In Her Space

by Knight, Amie

  I watched as a carefully constructed mask covered his face. It was almost like he was becoming a different person right before my eyes. The loving father appeared, the murdering, raping, psychopath fleeing the apartment, but I knew better now. I couldn’t unsee it no matter how I tried.

  “I’m so glad you’re here, Braden. I need your help. These two have been lying. We have to figure out what to do.”

  I shook my head slowly, my eyes filling with tears. “Dad. Put down the gun.”

  “Come on, buddy. You know I’d never do what Melody Ann is saying.”

  Buddy. How many times had he called me that in that same loving voice? My heart was breaking. My soul was withering. He was killing me.

  The flash of little league games he coached. Him shouting “Go, buddy, go!” as I sprinted to home base. The way he’d tuck me in at night when I was little. He’d rub the top of my head and kiss my cheek. “Night, buddy. I love you.”

  I looked at Liv and Mel on the bed terrified out of their minds. Liv. I’d liked her so much as a teenager. I’d wanted to accompany her to that ball more than anything in the world. It could have been me and her, in another life. But she’d chosen Adam. She still did.

  “Put down the fucking gun,” I said, harsher this time, my voice coarse and thick with emotion.

  I side-eyed the frightened women in the bed. I’d do anything to protect them. I’d give everything.

  Harry whined and scratched from behind the bathroom door where Carlisle had shoved him. I huddled around a shaking Mel, pulling her closer to me, praying to God that Braden wouldn’t believe whatever kind of bullshit his father was feeding him.

  His father, who had murdered Adam’s mother. I couldn’t even begin to process that information right now, not with a gun to my head and another gun to Sheriff Rothchild’s head.

  “Don’t do this, Braden,” Carlisle’s voice was soft and soothing, that of a loving father and it only terrified me more. I pushed Mel’s head into my quivering chest. We were going to die. I didn’t see any other way around this. He’d been waiting on us in the living room with the gun and forced us into the bedroom. We didn’t have any protection, not even Mel’s taser gun this time. We were fucked and so was Braden from the looks of it. He would have to choose. But how could he? The man was his father.

  Braden stepped closer to Carlisle, his eyes focused on the man. One hand coming up. “Give me the gun, Dad. Please,” he begged. His eyes were full of unshed tears and his hand shook around the gun.

  “Back up,” Carlisle warned, spittle flying from him, his own hand trembling, his throat working. And all of a sudden the gun wasn’t on us anymore but on Braden.

  “No!” Mel yelled out and tried to spring forward, but I held her to me hard.

  “I’m warning you, son. Back up.” I could see it now, the hysterics in Carlisle’s eyes. He was coming unraveled. “I’ll kill them,” he said, turning to point his gun back to us, but Braden was lightning fast and dove for the sheriff, tackling him to the floor as a loud gunshot echoed throughout the room that made Mel and me jump on the bed and cover our heads. It was a demeaning sound.

  And then silence. Weeping. And as my heart thundered in my chest and my ears rang and adrenaline made me shake, I let go of Mel and climbed to the end of the bed, terrified of what I’d find.

  Mel watched me, shaking her head back and forth, curled up against the headboard and still I creeped forward.

  I peeked over the footboard and swallowed the bile in my throat as I watched Braden gasp for air. Blood poured from his chest and his eyes gazed up at mine, one lonely tear leaking from the corner. Carlisle was leaned over him, both hands to the hole in his chest, his hands covered in red.

  “Please,” he whispered. “Why did you do that? Why did you do that, buddy?” His gun was long forgotten and he pushed at the hole in Braden’s chest, trying his hardest to keep the blood in.

  A sob tore from my throat as I looked back at Mel. Her eyes were full of questions. I shook my head back and forth slowly. Understanding colored her features before an agonized cry ripped from her throat.

  Sebastian flew into the room like a bat out of hell and took in the scene at the end of my bed. With wide, frantic eyes, he pulled Carlisle off Braden and cuffed him and immediately put a panic-stricken call into nine-one-one for an ambulance, ripping off his own shirt and pressing it to Braden’s chest.

