Chapter Thirty-Three
Poppy
“It’s time to wake up, Flower.”
My brain felt like it was in a fog. My whole body hurt like I’d gone five rounds with a Mac truck and had come out on the losing end. The pain brought back memory of everything that had happened, being held in that horrible room, thinking I was going to die.
I felt a squeeze on my hand, the warmth of long, strong fingers wrapped around mine. The touch worked to center me, but it was the words coming through the haze that helped pull me back.
“I need you to wake up, Poppy. Please. There’s so much I need to tell you, baby. I need to tell you I love you, that I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you, but I didn’t realize just how strong it was until you told me I was your favorite person. I need to tell you I’ve never been anyone’s favorite person until you, and how that is the biggest honor of my life. I need to tell you I’ll spend every day breaking my back to make sure I always remain your favorite person. I need to tell you that asking you to marry me was the best thing I’ve ever done, and that there wasn’t a single day we were together that it didn’t feel real.
“I need tell you we’re not over. We’ll never be over, because you’re my reason for existing, sweetheart. So wake up. Please, God, just wake up so I can say all that to you.”
I opened my good eye and bent my neck, seeing the top of Jase’s head as he rested his forehead on our clasped hands.
I saw the tube coming out of my arm, leading to a bag hanging from an IV pole beside the hospital bed. I saw the leads sticking out of the collar of my gown. I heard the incessant beep of the monitors those leads were connected to.
But all I could focus on was him. Him and those wonderful words he’d just said.
“You still haven’t told me why your favorite color is a very specific ocean blue.”
At the sound of my craggy voice, his head shot up, and the instant he saw my face, a blinding smile stretched across his lips. It had to be, hands down, the most beautiful smile he’d ever given me.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, standing from the chair he’d been sitting in so he could lean over and press his lips against mine. “Because it’s the color of your eyes.”
“Jase Hyland,” I breathed as my vision blurred with tears. “You are, without a doubt, my most favorite person ever, and I love you with all my heart.”
He squeezed his eyes closed, bending down to bury his face in my neck as his back rose and fell with each deep breath he took. Then he said the words that pieced my heart back together and made it whole. “I love you too, baby. Now, you need to do whatever you can to get better so we can go home.”
And just like that, the inn became his home.
* * *
Bennett
I sat on the fancy-ass couch in the fancy-ass hotel room of the Four Seasons in Nashville, waiting for them to come back.
I knew where they were and what they were doing. They were scrambling, trying to pull together as much money as possible so they could take off. The events they’d set into motion hadn’t gone as hoped, and now they needed a plan B.
My phone rang. I pulled it out, swiping my thumb across the screen and bringing it to my ear. “Yeah.”
“They’re on their way up,” Jensen’s disembodied voice said. “You’ve got five minutes before the cops swarm this place. Meet you out front when you’re done.”
I disconnected, slipped the phone back into my pocket and leaned back on the uncomfortable-as-shit couch, propping an ankle on the opposite knee as I brought the glass of bourbon I’d swiped from their minibar to my lips.
Jase had gotten that from me.
Gin had always been his old man’s drink of choice. Bourbon was mine, and my boy appreciated a good bourbon.
I lowered the glass, resting it on my thigh just as the electronic beep of the keycard sounded and the door swung open.
“Pack your things, Margo. Make it fast. Whatever you don’t need, just leave it. We don’t have any time.”
“You’re right about that.”
At my words, the couple came to a screeching halt, their wide eyes shooting my way. It was Geoffrey who spoke. “What . . . h-how did you . . .”
“How did I get in here?” I leaned forward and set my glass on the coffee table before rising to my full height. “You should know, Geoff, old boy. Money can get you almost anything. Even the spare keycard to a hotel room.”
“You have no right to be here,” his bitch of a wife snapped, as she attempted to look down her nose at me.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be here long. Just wanted to come by and tell you Poppy’s doin’ just fine.”
Geoffrey squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” I said with a sarcastic laugh. “Well, that’s why I’m here. To fill you in on the events of the past seventeen or so hours. First, like I said, Poppy’s doin’ just fine. She should be able to go home tomorrow morning’ at the latest. Doctors say Jase and his boys got to her just in time, and she got lucky, which is more than I can say for the guy you hired to kidnap her and hold her for ransom.”
