Chapter 15 #2
Elaine wanders off to say hello to someone else, and Willow approaches and takes Niall from me, carefully pulling his fingers from around my hair.
“You don’t have to let him do that, you know…”
I smile at her and tickle him until he giggles. “I don’t mind, really. He’s my buddy.”
Willow grins. “I know. Some days, I think he might like you more than me.”
“That’s just the hair.”
She laughs, gives me a quick hug, then returns to whoever she was talking to who clearly wanted to see the baby. I scan the shop for Liam and find him near the far corner with Killian, eyes surveying every person who walks in that door for any unfamiliar faces.
One good thing about this small town—strangers stand out.
And if one shows up today, the McBrides will be on high alert to swoop me out of here if necessary.
At least, Killian and Liam will…I have no idea where Connor disappeared to.
Or Raven, for that matter.
I search for her, anxious to hang back in the rear of the shop instead of dead center of the hustle and bustle, when a familiar voice fills the store from behind me.
“Lucky! There you are!”
* * *
LIAM
The moment Sheriff Briggs walks in, Lucky freezes like a deer in headlights where she stands behind the register.
Killian goes rigid beside me, and my own spine tightens as I struggle to keep my face neutral and not lunge across the store to her.
Which is hard, when all I want to do is throw Lucky over my shoulder and run.
Tony approaches her, a smile on his face. “I’ve been trying to catch you. We never got a chance to formally meet, and it seems as though you might be staying in town.”
He offers her his hand, and I watch as she swallows thickly and accepts it with a stiff motion that tells me she’s trying not to let him feel her trembling.
Fear seeps into her gaze, and her eyes dart across the room to meet mine, begging for help. But if I charge over there and intervene, Tony will know something is wrong.
Right now, this is simply a friendly conversation between McBride Mountain’s sheriff and one of its newest residents.
Don’t turn it into something else.
I make my way toward them as casually as I can, sidling up beside her and sliding my arm around her shoulders. “How are you, Sheriff?”
He pulls off his hat and runs a hand through his hair as his head bobs. “Good. Good.” His gaze travels over the store. “It looks like the opening is going well.”
Better he focus on that than Lucky.
I nod. “It definitely is. Willow has worked hard for this.”
Tony offers a knowing look and glances to where Willow stands, holding Niall and chatting with the town clerk, Eugenia, who gesticulates wildly with her hands, making the baby giggle.
Sheriff Briggs is a good man who is supremely dedicated to his job and to protecting the people of McBride Mountain. He put all his time and effort into helping Killian and Willow figure out what happened to her, and into ensuring my father and aunt were brought to justice for it.
He has always stood by the McBrides.
Which is why doing this hurts so much.
Lying to him.
Keeping something so essential to the safety of the residents here from him.
But I can’t risk that he would do his job right now.
Not until there are protections in place for Willow.
He turns back to her. “Are you going to be working here at the shop?”
She tips her head down and tries not to look at him as she answers, pretending to fiddle with something on the counter. “Oh, I’m not sure yet.”
I tighten my grip on her. “I keep her pretty busy up at the homestead.”
Shit.
That came out all wrong.
I hadn’t meant to make it sound sexual—not that it isn’t also true—but was referring to the way she’s stepping in to help with Niall, learning how to make candles with Willow, and even assists with caring for the animals and other chores on the land as if she was meant to always be a part of it.
“I’m sure you do, son.” He winks and claps me on the shoulder, then leans his head down to look at Lucky’s face until she tips it back up to him. “It was nice to formally meet you. I didn’t get your last name.”
Her back stiffens, the tension in her shoulders under my arm so intense it feels like she might shatter, and her cheeks start to redden. “Oh. Marlowe.”
He smiles. “Lucky Marlowe. Well, welcome to McBride Mountain.” He tips his hat to her. “Formally.”
With that, he steps away, heading toward Willow.
Lucky releases a long, shaky breath. “Oh, my God…”
Her body trembles, and I pull her into me, ducking my head to whisper in her ear. “I’m getting you out of here.”
“He saw my face, Liam.” She keeps it tipped down against my chest. “He looked directly at me.”
Looking at Lucky is one of my favorite things on this planet, and any other time, I might have told her that. But not now. Not when the panic and risk are so very real.
“It’ll be okay, Bluebell. Let’s go.”
I glance over my shoulder to where Killian stands watching, but there isn’t any sign of Connor.
Where the hell did he go?
Killian inclines his head toward the back door, suggesting we leave, and I nod and urge Lucky in that direction, past the closed door to the office, and out into the alley behind the shop. Which is thankfully quiet and empty.
