Pieces of Us: A Confessions of the Heart Stand-Alone Novel

by Jackson, A. L.

  Maxon.

  Affection tightened my ribs. He loved me. I knew it. Knew it to my soul.

  He was gonna marry me.

  Love raced. So full. So big.

  It was only amplified with the way I could feel his presence washing up from behind.

  His protection covering.

  His love surrounding.

  I wanted to swim in it. Get lost in it. Dream in it.

  I guessed that’s really what this felt like.

  A dream.

  Headlights glowed from a way back, Maxon giving me my space, and I was smiling slow as I took the sharp curve that followed the small river that ran this side of Broadshire Rim.

  I glanced in the rearview mirror again, squinting when I saw the flash of bright lights that swung around Maxon.

  A car sped around him, passing him like a maniac.

  I tightened my hold on the steering wheel, hatin’ it that people drove like fools on these country roads. They could hurt someone.

  At least Maxon was there to get the license plate. Maybe call for backup and pull him over.

  A skitter of worry slicked across my skin when I saw the car swerve fast. That worry jumped into a choked horror when I realized they cut right in front of Maxon.

  “Oh my God.”

  Maxon’s headlights shifted in a severe lurch to the right.

  “Oh God, Maxon.”

  A gasp ripped out with my cry, and I was gettin’ struck with a bolt of terror. My whole body taken hostage to this nightmare.

  I guessed that’s what they were made up of—the people you loved in danger and nothing in the world you could do to stop it.

  My heart stalled out when Maxon’s headlights fully disappeared, nothing but the blinding high-beams closing in faster than I could process.

  I jerked the steering wheel to the right to try to get out of the way and put pressure on the brakes, trying to see through the tears that were instantly clouding my sight.

  Panic squeezed from my lungs when my wheels skidded on the pavement. I almost righted it when the car came at me, forcing me to the left so it could pass me on the right.

  A scream ripped up my throat when it cut in front of me and slammed on its brakes.

  Cutting me off.

  No place for me to go.

  A purposed attack.

  I tried to stop it.

  The way my tires skidded and the backend fishtailed to one side, and I was jerking the steering wheel the other direction, trying to correct it as the car blazed right on by.

  But they’d already enacted their damage.

  The intention clear and unavoidable.

  My car careened off the left side of the road. Jumping and bouncing through the dirt at high speed.

  A big tree came into sharp, distinct view.

  I rammed on the brakes a half a second before I slammed into the massive trunk.

  Glass shattered and metal twisted, and I was screamin’.

  Screamin’ and screamin’.

  Pain splintered across my chest and my shoulder, across my face, and I felt wetness dripping down the side of my head.

  Silence hovered in the air, or maybe it was the buzzing clouding out all sound that hissed in my ear, the airbag suffocating where it was pressed against my body.

  Adrenaline pumped through my veins, my heart beating so hard I could feel it in my head.

  Fear and horror slashed.

  Hands shaking, I managed to free my seatbelt, and I felt around the door, touch fumbling, finding the latch.

  Maxon.

  Oh, God, my Maxon. I wouldn’t lose him again.

  No.

  Never.

  That panic blazed as I struggled to get free, and I yelped out in relief when the door opened to creaking metal.

  I stumbled out into the night.

  Disoriented.

  Only one person on my mind.

  My heart. My heart.

  Then he was shouting. “Izzy. Oh God, Izzy.”

  A shadow of the man fumbled into the overgrown brush, running beneath the faint wisps of the moon.

  Towering so big.

  So powerful.

  My dragon.

  I swayed to the side, struck by a rush of dizziness, overwhelming relief and searing pain.

  Strong arms wrapped around me.

  “Izzy,” he shouted.

  And everything went black.

  Thirty

  Mack

  I knew it. I fucking knew this was going to happen.

  A doctor hovered over her, talking low and with a calming, practiced voice as she asked Izzy questions.

  Where she was experiencing pain and how severe it was, if she were lightheaded, or if she felt weak.

  While I paced the small space like a caged animal.

  Rabid.

  Ready to attack.

  Couldn’t believe I let that go down right in front of my eyes. I’d been right there to protect her, and still, I’d failed. Failed fucking miserably.

  Rage and disgust clamored through my body, and I struggled to breathe through it. Struggled to see through the haze of red that crowded at the corners of my eyes and threatened to take over all sight.

  All reason.

  Violence slinked right in to take its place.

  “I feel very positive about your exam, but I think we’ll send you for a CT scan to make sure you don’t have any intracranial swelling since you did have loss of consciousness at the scene. I’m also going to order an x-ray of your shoulder to make sure there is no break, just to be safe.”

  Safe.

  What bullshit. No one was safe. Not when they got involved with me.

  My hands curled into fists and sweat beaded on my nape as a cold, clammy dread crawled beneath the surface of my skin.

  What the fuck was I going to do?

  “Thank you, Dr. Chen.” Izzy’s voice was subdued. Quiet and tremoring with the fear I could tell she was trying to hide.

  Killed me a little more each time that she released it.

  “You’re welcome. Someone will be in to take you down when they’re ready for you.”

