Crazy Beautiful: a Redemption novel

by Prince, Jessica

  “All right, Flower,” he said in that tender tone that felt like a rusty, serrated knife being dragged across my skin. “But if your head gets worse, you let me know, and I’ll take you back.”

  Back. Not home.

  “Thanks. I’ll let you know.” Unable to handle looking at his beautiful face for another second, I turned back around, flipping the top of the box open and pulling the big sheet cake out. I put it on the counter and grabbed the candles, lining them up in a neat, perfect row and waited for his overwhelming presence to leave the kitchen. Once I was alone again, I was able to breathe.

  I needed a few minutes to get my bearings. I was about to have to go out there and act like nothing was wrong when the truth was, for the past several days, I’d felt like I was missing a big, crucial piece of myself. Once I felt like I could pull it off, and when I had nothing left to keep myself busy in the kitchen, I made my way into the living room.

  I smiled and chatted with friends like I would on any other day while Brantley and the kids played games. I stood beside Jase, letting him hold on to me and resting my head on his shoulder as Brantley opened his presents.

  I mingled and laughed and smiled until I was so exhausted it was a wonder I was able to stay upright.

  I’d been hanging off to the side with Farah, talking about her upcoming wedding when the lights were suddenly turned out and Shane came walking from the kitchen with the cake, candles lit, while the off-key strains of Happy Birthday being sung by everyone around me filled the room.

  The song ended, and the crowd was cheering and clapping when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Bennett standing just a few inches away, staring down at me. “Hey, darlin’. You got a second to talk . . .?” He cast a glance at Farah and finished, “In private?”

  From the look on Farah’s face, I knew she didn’t have any clue what he wanted to talk to me about.

  I gave her a curious shrug and turned back to him. “Sure, Ben.”

  I followed him down the hall to the side door, that curiosity turning to worry when he led us off the porch and a little further away. “What’s going on? Is everything all right?”

  “No, sweetheart, it’s not.”

  I took a step closer, placing my hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

  “Not me I’m concerned with. It’s Jase.” Reading my puzzled expression clearly, he kept going. “I know what’s goin’ on between you two. I know you heard us talkin, and I also know my boy’s been livin’ in misery every day since.”

  My heart thudded, and that loose grasp I had on my emotions started to come undone. “Bennett, I don’t think we should—”

  “You need the truth, Poppy, girl. All of it. It’s the only way you’ll understand.”

  “Then he’s the one who should give it to me, don’t you think?” I asked, my tone flat.

  “And that’s the problem,” he stated ominously. “He won’t, because he’s terrified out of his mind he’d lose you if he did.”

  My throat suddenly grew tight, making it impossible to speak.

  “That boy, he’s a protector to his core. Had to be, growin’ up, or Farah’s life would’ve been a million times harder than it already was.”

  “What are you talking about?” I whispered, my stomach sinking with dread.

  “You know the evil his folks wrought, but only to an extent. What you don’t know is that they used his love for his little sister as a tool against him.”

  Dread began to slither under my skin. “What do you mean?”

  “If he wouldn’t get in line, they’d threaten to take it out on her.”

  I sucked in a pained gasp. “You mean, they beat her?”

  “No, never. Never laid a hand on that girl. Because Jase took it all. Whenever she stepped out of line, or they just wanted to exert their authority, they’d make the threat of takin’ their hands to her, and Jase would offer himself up. She never had a clue, still doesn’t, he made sure of that. Kept her in the dark so she could feel at least a little bit of happiness. But his life was nothin’ but dark.”

  My hand trembled as I lifted it up to cover my lips. “Oh my God.”

  Bennett took a step closer, lowering his voice as he continued speaking, rocking my world to its very core with every single word. “He loves you, darlin’, more than you know. But he has a warped and misguided need to protect those he loves because of what he went through as a kid. He grew up thinkin’ he was incapable of loving anyone but Farah and me, and what he never realized was that his capacity to love is greater than anyone I’ve ever met. But with that love, comes his need to protect, and he’ll do that at the sake of his own happiness if he thinks it’ll save the people he cares about.”