Lucky immediately turns and leans back against the brick, releasing another shaky breath. “Oh, my God.” She presses her hands over her chest and looks up at me with tears pooling in her eyes. “I can’t do this. What if he recognized me? What if—”
“Hey”—I step in front of her and take her face in my palms—“I told you we would protect you, and I meant that. That means from everyone. Including him.”
“He’s the sheriff, Liam. There’s only so much you can do.”
I offer her a tight smile, raising my eyebrows incredulously. “Did you forget I’m a McBride?”
She shakes her head. “No, but you aren’t God. And that man has a job. One that involves taking action if he ever figures out who I am.”
“He won’t.” I try to sound convincing, for my own sake as well as for hers, but she isn’t wrong about Tony Briggs. “At least, not until all this is cleared up.”
We just have to hope he doesn’t recognize her until then…
“What if that never happens?”
I tug her up against me again, letting her take a few moments to gather herself and steady her breathing before I lead her down the alley toward where I parked my truck nearby, in case we needed to leave quickly.
“We’re meeting with the lawyer in a few days, Bluebell, and once we’ve talked to him, when we have a firm grasp of what’s happening and a plan in place, things will change. They’ll look better.”
“You’re so confident this is going to work.”
I squeeze her hand as I open the truck door and help her up into it. “It has to. There isn’t any other option.”
Because I won’t lose her.
I can’t.
Seeing her prepared to run that night broke something in me that has stayed jagged, that has drawn blood each time I’ve thought about how close I was to losing her.
That will not happen.
I close her door and walk around the truck, releasing my own heavy breath.
She should have stayed on the mountain today.
No one would have thought anything about me not being here, and since only a few people know she’s been working with Willow, no one would’ve questioned the fact that she was MIA, either.
But now the one person in town we never wanted her to interact with has seen her face.
He looked directly in her eyes and spoke with her.
She easily gave him the fake last name we prepared, but the way her cheeks heated…if he was looking carefully enough, if he was watching for it, he would’ve noticed something was off.
I just have to hope he didn’t.
Pray he didn’t.
I tug open my door and slide in, starting up the truck and immediately reaching to place my hand on hers resting on her knee.
Her lips twist as she looks out the window toward town square.
When she glances back at me, that fear has returned.
The one I thought we had wiped away over the last few weeks. The one I thought we had buried.
“What if I have to leave town?”
My stomach twists violently, bile rising up my throat. “You don’t.”
“But what if I do?”
I watch her for a moment, hold her gaze as she waits for me to respond.
She’s been considering it.
The longer it takes for all of this to play out, the harder it becomes for her to sit still, for her to believe that enough time has passed that maybe, just maybe, no one is looking for her.
There’s a good chance she will never believe it, that she will never truly relax and feel safe here.
And what she needs is a safe place.
“If it comes down to it, Bluebell, if you have to leave, if you have to run…”—I swallow thickly—“then I’m running with you.”
A little hiccup-sob slips from her lips. “You don’t mean that.” She shakes her head, her hair floating around her face. “You can’t leave McBride Mountain.”
“Why not?”
Tears stream down her face now. “Because this is your home. Because your family is here. Everything you love is here.”
Fuck.
I hadn’t wanted to do this, here, in my truck, when she’s in the middle of a fucking panic attack—maybe rightfully so—but she needs to hear it.
“Not everything I love is in McBride Mountain. Not if you’re not here.”
Her breath catches, her bottom lip quivering. “Liam…”
I reach up and grasp her chin in my fingers, dragging her across the center console toward me.
“I love you, Lucky. I have since the moment you walked into the diner and accused me of stealing Giz. You’ve done more for me in the past month than anyone I’ve known in my entire life was able to over the previous nine.
I need you.” Shaking my head, I hold her gaze, refuse to let her look away.
“I don’t need to be in McBride Mountain.
Not anymore. I was already considering leaving before you showed up.
Thinking about putting space between me and this place and the memories and nightmares.
But now the nightmares are gone. Now that I have you beside me in bed every night. ”
“But your family—”
“Will still be here. They’re not going anywhere. But I can. We can have a new life somewhere else. We can start over. Is that what you want?”
She shakes her head. “No. I want to be here. This place, it’s…”
Watching Lucky struggle to find the right words makes my lips curl. “I know. It’s kind of magical, isn’t it?”
She nods.
“So just trust that we’re going to figure it out. Trust me. Trust in the magic of the mountain and in the McBrides.”
Her gaze softens. “I do trust you.”
Those are the only words I needed to hear, and I lean in and press a kiss to her lips, silencing her tears and making her the same promise I have been for weeks.
That I’m not going to leave her to face this alone.
She’ll never be alone again.