  Mel and I curled around each other and sobbed. We should have felt relief at the moment, but we felt anything but. They’d gotten the bad guy, after all. But at what cost? It seemed like we were all going to have to pay. Dearly.

  I PACED AT THE BACK of the planetarium, sucking down a cigarette nervously. It had been two weeks since the break-in at Liv’s place. One week since Braden Rothchild’s funeral. He’d died protecting my girl.

  I’d gone to the funeral to pay my respects. It had been a spectacle, the entire island and mainland there as well as international and local news cameras.

  I’d tried to talk to Liv, but she wasn’t having it and I’d taken a note from Raven’s handbook and given her space and time.

  And now it had been a week and she was returning to work. A week of not seeing her, not smelling, not witnessing her smiles. Fuck, I missed her.

  She, Mel, Raven, and Harry had been holed up in a hotel, hiding from the press. The apartment was still considered a crime scene and I didn’t think Liv would ever want to go back there anyway.

  Although I wouldn’t know. The only reason I knew what I did was because Sebastian kept me in the loop.

  I walked inside the planetarium and went straight to my office, pretending not to be losing my mind. I couldn’t wait to see her. It seemed like it had been years when it had only been days, but I wanted to make sure she was okay. I was beyond worried.

  I sat at my desk and watched the clock when I should have been handling updates for the app and doing paperwork for the planetarium.

  Finally, I watched her walk across the lobby like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was slow and slouched over and I could see the dark circles around her eyes from here.

  I wanted to run to her, hold her, but I sat there, praying for the patience and understanding I never could muster when it came to Liv. Not then and not now.

  Somehow, I managed to half-ass work most of the day, knowing she was right around the corner in her office.

  It wasn’t until 3:00 p.m. when I saw Georgina clop across the lobby and past my office in her heels and pearls, sunglasses covering her eyes, that I finally gave in to my urge to go see Liv. I wouldn’t let Liv face her alone.

  I walked quickly to the rec room, knowing the kids had all left and she was probably tidying up with no excuse to get away from Georgina.

  I saw through the doors that Georgina was standing in front of Liv’s desk in the back of the room. I slipped through the door quietly so I could hear them talking but hopefully they wouldn’t spot me right away.

  I was right. They didn’t notice me at all. They were too caught up in the conversation between them.

  “What do you expect me to do, Livingston? I need money for his legal fees and now there are all of these women coming out of the woodwork claiming he raped them. It’s ludicrous and every one of them is just chasing a payday.” I heard Georgina whine.

  Liv continued cleaning the mess on her desk like she had less than zero fucks to spare for this woman. “I don’t know what you’re going to do, Georgina. You and Carlisle are not my problem.”

  Georgina’s hand flew to her chest on a gasp. “I’m your stepmother. He’s my husband.”

  And that was it. Liv looked like her head was going to blow right off her shoulders. She stood up and leaned over the desk, her face red, a mask of rage. “Are you fucking serious right now, Georgina? That man held me at gunpoint and killed one of my friends and you want me to help you help him. No fucking way. Get out.” She threw her hand to where I was standing and our eyes met head-on. I started to walk to her,
but she held her hand up to stave me off.

  “How can you talk to me like this? After all I’ve done for you? I took care of you after your father died. I didn’t have to do that.”

  “Leave, Georgina, before I have security escort your uppity ass out of the building,” Liv ground out from between clenched teeth.

  Georgina’s hands came down hard on the top of Liv’s desk with a smack that made Liv jump back. “You will help me, you ungrateful bitch. The money your dad left you should have been mine from the beginning. I need that money. Otherwise, I’ll have to sell my house and move to the mainland and I’d rather die.”

  Wow, she was fucking dramatic. I moved forward, prepared to intervene. The woman was clearly out of her mind yelling at Liv at her workplace.