  My eyes grew wet, my vision clouded, and one lone tear slipped free, trailing down my cheek as I shook my head. “Bennett, I heard what he said. He said he didn’t love me.”

  “That was him lyin’ to himself, because he knew, if he admitted the truth, he’d never be able to let you go.”

  I sucked in a stuttered breath, unable to wrap my head around everything he’d just told me. “Nothin’ but dark, Poppy. For thirty-five goddamn years because of those people. Then he met you, and you lit him up. Don’t take that away from him. He won’t survive without it.”

  With the boom lowered, he reached up, placing his hand on my shoulder and giving it a squeeze before moving past me and heading back into the house.

  It took forever to unglue my feet from their spot and follow after him, but instead of heading back into the party, I stopped at the bathroom, needing the privacy to try and come to grips with everything I’d just learned.

  God, those people. How they could do that to their own son, using his sister against him, beating him, was beyond me. My heart ached for Jase so badly, I could barely stomach the pain.

  By the time I had the bathroom door shut and my hands beneath the cool water running from the tap, nausea had kicked in.

  I couldn’t do it. As much as I wanted to stay and be there for Brantley’s big day, with everything I’d been feeling the past several days and everything I’d just learned, it was too much. My head was splitting and I felt like I was going to be sick.

  Closing my eyes, I splashed water on my face and slowed my breathing, willing the rolling in my stomach to stop, at least long enough for me to get home. It took a couple minutes, but the churning began to lessen. I turned the water off and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway and crashing into Clay.

  “Hey, whoa. Sorry about that, Pop Tart.”

  “Not a problem. Listen, do me a favor, would you? I’m not feeling too hot right now, so I think I better go. If anyone asks, will you just tell them I headed home, and that I’m sorry for bailing early?”

  Clay examined me with a scrutinizing eye before asking, “You want me to get Jase?”

  I quickly waved him off. “That’s not necessary. He’s having a good time. Besides, we came separately. I can get myself to the inn. No reason to worry anyone.”

  He pulled me into a loose, one-armed hug and placed a kiss on my forehead. “All right, darlin’. You be sure to drive safe, and I hope you start feelin’ better.”

  I gave him a tiny squeeze just before we disconnected, then I snuck out the side door and headed for my Wrangler.

  I was halfway home, thanking my lucky stars that my stomach had calmed enough that I wasn’t going to have to pull over to get sick on the side of the road when I ran into a whole new problem.

  My Jeep suddenly lurched, letting out an awful sounding squeal followed by a bunch of loud thunks. The engine died and the car slowly idled to a stop near the side of the road.

  “Shit!” I cried, banging on the steering wheel. “Shit, shit, shit!”

  I tried the key again, twisting it over and over, pumping on the gas to try and get it to start, but I got nothing.

  I pushed the pounding in my head to the back of my mind and climbed out, popping the hood. I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was loo
king for, I just hoped that whatever had caused my car to die would be glaringly obvious and as easy to fix as plugging something back in.

  Of course it wasn’t, and as I coughed, waving the smoke out of my face, all I saw was a jumble of a bunch of stuff I didn’t recognize.

  Slamming the hood down, I headed back to the driver’s side to grab my phone from my purse and call for help just as a car pulled up beside me.

  “Hey there. Everything okay?”

  I bent down to peer inside at the man sitting behind the wheel. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Just a little car trouble.”

  “You need some help?”

  I appreciated the offer, but I was a woman, stranded alone on the side of the road. “No, thanks.” I grabbed my phone and held it up. “I’m just going to call my husband. He’s only a few minutes away. He’ll be here soon.”

  His door swung open, and he started climbing out. “It’s no problem. I’ll just take a quick look.”