  The woman eyed me with outright speculation when she turned and swept passed. Got the feeling she was wondering if maybe she should call security.

  Sensed a clear and imminent threat.

  She wouldn’t be wrong.

  The second the curtain fell behind her, I flew over to Izzy where she sat up on the edge of the bed, and I knelt down in front of her.

  She wore one of those ridiculous hospital gowns that this girl still managed to make look good. Long locks of blonde and brown twisted up in a haphazard tie on the top of her head, pieces sticking out everywhere.

  But it was the cut above her eye that was close to being in the same place as the one I’d sustained that gutted me.

  That and the way terror swam in the depths of her hazel eyes. The way it was muted with her love. This girl too good. Too right.

  I pressed my face into her lap. “Izzy Baby, I’m so fucking sorry,” I muttered through the riot of torment laying seize to my insides.

  Fire and fury.

  “I tried to stop it. I did.”

  She threaded her fingers through my hair. Leave it to Izzy to be the one to comfort me. “You were in the same position, Maxon. The very same thing happened to you. Us. And we’re both fine. That’s what I’m grateful for.”

  I looked up at her, and my lips pursed into a grim line. “You could have been killed.”

  She touched my face. “But I wasn’t.”

  I grabbed the hand she had on my cheek, pressed her palm to my mouth, and breathed the beauty of her in. Tried to use the connection to her to calm myself.

  I only shook with another rush of rage.

  “I won’t stop until I hunt down whoever is doing this and put an end to them. Until they are no longer a threat to you or the boys.”

  “I trust you.”

  Anguish seethed in my spirit, and I jolted when the curtain moved. I
was riding a razor-sharp edge, teetering between the clear-cut instinct to protect her and completely coming unhinged.

  My shoulders sagged when I realized it was a male orderly coming in with a wheelchair. “Your chariot, madam.”

  He was all easy grins as he kicked it into a wheelie.

  Izzy released a soft giggle. Only she could find any sort of serenity in the middle of this disaster. “Why, thank you.”

  He helped to get her adjusted, and I pushed to standing, itching, urges slamming me to fly out of there and do something.

  End this.

  Only problem was I didn’t know what direction to go.

  He started to wheel her out, and I followed close behind. Our footsteps echoed as we moved down the narrow, hollow hall, questions spinning in the distance that separated us.

  Nausea swirled when I sensed that distance becoming greater. A crack riding up the middle.

  Not sure how I would repair this.

  Fuck.

  I had to stop this. I’d promised I would never let anything happen to her. Another lie that I’d meant well by. Again, one I couldn’t control.

  The orderly swiveled around just as they were approaching the double doors that read Radiology. “You’ll have to wait here.”

  Hesitation had my muscles twitching, hating the idea of being separated from her for a second, but I finally conceded, realizing it was an argument I wasn’t going to win. I moved around to the front of the wheelchair and dipped down to place a soft kiss to Izzy’s lips, lingering as I whispered, “I love you. So much.”

  “Always,” she murmured back.

  Straightening, I stuffed my hands in my pockets. “I’ll be right here waiting.”

  “I know.”

  He pushed a button on the wall. The doors swung open, and he wheeled her in.

  My heart panged with the separation. Anxiety firing, shooting bullets of aggression screaming through my veins.

  Blowing out a heavy sigh, I leaned on the wall, rocked my head back and stared at the design pitted in the ceiling. Time slipped by in a blur as I tried to make sense of all this bullshit. Puzzle the pieces together.

  I was a detective.

  This was my job.

  I nearly crawled out of my skin when I sensed the disorder at the head of the hall, and I jerked my attention that way to the sickening sight of Clarissa coming toward me. Black hair tossed over one shoulder, skin-tight white jeans, five-inch heels that she wore like a weapon.

  And I knew exactly what this was. A battle. Another clash in this unending war. One I was going to end.

  She had the fucking nerve to smile at me when she met my eye.

  “Oh my God, I heard what happened to you. Tell me you are okay. I was so worried about you.” I didn’t know if it was faked concern or if she was completely delusional.

  When she got close enough, I snatched her by the wrist. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, getting up close to her face and keeping my voice low.

  Not wanting to cause a scene. Probably was in vain. Clearly, one was about to be had.

  Staring down at her, there was no missing the vileness.

  The evil and the twisted greed.

  “What did you do?” I grated, teeth grinding so hard I could feel them close to splintering, jaw cracking with restraint.

  Her dark eyes flashed. “What did I do? I didn’t do anything, Mack. Question is, what did you do?” she challenged.

  “If you’re responsible for what happened tonight, I will end you.”

  She laughed a salacious sound. “So angry, aren’t we?” She dragged her fingertip down the side of my face.

  Revulsion sliced through my body.

  “Tell me if you had anything to do with this.”

  She pursed her lips. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Shouldn’t it be me who is angry? You are the one who is running around on me.” She said it with all the ownership she possessed and like it didn’t matter at the same damn time.

  It wasn’t like the two of us hadn’t been with other people.