  Once I arrived at the desk, I stopped short, scared that Liv had lost her damn mind, because she was sitting in the chair now and she was giggling. And that giggle turned into frantic laughter. She leaned back in her chair, her hand to her stomach as big guffaws filled the room. I thought for sure she was cracking up. Georgina had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. God knew, she had been through it the past few weeks. I couldn’t even blame her.

  “What the fuck are you laughing at?” Georgina demanded, but Liv only held up a finger to say one minute while she doubled over in laughter again.

  Finally she sobered and Georgina was seething, and me? I wasn’t sure what the fuck was about to happen.

  “I don’t have Dad’s money, Georgina. I haven’t had it since I inherited it when I turned twenty-one.”

  “What? Of course you have it. Stop playing with me, Livingston.”

  Liv shook her head, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. “I invested all the money years ago. And all the profit from it goes to charity.”

  Georgina’s face of confusion transformed to rage in an instant. “You did not! That was my money. He was my husband!” she shouted as security for the planetarium entered the room quickly and grabbed her by the arms.

  Liv stood up again and watched as security restrained Georgina. “He was my father. And he left me that money to do with as I saw fit and even if I had every dime today, I’d never give it to you. Ever,” she said with finality, as security removed her from the premises.

  Liv didn’t even acknowledge my presence as she continued to clean up her desk from the day.

  I didn’t know what to say, so I started with small talk. “Well, that was fucking crazy.”

  She nodded. “It was.”

  “How’s Mel?”

  She stopped what she was doing to finally look at me and I could see the pure weariness radiating from her eyes and I knew in part it had to do with me. The guilt of it all sat heavy on my shoulders.

  “She’s okay, Adam. But I don’t really want to talk right now.”

  I licked my lips and rubbed my hand across my jaw, nervous, wanting to make her talk. I couldn’t stand us being like this. Strangers. It wasn’t our way. I couldn’t bear for us to end this way.

  “When will you be ready to talk to me?”

  She scoffed. “You don’t even get it.”

  I did. I hadn’t protected her. Rothchild had gotten to her, after all. I’d failed her. Again.

  “Open your eyes, Nova. Wake the fuck up! I’m here. I’ve been here. For ten long years. You didn’t know it, but I was.”

  “What?”

  She was speaking in riddles and once again I wondered if she’d finally been pushed to her limits.

  She walked around her desk until we were toe-to-toe. “But you. You didn’t care about me. You still don’t. You didn’t tell me about your mother. Did you know he murdered your mother?”

  I nodded, ashamed that I couldn’t voice it.

  “You hold everything back, while I hand you all I have. Even my daddy’s fortune.”

  I stared at her, confused, playing her last words on repeat through my head. Even my daddy’s fortune. Oh, God. My head swam as realization dawned like a bucket of icy cold water being dumped on my head.

  It flashed through my mind like a series of the most important pictures of my life playing on a slide slow. Liv and me in the dunes. “We’ll rewrite the stars.”

  And then us in my bed at my house on the beach. Me kissing every inked star on her torso with the scripted words rewrite the stars among them.

  And finally, Prof calling me with the exciting news I’d been waiting for. “I’ve found a huge investor. They want all in. The company is Written In The Stars Inc.”

  In that moment, my world stopped spinning.

  My lungs stopped breathing.

  My heart stopped beating.

  It was more than shock that hit me.

  It was awe.

  It was an overabundance of love that damn near smothered me.

  Tears slid down my cheeks and hit my quivering lips as I watched Liv cry tears of her own.

  “I see you get it now, tattoo boy.”

  “Why?” I somehow managed to ask, the emotion of the moment paralyzing in almost every way.

  Her smile was sad behind her tears. “Because I never gave up on you. I never gave up on us. Not for one moment in ten years. Every day, every hour, every minute, it was always Adam and Liv against the world. I never stopped believing in you.”

  Endless tears slid down her face and I wanted to wipe them away, so I reached my hand out, but she moved away. “When are you going to believe in me?”