  Something about his persistence put me on edge, and I took an instinctive step back as he rounded his hood. “Really, it’s fine. Thank you, but I’d rather just call my husband.”

  Instead of getting back into his car, the man kept coming my way. “It’ll only take a minute,” The grin on his face made goosebumps spread across my skin, and I was overcome with a sense of dread so strong my hands began to shake. “No need to bother your man. I’m more than happy to give you a ride.”

  “Th-that’s really not necessary.”

  That grin turned into a full-blown smile as he got closer. “Oh, but it really is. Get in the car, Poppy.”

  Oh God. “H-how . . . How did you—?”

  “How did I know your name?” he asked, finishing my sentence for me. “Gotta tell you, Red. You’re a tough woman to get alone. Been trying for more than a week, but it would appear you’re a very popular woman. Guess today’s my lucky day.” The smile disappeared, and the menace my gut had been trying to warn me of became evident when he reached behind him and unearthed a knife bigger than any I’d seen before. “Now get in the fuckin’ car.”

  I turned to run, but the man caught me by the hair before I made it more than a couple feet. He yanked so hard I cried out in pain, but I didn’t stop struggling.

  Unfortunately, it was no use, because a moment later, something slammed against my temple, and everything went black.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Jase

  I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I lost sight of Poppy. The last time I saw her, she’d been standing, talking with Farah.

  I’d gotten pulled into a conversation with Cannon and a guy named Scooter that I’d met a couple times during my visits, and lost track of time.

  My heart began to beat a little faster as I scanned the crowded room for her. When my sister came sidling up to our little group, looping her arm around her fiancé’s waist, I felt a hint of that tension release as I asked, “Have you seen Poppy?”

  “Bennett came up and asked to talk to her alone a while ago.” Her face pulled into a frown as she looked around for Poppy and couldn’t find her. “I see Ben, but I don’t see Poppy.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered distractedly as I started through the living room, winding my way through grownups and kids alike. “You seen Poppy?” I asked Ben the minute I reached his side.

  “A few minutes ago. Think I saw her stop off at the bathroom.”

  Pushing away before he could utter another word, I started down the hall. I reached the bathroom door and knocked, leaning in to hear what was on the other side. “Poppy? Sweetheart, you okay?” When I didn’t get an answer, I tried the knob. Anxiety coursed through me, mixing adrenaline into my blood as I gave it a twist and pushed the door open to find the small bathroom empty.

  Fueled by worry, I began searching the house, calling Poppy’s name and asking if anyone had seen her, garnering attention the more frantic I got. No one had. She wasn’t in the kitchen, so I tried the bedrooms, thinking maybe her headache had gotten worse and she was lying down. No luck. My pace picked up as I stepped out onto the back deck where some of the party-goers were congregated. “Poppy? Has anyone seen Poppy? Is she out here?”

  “She left.”

  I jerked around to the person who’d just answered, seeing it was Clay, hanging out with a couple other guys by the railing. “What do you mean, she left?”

  “I caught her coming out of the bathroom a while back. She said she wasn’t feelin’ good, and to tell anyone lookin’ for her that she went home to lie down.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe fifteen minutes ago? Is everything all right, man?”

  I didn’t bother answering as I hissed, “Shit,” and turned back around, storming into the house as I pulled my cell from my back pocket. I called Poppy’s number as I headed for the front door, but it just rang and rang before voicemail finally picked up.

  My attempt to leave was stalled when Farah stepped into my path, joined by Cannon, Bennett and an equally concerned-looking Shane. “Did you find her?”

  “Clay says she left about fifteen minutes ago. Headed back to the inn.”

  Cannon’s back went straight. “On her own?” He knew all about what was going down, and he knew that I’d had someone on Poppy constantly whenever I wasn’t around.

  “She’s not answering her phone, so I’m gonna head over there now.” I side-stepped Farah and started my trek again, only to have Cannon speak up. “I’m goin’ with you, brother.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on Farah’s worried lips, saying, “I’ll call when we find her.”

