possibility. But it didn’t feel right. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Whatever was there when we were seventeen is gone. And we didn’t really have anything beyond that one night together.”

  “I know. It was scary for me to leave Seattle. I know it was the right thing for Finn. And me. I’d like to have a co-parent. And a friend. Weeks ago, I felt threatened by Talia. I wasn’t ready for another woman in Finn’s life. I wasn’t ready for your girlfriend to be someone Finn likes being with. It was all too much for me, and I reacted badly.”

  “What exactly did you tell her?”

  “I told her you’d lose Finn if she didn’t stay away.”

  “Jesus Christ, Harmony.” I want to yell at her, but I have to be a responsible parent and think of the kid in my truck.

  “I’m sorry. Finn told me things have been frosty between you and her. Now you know why. She was keeping her distance because of me.”

  “I can’t believe you did that, and I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”

  “At least you know she was doing it for you and Finn. She was putting you two first.”

  I scoff angrily and shake my head.

  “I am sorry, Peyton. Sharing Finn with you is still new to me. I’ve made some mistakes. I’m sorry.”

  “I believe you. I do.”

  “I did find you and Talia together today, so perhaps she realizes my threat was unfair and wanted to see you anyway.”

  “No, it was a fluke. She needed a ride to work, and we took a detour to look at that house she likes. That’s all.”

  “Oh. It seemed like more.”

  “I was just her ride.”

  Harmony is watching me. I don’t want to discuss Talia with her and attempt to be the type of friends who talk about romantic relationships. I was so sure that I could have it all, that I could arrange all the people I want in my life and carry on any which way I want. I have enough stuff to work out without sharing everything with Harmony.

  “Are we good?” I ask.

  She looks at me with her classic Mona Lisa smile. “Parenting is never-ending. We’ll undoubtedly have more disagreements.”

  I don’t let Harmony’s vague comment bother me. I care more about getting Finn settled in his bedroom, which I do, and I’m still thinking about Talia and what she did for us.

  Cooper and I carried Finn back to the public access road, where Imogene met us with my truck, and then Carson showed up with his truck. I drove Finn and Harmony to the hospital, and Talia, stubborn Talia, refused to go. I wanted her to have the ER staff look over her bruises and do the usual tests, but she said she
wasn’t going back to the hospital that she had just checked herself out of. I didn’t want to keep arguing with her after what she’d been through, so Carson took her, Cooper, and Imogene back.

  With Finn safe in bed and asleep, my mind reverts back to the woman I can’t let go of. Other than giving Finn a light hug goodbye before driving off to the ER, she left without saying anything to me.

  We shared another intense, powerful experience, and it’s like she keeps walking out of my life when we get to the good part of a movie. The part where everyone survives and gets to be happy.

  Talia

  “YOU LOOK DESTROYED,” Imogene says.

  “I’m exhaustipated,” I reply.

  “That’s not a real word,” Jess adds.

  Imogene shakes her head. “You really do not look your best.”

  I give her a pointed look. “Don’t you have to go stir your cauldron?”

  We’re huddled at a corner table in Swill while Lois and Kimberly finish setting up the dining hall for tonight’s big auction benefit. They’re hoping to raise enough funds to renovate one of the historic houses on the main street and turn it into a public library. As a director and archival specialist in the county library system, Kimberly came up with the idea for a small library in our town’s busiest area for both the growing student population and the adult literacy programs she’s cultivating. She’s counting on the new, wealthy residents to donate heavily.

  “It’s been a rough week,” I say. “On top of that, I can’t believe I have a giant Saint Bernard running around our house. Baby truly is a giant baby, and he leaves giant craps all over the backyard, which I have to clean up because it’s killing the grass. He’s a handful.”

  “And you saved a boy dangling from a cliff. Don’t forget that one,” Imogene says with a straight face. “No biggie.”

  “I happened to be in the right place at the right time. That’s all.”

  “You reacted,” Jess says. “You handled it. Most people could not have done what you did.”

  “I agree,” Imogene says. “Stop selling yourself short. You’re a goddamn hero. Own it.”

  Across the room, Peyton is talking to the waitstaff for their pre-dinner meeting.

  I’ve thought of nothing else but him and Finn and that scary incident out on Harper’s Lair. I was trying to be brave for Finn, but my insides were roiling with a terror that was comparable to or worse than when I was being wheeled into surgery.

  When Peyton was hanging over the edge of the cliff and holding me with both hands, it was only then that I thought I had a chance at surviving. Once we were all safe, I could barely speak. I was so shaken up and uncomfortable with Harmony watching me.

  I’d broken a sacred pact, the one where I should abide by a mother’s wish to protect her child, even though I never agreed to her terms.

  “I know my adorable, idiotic brother-in-law can’t stop gushing about what you did,” Imogene says.

  “I love that.” Jess smiles. “I like Peyton. And you deserve to be treated like a superstar.”

  “He was talking about me?”

  Imogene grins. “Ask him yourself. Here he comes.”

  “Hey,” Peyton says, appearing by my side. I missed his sexy swagger as he crossed the room. He just materialized before me.

  “Hello,” I reply. “I saw the online ads for the auction tonight. Aren’t you excited to host a big town benefit at Swill?”

  “Not really, no. It’s Kim’s event, but Lois is micromanaging her. She’s already made Kim cry. Lois is brutal, and she’s been bossing my staff around all day for this fucking thing. The whole staff took a vote and want me to ban her from Swill for life.”

  Imogene and I laugh, while Jess is too busy studying the dynamic between Peyton and me, looking for clues—she’s working so hard at it.

  “How are those wrists of yours?” He takes both my hands and turns them over to inspect the scratches and fading bruises.

