Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
ISABELLA
Heart in my throat and palms damp I pulled Weston back toward where I thought an office would be.
It wasn’t as if I knew this place. After all, I had never been here before.
This is where he had been for most of his life.
Including those eight years where we had known each other and yet he had been gone.
Nothing was the same. Everything I thought had been true had been slightly off and I felt rocked to my core. Still.
And yet none of that mattered because Weston was bleeding.
Bleeding just like he was when he had pulled me from the cliff. He had saved my life and it still hadn’t truly hit me.
I could have died that day. And yet he had been the one to be there. Out of every single soul on this earth he had been the one.
“I’m okay, Bella,” Weston whispered, and I froze at the sound of his voice.
How could he do that to me? So quietly, so quickly, and I stood there, shaking.
“Does that happen often?” I asked, turning toward him. I let my hand fall, the contact no longer there. I ignored the fact that I missed it already.
“Fighting with Drew? Sadly yes.” He held out his hand when I opened my mouth to speak. “I didn’t sleep with his wife.”
“I may not have known you the way that I thought I did, I may not know you now, but I know that much.”
His lips twitched as if he wanted to smile, but he shook his head.
“Deidre, Dee? She used to babysit me. She went by Dee with everybody. In fact, my mom used to babysit her when she went by Dee. Then she married Drew, and the guy didn’t like her going by that, so she changed her name.
Sometimes I forget. And possibly sometimes I’m a fucking asshole who doesn’t like the idea that Drew is a controlling, neurotic, narcissistic piece of shit. ”
My eyes widened even as I went over to his small fridge and was grateful when I saw a tiny ice pack in the freezer section.
“Come on, let’s put this on your jaw.”
“I’m fine, Bella,” he whispered.
I ignored him and put it on his jaw anyway. He flinched at the touch, but I put my hand on his chest, and he immediately calmed.
I didn’t want to think about what that exactly meant.
I swallowed hard as I stared into those light eyes of his. Every time I was near him, it’s as if my body wasn’t my own. It had a mind of its own and did what it wanted. So I clenched my thighs together, even as the hurt and pain and confusion of everything that occurred warred within me.
I was always a mess when it came to Weston Caldwell. And here I was, in his family shop, in his shop, confused as ever.
“I know you didn’t sleep with her,” I whispered again.
“He knows it too. He just hates the fact that people in this town take care of each other. It’s why you’re here after all,” he added with gritted teeth.
But before I could say anything else he continued.
“She got in a car wreck on the same fucking bridge my parents died on. The one coming into this town. And the asshole didn’t get the car checked out.
Instead he said he would take care of it himself, and he made it worse.
She’s lucky she didn’t wreck, hurt herself, the kids, or God forbid someone else.
So I fixed it. I only charged her for parts, and even then, I nearly didn’t.
The only reason I did was because I knew she wouldn’t take it as some form of charity.
And Drew can’t help but be the jerk that he is.
If he isn’t finding ways to be a truly big asshole, he’s at Lake Bar, drinking his way under the table. ”
Someone cleared his throat and I turned to see a man in a sheriff’s uniform.
He looked to be about the same age as a few of my brothers, but I still couldn’t quite think.
The man nodded at me, then raised a brow at Weston.
“I’m just glad that you’re okay. Are you going to have him arrested?
” He gave me a look. “I’m Macon, by the way.
I used to go to school with this guy over here and sadly, this isn’t the first time I’ve been called here. So, Weston, charges?”
Weston let out a breath. “No, because it just ends up being more paperwork for you. And it’s going to hurt Deidre.”
Macon sighed. “I knew you were going to say that. I keep thinking that maybe if I keep him behind bars then he’s not going to reach out again. But he never learns.” He gave me a small smile, though I read the exhaustion in his gaze. “By the way, welcome to Cage Lake, Miss Cage.”
“It’s Dixon actually. Cage is my middle name. And hello. Nice to meet you. I guess.”
“I’m Sheriff Brothers. If you need anything, let me know.” The sheriff gave me a knowing look and I held back a curse. Of course.
“I take it one of my many brothers contacted you?” I asked, the ice seeping into my tone.
“Yes. He found it especially important because there is a man out there on parole, who seems to be threatening you. Or there’s someone else trying to threaten you.