  “O-Okay.”

  I hated seeing my sister so anxious, but I didn’t have time to soothe her. With Cannon on my heels, I headed out of the house at a fast clip, needing desperately to see that my wife was safe.

  * * *

  “Redbud Inn. This is Carla speaking. How can I help you?”

  “Carla, it’s Jase,” I bit into the phone as I navigated my car down the winding country roads toward the inn. “Have you seen Poppy?”

  “Oh, uh, no. Not since she left for the party a few hours ago. Why? Is everything okay?”

  “She hasn’t shown up in the past twenty minutes or so? Maybe you were out back in one of the rooms and missed her.”

  “No, sir. I’ve been up at the main house, manning the desk in case anyone showed up to check in or out. She’s not here, and her car’s not out front.”

  My stomach sank like a cinderblock being thrown into the water. “Okay, thank you, Carla. If she shows up call me, yeah?

  “Yes sir. I will.”

  I disconnected, tossing the phone back into the cup holder on a low growl as my foot lowered harder on the accelerator.

  “It’ll be okay,” Cannon said from the passenger seat. “We’re gonna find her man. You’ll see.”

  I didn’t say a word, I couldn’t. Nothing would come out past the lump that had formed in my throat. We were about halfway between Shane’s house and the inn when I spotted Poppy’s white Jeep Wrangler sitting on the side of the road with the driver side door wide open.

  “Fuck, man. You think she pulled over to get sick?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered as I whipped my car in behind hers and killed the engine.

  We both shot out and bolted to the Wrangler. Her purse was sitting on the driver’s seat, right out in the open for anyone to find, but she was nowhere around.

  “Poppy!” I called out, desperation lacing through my voice as I spun around, looking everywhere. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and dialed her number again.

  My attention was pulled from the ringing in my ear by the sound of soft, melodic chiming coming from a few feet away. I followed the musical sound to the bumper of the Wrangler.

  My heart skipped several beats and my lungs stalled as I pulled my phone from my ear. My blood turned to ice when I looked down at the ground where Poppy’s phone was lying, the screen cracked.

  “Fuck,” I whispered as I be
nt down and picked the phone up off the asphalt.

  “Jase!” Cannon called from the front of the car. “You might wanna take a look at this.”

  I shot up, heading to where he’d lifted the hood and was standing, staring at the engine. “We got a problem.”

  Panic gripped my heart like a vice. “What?”

  “Popped this to see if she was maybe havin’ some car trouble. She was forced to pull over ’cause someone fucked with the engine, made it stall out and die.”

  The blood began rushing in my ears. My heart was beating so loud it was a wonder I could hear anything else. “I’m calling Jensen and his guys.”

  “You want me to call the cops?”

  My head came up, my voice saturated with panic as I replied, “Everyone. Call fucking everyone.”

  * * *

  Poppy

  My eyelids fluttered open, the light in the room feeling like needles being shoved into my eyeballs. It felt like my skull was splitting in two. But it wasn’t because of my earlier headache, it was because of whatever that man had used to bash me upside the head to knock me out.

  Something that tasted foul had been shoved into my mouth. I wanted to spit it out, but it had been taped in place. I tried lifting my hand to pull it off, but my wrists were bound to the arms of the chair I was sitting on with rope. My ankles were duct taped to the legs, and the chair was bolted to the floor.

  It took forever to get my bearings. I struggled to figure out why the hell I’d woken up tied to a chair. Then it all came rushing back. My car breaking down, the man showing up on the side of the road. Coming at me with a knife. Trying to run. Then darkness.

  I twisted my head and looked down. I didn’t know what the man had hit me with, but it had been hard enough to leave an open wound big enough that the blood had poured from the side of my head, dripping onto the shoulder and down the front of my shirt before blooming into a huge stain that looked like one of those ink-blot pictures therapists showed you.