Margo bristled. “I can assure you, we had nothing—”
“He’s dead, by the way,” I finished, making both of them grow even stiffer. “I’m sure you guessed that already, considerin’ the money that was supposed to be transferred into your account last night never came through.”
She reached up like she was about to clutch her pearls, only now, there was nothing there. They had nothing left. No money, no jewelry, no house, no family.
“You hid your trail well, I’ll give you that. But you made one big mistake.” I took a step in Geoffrey’s direction. The man began to whither under my gaze, proving him to be the weasel I already knew he was. “You underestimated the lengths my son would go for the woman he loves.”
“He’s not your—” Margo’s words died when I cut my eyes to her, pinning her with a glare neither of the elder Hylands had ever been able to withstand.
“That’s where you’re wrong. That boy’s been mine since the instant he came into my life. Farah too. I raised them, I gave them love, and I taught them to be the good, virtuous people they are today.”
“Make your point and get the hell out,” Geoffrey snarled, his face pinched with fury. “We have some place to be.”
“I’m guessin’ that place is the airport, where Clark and Margret Shaw are supposed to hop a flight to Belize?”
The color in both their faces drained completely.
“Hate to break it to ya, but you won’t be making that flight. Or any flight from now to the very distant future. See, that money never hit your accounts because, before that two-hour time limit was up, Poppy’d already been found and your man was already full of bullet holes. While that was happenin’, a couple guys Jase knows who are really good with computers were goin’ over the bank account of Clark and Margret Shaw and finding the trail that would lead from them to the hundred grand they paid to a hitman to kidnap and kill their daughter-in-law. A hitman, coincidentally, who hadn’t had time to wipe his hard drive, seein’ as he was dead and all, and had rather incriminating evidence of the deal goin’ down on his personal laptop . . . which, in case you were wonderin’, has already been seized by the police. Police that just so happen to be on their way here right about”—I looked down at my watch—“well, any minute now, actually.
“So, to sum it up for you”—I leaned in close to Geoffrey Hyland, a man I’d always despised, and a man who was finally getting what he deserved—“you’re fucked. No amount of money is gonna pull you out of the shit you’ve buried yourselves under. Not that it matters, considerin’ you no longer have a goddamn dime to your name. I just wanted to be the one to tell you it was my son who put that final nail in your coffins, and it’s my kids who’ll be spendin’ the rest of their lives married to good people who’ll love and cherish them the way they deserve, whil
e the two of you are rotting away in a cell, far from either of their minds.”
With that, I turned on my heel and made my way out the door. I was halfway down the hall when the elevators opened and the cops came pouring out.
And as I made the drive back to Redemption, I did it with the biggest goddamn smile on my face, knowing that my kids were finally getting the lives they deserved.
Epilogue
Poppy
Two months later
The strains of Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes” filled the elaborately decorated ballroom as I leaned against my husband, resting my head on his chest as we swayed to the music. It was a song Jase had requested the DJ play specifically for me. A song I listened to constantly over the past two months. Our song. Because I was his ocean eyes.
“You happy, Flower?”
I lifted my head and looked around the ballroom. Farah and Cannon were on the other side of the dance floor, pressed together much like Jase and I were, staring into each other’s eyes like they were the only ones in the room who existed—as you’d expect, considering it was their wedding day.
I turned my head in the other direction to see Shane holding Brantley in her arms, twirling him around until his giggles pierced the air. I didn’t miss the way Jensen stood off to the side, watching the two of them with a longing I felt to my bones, and all I could do was hope that situation played out the way it was meant to.
After I’d been taken and Shane had seen how hard Jensen worked to get me back—someone she loved whole-heartedly—she hadn’t been able to maintain her usual cold distance. She’d denied it tooth and nail when Farah and I gave her a hard time, but we’d seen it with our own eyes. She’d begun to thaw, letting that warmth of hers spread. Jensen hadn’t missed it, and it was clear to everyone that he wanted it for himself. Jase liked to tell me that I was his light. Well, judging from the way Jensen was watching Shane and their son, they were his.