  The only thing it came down to at the end of the day was that she controlled me. All of me. A noose around my neck. The way it’d always been.

  I tightened my hold around her wrist. “I told you it was over. I warned you to stay out of this with Izzy and me.”

  “And you should know better than that. There’s a reason you and I are together. We fit. Belong. Didn’t you agree all those years ago?” It was pure seduction when she said it, like me going back to her again and again was because I wanted her and not out of obligation.

  Out of this fucked up world we’d created.

  She pushed up on her toes, venom in her tone. “I saved her, and I saved you. Remember? Now, she needs to go. Send her away, Mack, before it’s too late. She doesn’t belong here with you.”

  “She’s not going anywhere. I’m finished with your games. I don’t give two fucks about that agreement. I was seventeen, and it was the worst decision I ever made. I’m finished covering for you. Finished turning a blind eye. It’s over, Clarissa.”

  Disbelief lined her face. “You are such a liar, Detective Chambers.” She used my title like her own threat. “You have been covering your ass for all these years. You begged me, remember?”

  My hold tightened. “I was doing it for her.”

  Her face split in a malicious grin. “Really?”

  “Really,” I spat.

  “And what do you think changed? I would think you’d be all the more concerned about her since she has those two sweet little boys.” She cooed it the way she liked to do.

  Old rage billowed from that dark, dark place. Fear and disgust and regret.

  “And that sad, pathetic one with the disability.” She tsked. “Poor thing. Someone should have put him out of his misery.” Her expression was filled with forged innocence as she stared up at me, a dare on her face.

  Urges slammed me. The need to wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze. Took everything I had to refrain from doing it. “That is my son.” I angled closer, darts of hatred flying low from my tongue. “They are my family. And I will do whatever it takes to protect them.”

  She hiked up on her toes and ran her mouth up my jaw until she was whispering the threat at my ear. “I know you will. Nothing has changed, Mack. You owe me.”

  It was just then that I felt it. The battered crash of energy against the floor. Deafening against the cold, stark-white laminate.

  A shocked, horrified gasp ricocheted in the stagnant, sticky air.

  I jerked to look over my shoulder. Izzy had been wheeled out, and the girl’s chin trembled as she struggled to process the sight in front of her.

  Shame shook through my body. A landslide. A landmine.

  “Isabel. It’s so nice to see you again.” Clarissa smirked, her cheek still pressed to mine, her claws firmly planted in my soul.

  Thirty-One

  Izzy

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I stood behind Maxon where he stared at a blank wall in my bedroom.

  Bare morning light poured in through the window. I’d been released from the ER, and we’d just gotten back to a sleeping house.

  During that whole time, I hadn’t stopped shaking.

  Shakin’ and shakin’.

  Tremors rose from a well in the middle of me and overflowed through every cell of my body. I still wasn’t sure if it was from the crash or from finding Maxon out in that hall with Clarissa.

  The sight of the two of them from all those years ago had been engrained in my mind like a blemish.

  Carved on my spirit like a scar.

  Seeing them there like that had ripped it wide open.

  Maxon roughed an agitated hand over the hair at the back of is head, flinching with my question.

  He’d hauled her out of that hall so fast when he’d seen me standing behind them that I’d almost gotten whiplash. I was sure my achin’ head had throbbed more with the memories of the betrayal he’d meted when
he’d broken my heart thirteen years before than with the actual injuries I’d sustained.

  Of course, he hadn’t really cheated when I’d gone running all that time ago, unable to stay in this town any longer if it meant I’d have to see the two of them together.

  He hadn’t really betrayed me in the common sense of the word.

  He’d already told me he didn’t want me. That it was over. That we couldn’t be.

  The problem was, my heart had known it had been a blatant lie.

  He’d returned to my ER room with so much aggression and anger boiling in his body that I hadn’t been able to see straight. In it, he’d been silent. Raging without sound. Hovering over me like I might up and go missin’.

  His terror palpable.

  His fear real.

  It made all of this so much harder—my need to run to him and ask him to wrap me up and hold me while I held him—at odds with this feeling that made me want to do a little raging of my own.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded again. “Have you . . .” I swallowed hard, barely able to get the words to form on my tongue. “Have you been with her this whole time? Are you still—”

  God, I couldn’t even say it. Revulsion slipped across my skin like a sickness. A disease.

  Maxon whirled around, disgust and horror gripping his expression. “God, no. Fuck, I would never do that to you, Izzy.”

  My face pinched. “But you did. You did it before, and it destroyed me. Destroyed me in a way I’m not sure you fully understand.” I pressed my hands to my chest as if it could stop my heart from bleeding this pain.

  Guilt and remorse filled his eyes, and he took a single step my direction.

  His energy moved like a shockwave through my room. “I hate myself for hurting you. Hate myself. But I couldn’t keep you, Izzy. It wasn’t right. And I’m terrified that I’m doing it all over again. Dragging you into a world where you don’t belong. You have always been too good for me.”

  My head shook with the refusal. “No, Maxon. That’s a lie you’ve always told yourself. One you’ve got to get over. One I’m not going to let you use to turn around and break me all over again.”