  And that was the kick to the gut. She was right. I held back from her because it hurt me. I didn’t give her everything because I wasn’t sure how. I was too screwed up. Too broken from all I’d lost as a child.

  “I’m sorry,” I cried, beyond broken. “I’m so sorry.” This woman had given me everything and all I could say was I’m sorry.

  “Just leave, Adam,” she said, turning and packing up her purse.

  “I can’t because despite how I am, my flaws, I still love you from the top to the very bottom of my soul.” I knew I was begging, but we couldn’t leave it like this. Not when she’d just rocked my world. Not when we hadn’t talked it all out.

  “Fine. I’ll go.” She hitched her purse over her shoulder and headed to the door of the rec room, but it felt like she was leaving the planet. It seemed like forever.

  “Wait, Liv, please,” I called out.

  She turned and relief flooded me for the briefest of seconds before she delivered the final blow. “I need time off. I can’t be around you right now. If you don’t like it, fire me.”

  And she was gone, just like that, taking my heart with her.

  THE TRAIN WAS ACTUALLY A nice break from the big pile of bullshit awfulness Mel and I had been through the last couple of weeks. We were still grieving like hell over the death of Braden. Mel was definitely worse off than me. She blamed herself. After all, she’d gone to the police station and minutes later Braden was dead. Or that’s how she’d rationalized it in her head. They’d been so close. But that didn’t stop me from questioning if I could have done anything different that day and it didn’t stop the relentless nightmares every night; the scene from that day playing on repeat every time I closed my eyes.

  Mel slept most of the ride and I read a bit. I was sad about leaving Adam the way I had, but God, I needed to think without his bigger than life presence overshadowing everything, consuming me. It had hurt me beyond measure to just come out and say it. To tell him I’d trusted him with my father’s money and that I just needed him to trust me a little.

  When we got to the train station, we rented a car. A convertible to be exact, and we rolled the top down. Mel smiled next to me with the sun on her face.

  I grinned back. “You look good in the sun, Melody Ann.”

  She turned her smile my way. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Livingston Rose. Now where in the hell are you taking me?”

  “You’ll see.” I turned my eyes back to the road and side-eyed Mel as she threw her arms up into the air around us. Yes, this trip was just what we nee
ded.

  We passed rows and rows of peach trees and I could tell we were getting close. It had been a while since I’d been here, but I hadn’t forgotten how beautiful the property was. Mel leaned up in her seat and took in the sign as we passed it by. Preston’s Peaches it read and she turned to me with raised eyebrows, but I just pulled around the circular drive and past the huge white farmhouse at the front of the property to the little bed and breakfast at the back.

  I popped the trunk on the convertible and Mel got out of the car and gazed around. “How the hell did you find this place?”

  I grinned at her. “It’s gorgeous, right? I found it when I lived in Georgia. I came here for a weekend away and fell in love.”

  “Yeah, it’s really beautiful.”

  “I just had to come over here and see who the hell drove up in this fancy ass car. And, look what the cat dragged in?” I heard from behind me and I turned to find one tiny, sassy woman in a cowboy hat watching me, arms crossed.

  “Everly!”

  She met me halfway for a big hug.

  “How come you didn’t call and let me know you were coming? I would have made sure Cody was here!”

  “It wasn’t really planned. I hope y’all have room.” I eyed the bed and breakfast to my right.

  “Pshh. Please, girl. If they don’t have room for you in there, we’ll put you in the big house with us.”

  “Everly, this is my friend Mel. Mel, this is Everly. Her daddy owns this amazing place.”

  “Nice to meet you, Mel.” Everly stuck her hand out and Mel shook it.

  “Nice to meet you, too. This is a beautiful farm.”

  Everly’s eyes shone with pride. “Thanks. Let’s get you up here and see if Jane has any rooms for you.”

  Everly helped us with our bags from the back and we had a hell of a lot of them. We were two Southern women traveling together, after all.

  We checked in and she showed us our rooms, but made us promise we’d join Cole and her for dinner at the big house at six.