I hadn’t said anything to Shane, but I was silently rooting for him.
Seeing my friends with their own versions of happy, I turned back to Jase and smiled at him. It was a question he’d started asking me the morning after I got out of the hospital and was back in the comfort of our own home. He asked every morning, and every time I answered, it was always the same. “Yeah, honey. I don’t think I could be any happier than I am now.”
I always answered like that, because it was always true. Just when I thought I’d reached my happiest, he’d do something to show me it could get even better.
He looked down at me, those golden eyes shining brightly as he leaned in and brushed his lips against mine.
“Good, baby.” He gave me another kiss before lifting his head. “So what do you say we hold out another ten minutes, then we sneak off?” His arms clenched me tighter, as his voice turned to a husky rumble that made my whole body respond. “I’m desperate to get you home and into bed.”
Home.
“Ten minutes,” I told him, unable to deny my husband anything when he looked at me like I was everything. “Then we’ll go home.”
He pulled in a deep breath and rested his forehead against mine as he whispered, “Poppy Hyland, you’re my favorite person ever.”
I would never get tired of hearing that.
Before Jase, I’d told myself that I was never tying myself up in another man. Now, I couldn’t imagine there would ever come a day when I didn’t want those knots he’d tangled us in to loosen. He was it for me. He was my everything. What we had was crazy beautiful, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“You’re my favorite person ever,” I returned. “And I’ll love you forever.”
The End.
Thank you so much for reading, and don’t forget to leave a review.
Keep a lookout for Jensen and Shane’s story,
Bittersweet
Coming September, 2020
More from Redemption
Having grown up trapped in a gilded cage, the events of one tragic night changed everything.
Farah Highland was raised with more money than most people could ever dream of, but with that wealth and privilege came cold indifference and cruelty. Determined to start living for herself, Farah cut ties with everything and everyone she'd ever known for the chance at starting over in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.
Notorious town playboy, Cannon Banks grew up living the good life. He had it all, loving parents, good friends, and a face and body that drove women wild. Love and commitment were the last things on his mind . . . until he locked eyes with a woman across a crowded bar, and everything changed in a heartbeat.
There's just one problem. Bad Alibi's newest waitress wants nothing to do with him. But he's nothing if not determined.
Cannon and Farah are about to enter into a battle of wills.
May the best man . . . or woman, win.
Discover Other Books by Jessica
REDEMPTION SERIES
Bad Alibi
Crazy Beautiful
HOPE VALLEY SERIES:
Out of My League
Come Back Home Again
The Best of Me
Wrong Side of the Tracks
Stay With Me
Out of the Darkness
The Second Time Around
CIVIL CORRUPTION SERIES
Corrupt
Defile
Consume
Ravage
THE PICKING UP THE PIECES SERIES:
Picking up the Pieces
Rising from the Ashes
Pushing the Boundaries
Worth the Wait
THE COLORS NOVELS:
Scattered Colors
Shrinking Violet
Love Hate Relationship
Wildflower
THE LOCKLAINE BOYS (a LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP spinoff):
Fire & Ice
Opposites Attract
Almost Perfect
The Locklaine Boys: The Complete Series Boxset
THE PEMBROOKE SERIES (a WILDFLOWER spinoff):
Sweet Sunshine
Coming Full Circle
A Broken Soul
Welcome to Pembrooke: The Complete Pembrooke Series
GIRL TALK SERIES:
Seducing Lola
Tempting Sophia
Enticing Daphne
Charming Fiona
STANDALONE TITLES:
One Knight Stand
Chance Encounters
Nightmares from Within
DEADLY LOVE SERIES:
Destructive
Addictive
About Jessica
Born and raised around Houston, Jessica is a self proclaimed caffeine addict, connoisseur of inexpensive wine, and the worst driver in the state of Texas. In addition to being all of these things, she’s first and foremost a wife and mom.
Growing up, she shared her mom and grandmother’s love of reading. But where they leaned toward murder mysteries, Jessica was obsessed with all things romance.
When she’s not nose deep in her next manuscript, you can usually find her with her kindle in hand.
Connect with Jessica now
Website: www.authorjessicaprince.com
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Crazy Beautiful: a Redemption novel Page 24