We’re keeping an eye out. I promise we’re not going to hem you in.
” He looked at Weston then. “Let me know if you need anything. We will go make sure Drew takes a walk. Get him sober.”
Weston cursed. “I just don’t want him to go home and hurt Deidre.”
Macon’s jaw tightened. “That’s not going to fucking happen.”
And with that, the sheriff walked out, leaving me alone with Weston. Again.
“I’m glad that it seems that he’s trying to help,” I said.
He nodded, turning toward me. “This town is good for something sometimes. Though there are no secrets. Considering somebody saw us kissing, and the twins had questions about it this morning.”
My brows rose. “What?”
“That’s small towns for you. I’d say I’m sorry. But I’m not.”
“I…I don’t know what to think right now.
I was just here to drop off paperwork because James needed it, and he couldn’t get ahold of Hudson.
Plus, it’s part of my whole work remotely thing.
Get me out of the city, into this town where everything is so complicated, and so here I am.
Working.” I pulled a stack of papers from my bag, ignoring the shake in my hand.
“You were here for work,” Weston said, and I could have sworn I heard the disappointment in his tone.
“Yes…I mean… no. I just… I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation. And I’m so damn confused. So when you have a moment, I figured we should talk. The one thing that we never really did.”
“Bella,” he said after moment, and then I shook my head. “Yeah. We should talk. Though I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Good, because I don’t either.”
“I have a few things to finish up here, and to make sure that the clients and my staff aren’t freaking the fuck out about what happened.”
“And I bet since it’s a small town they’re going to have questions about why I’m here,” I said dryly.
Weston threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, dear Bella. Just you fucking wait.”
“I don’t know what to think about that. But I’ll be at the house. Um, I’m staying at Aston’s place.”
“I know,” he said calmly, though I sensed something beneath his tone. “Hudson mentioned it.”
“I’m sure he did. You think the town is small, this world is damn tiny when it comes to Cages. They pop out of anywhere.”
“Don’t I know it,” Weston added dryly. “Give me a couple hours? I have to be back at the house and make sure homework and dinner’s good, plus, the prom’s tomorrow.”
“Prom? Already?” They’d grown so much. So much time had passed and it continued to dawn on me that he’d raised an entire family since I’d seen him.
“Yeah. Senior prom. I don’t know how it happened, but the kids are now adults.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but instead shook my head. “They’re lucky to have you.” I paused. “I should go.”
He nodded, his gaze searching mine, and I turned away, knowing I was making a choice that could change anything.
I could feel him watching me walk away, but I kept going. I’d truly gone there only to hand off paperwork—lie. Fine, I’d gone with the intention of dealing with Hudson’s paperwork, but I’d known the moment I saw him things would be different. That I wouldn’t be able to not think about him.
And we truly needed to figure things out.
I didn’t know what that meant, but there was no going back now.
By the time I got back to Aston and Blakely’s I didn’t bother getting into comfier clothing like I normally would while working remotely—not when I knew Weston would be here soon.
I ignored my heartbeat going far too quickly in that moment and got to work.
Maybe if I focused on numbers and reports, I wouldn’t be thinking about the fact I would once again be alone with Weston.
My thoughts were more confused than ever.
Because he had left for a reason.
To protect and raise his family. And while I would do anything for my family and was continuing to do so day by day even though I didn’t trust my parents—either of them. And that was the crux of it.
Trust.
I had trusted Weston with my heart, and he’d broken that trust.
Before I could spiral more in my own thoughts, the doorbell rang and then Weston was there, and my heart was racing.
I stood in my open doorway, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do. I knew it was that damn outfit again. He had on jeans, old work boots, a Henley with his sleeves rolled up, and leaned against the doorframe.
It should be illegal for a man to do that.
Forearm porn.
Doorway porn.
Henley porn.
Damn that man.
“Are you going to invite me in, Bella? Or did I make a mistake in thinking you actually wanted me here? I’ll go. I’ll walk away. Because I already took your choice away once.”
And damn that man once again.
“Oh. Come in. Though it’s weird to say that about a house I don’t even own, and you’ve probably been in more than me.”
He shook his head as he straightened and walked across the threshold. “I don’t know Aston. He doesn’t come up like the others do. So no, I’ve never been here.”