  “They work well enough.” I pull them away from his gentle touch. “How is Finn recuperating?”

  “He loves lounging on my couch, watching TV all day. Eleanor’s with him during the day, feeding him all the junk food he could want, and she has him hooked on Judge Judy and Dexter. She’s a terrible influence. Fortunately, he’ll be back at school on Monday and can take the air cast off. He’s decided he’d like to wear it for a while to help with the highly embellished story he’s manufactured to tell his friends.”

  “He is such a great kid, and he promised to include me in his story,” Imogene says. “I’m going to be his brilliant aunt who rushed into action like MacGyver.”

  “You weren’t even there,” Jess says accusingly. “You stayed at the house. Talia was the one who jumped into action.”

  “I said she was the hero.” Imogene shrugs. “But the hero always needs backup. That’s me.”

  Peyton looks at me with a twinkle in his eye.

  “I don’t want the kid to tell everyone I was sitting at Peyton’s house, eating Cheetos and texting people,” Imogene says, and Peyton and I laugh.

  “Because that’s exactly what you were doing,” Jess quips.

  “I did find some orange fingerprints on the cupboards and the remotes,” Peyton says, playing along.

  “I needed sustenance,” Imogene defends. “I’d rather go back to talking about Talia’s big, farting dog.”

  “Have you ever had a pet? A dog?” Peyton asks me.

  “Yes. We once had an adorable dog for three days. I loved him, but my dad gave him to a neighbor because the dog would bark at every pedestrian or car that passed by the apartment building. He drove my father insane.”

  “That’s terrible. You fell in love with your new dog and your dad gave him away? Must have scarred you for life,” Peyton says.

  I wonder if he’s hinting at something bigger. My father leaving? Marko leaving? My screwed-up relationships with men, including him? No, it’s not possible a dog I hardly knew could symbolize that much meaning. I’m reading way too much into Peyton’s words.

  “To be fair, we were all kind of scared of the dog,” I say.

  “Was he really big like Baby?” Jess asks.

  “No, he was a Chihuahua. His name was Zeus. He looked so cute, but he terrorized everyone who lived in our apartment building.”

  As the others laugh and make a few sarcastic comments, I think about little Zeus and how he was simply trying to find his place in the world. We didn’t give him a chance.

  “Peyton, we need you in the kitchen!” Greer shouts as she runs to answer the phone at the hostess stand.

  “Guess I need to help run this place.” He takes an extra moment, looking as if he wants to say something to me. Then he glances at Jess and Imogene and seems to decide against it. “You’re sticking around for tonight, right?”

  “Are you kidding? I don’t have a choice. Lois is putting my cooking services up for bid. She hasn’t even told me the details, but she has threatened all of us if we don’t show or if we try to leave early. I don’t need a public shaming from the meanest yogi in the universe.”

  His smile reaches his eyes. It seems specially created for me. I’m lost in that smile until Greer barks his name again.

  “I’ll talk to you later.” He touches my hand, his fingers lingering for an extra beat. Then he’s striding across the restaurant, employees buzzing around him.

  “Hmm, nice,” Jess says approvingly. “He likes you.”

  “Did I tell you Baby has diarrhea and has accidents in every room of our house?” I attempt to change the subject.

  “You are a bounty of fun topics,” Imogene says.

  “She doesn’t want us to talk about Peyton,” Jess states the obvious.

  “It’s easier for me if we don’t.”

  “Let’s talk about why you can’t talk about it. Him. Peyton,” Imogene urges.

  “Not now,” I say firmly.

  Imogene lets out an exasperated groan.

  “A new topic it is,” Jess confi
rms. “Did Norma leave your mother and Aleska anything in her will?”

  “Another fun topic,” Imogene mutters.

  “My mother received vintage Halston dresses with instructions that she’s supposed to wear them to cocktail parties. And Aleska got all of Norma’s vintage Chanel suits. A dozen in perfect condition.”

  “Halston and Chanel, pretty sweet,” Imogene says with more interest.

  “How could Norma afford those clothes?” Jess asks. “She was a kindergarten teacher.”

  “A hundred years ago,” Imogene adds. “She and her husband were also good at investing. They were Depression kids, people who knew how to stretch a dollar. Seriously though, they knew how to buy stocks and hold on to them long-term through all the bad times. They weren’t frugal, but in those days, people didn’t renovate houses or worry about having designer kitchens or driving expensive cars. They were the Buick and Oldsmobile crowd. The World War II survivors. They believed in the cocktail hour, smoking Pall Malls, and eating at supper clubs with friends. They lived simply, but they had big lives.”

  “You make it sound like such a romantic time. Except for the Depression and the war part. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era,” I say, thinking of how I learned to play the music from that era on the piano. Some was melancholic; some was made for dreamers.

  “You can always take up smoking,” Imogene says.

  “Don’t listen to her, Talia.” Jess touches my hand. “I think Norma had a very romantic life too. Look at what she lived through, and she never gave up on love. I think she left Baby to you because he’s something for you to love. Leaving him in your care means she trusted you. I think she’s giving you a sign of things to come.”

  “Lord, I hope the signs point to more than canine love,” I say. “Why can’t I have Baby while wearing a black Halston halter dress?”

  “I think Norma was very deliberate,” Jess explains. “The dresses signify your mother’s need to liberate herself and socialize in the real world. The expensive Chanel suits are Norma’s way of preparing Aleska for her future business career. She isn’t studying accounting and finance in night school so she can keep cleaning other people’s toilets. She’s either going to help you expand your business or start something new. Aleska definitely has a head for numbers and business.”