Chapter 14 #2
I moved into the living room and froze as the sound of a huge crack echoed through the area.
Somebody shouted, and I whirled, wondering which house it was from.
Then a shadow split over me, and I tried to move out of the way.
Three huge beams that had been part of the roof tumbled forward, and my foot slipped, tripping over an upturned board.
I hit the floor, splinters digging into my palms as the first beam slammed right over me.
Part of it hit my shoulder, and I screamed.
The other two hit each other, slowing down somewhat, but were still coming at me from the second story.
It all happened so quickly, that it felt as if with each breath, there was no escaping it.
I tried to get up, but the first beam pinned me down, but then Reece was there, strong hands on my arms, as he pulled me out, and the other two beams slammed into the floor with a breathtaking speed, shards of wood flying everywhere.
Reece covered my head and shoved us both to the ground, keeping me safe.
My heart thudded in my chest as I looked up at him, wide-eyed.
“What the hell were you thinking being in here?”
“Are you serious right now?” I pushed him away and winced at the blood on my hands. “I’m in here because we already had the major inspection done. I’m allowed to walk in here. I’m the one who fucking owns it.”
“You could have been killed!” Reece practically shouted in my face. We were both kneeling on the ground, and I moved away from him, standing up without putting my hands on the floor. People were shouting now, running towards us, and I couldn’t even look at Reece.
He’d saved me, but screaming at me in front of everyone else? What the fuck.
“Are you okay?” Dash was there, looking down at my hands and cursing. “We should take you to the doctor.”
“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring the ache in my shoulder. “I just need to wash my hands or something.”
“You should go to the fucking doctor,” Reece snapped.
I looked at him then, my eyes narrowed. “I think you’ve done enough yelling. If you’d like to yell some more, go find the inspector who fucking lied.”
“Freckles, don’t be stupid. You’re hurt. You’re going to the doctor.”
Silence settled over the entire place, every single member of my team staring at us in shock. This. This was why I had tried not to want Reece. Why I’d tried to keep my eyes off of him. Because when things weren’t going well, we fought. And he acted like this.
And I’d always be the person too fragile to stand up for myself.
Or I had been.
I saw the fear in his eyes. I only wished I could latch onto it. To lean into it. But I didn’t think that was an option. Not now.
“I’ll take her,” Aly said as she came to my side. “No need to act all growly. She freaked me out so I get to take my new best friend to check out that noggin of hers.”
“No one says noggin, Aly,” Dash drawled, trying to lighten the tension.
Reece didn’t say a damn word. Instead he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving me alone with my team. And there were no other words for that.
In the forty-eight hours since the unfortunate work incident, my entire family had shown up, at least my immediate family and a few cousins. They all came to the house, making sure I was fine, and I held up the small bandages on my hands, and sighed.
“No stitches, no broken bones. Just a couple of bruises, and an annoying splinter.”
I repeated that statement to the point that I could say it in my sleep.
And Reece hadn’t shown up.
No, apparently he was giving me the space I didn’t know we both needed.
He had texted, at least he had done that.
A simple text saying he was glad I was okay, and that I should get some rest.
Away from him.
He didn’t say that last part, but it sure as hell felt like it. However in this moment, I wasn’t exactly alone. Aly paced by my side in the kitchen, worry on her face.
“He’s scared,” Aly said after a moment, eyes narrowed.
“I don’t care. He doesn’t get to yell at me.” That was when I realized that tears were sliding down my cheeks, and I didn’t know if it was fear or anger, and I hated it. Hated it all.
Aly handed me a tissue and I wiped my face, annoyed I’d cried at all. At least it was in front of her and not any of my family. “Reece yells. He’s a growly asshole, but he was worried about you.”
“I may not be his direct boss, but I am part owner of this company. He doesn’t get to do that.”
“No. He doesn’t. He needs to hold his temper. But he was scared. We all were. We had no idea what happened, but then you screamed, and we were all running over there.”
I looked down at my hands and let out a shaky breath.
I’d thought of nothing else these past two days and come to the realization I should have in the heat of the moment.
“Reece pulled me out of the way. From the second beam. I could have died, and I can’t even focus on that because I’m too worried about the fact that my boyfriend is yelling at me. ”
I wiped away my tears, this time knowing they were full of anger.
“You can yell right back. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s really not. But I don’t know what to do with him, Aly.”
“Do you love him?”
I swallowed hard, unable to say the words aloud, but she saw the answer, nonetheless.
Without a word, she hugged me, telling me I wasn’t alone.
I was a Montgomery, after all, one was never alone—something Aly had seen firsthand when the family phone tree and chat group had been enacted when I’d been hurt.
That at least brought a smile to my face and once Aly left to head to the nursery, I knew I needed to get my act together and either get to work or reach out to Reece. There didn’t seem to be another option.
Anger and confusion warred within me. What was I supposed to do?
Lean on my boyfriend. The one who didn’t want to be called boyfriend.
Because neither one of us wanted labels.
No, this was just a reminder that life was complicated, and I was going back to work today, and everything would be fine.
The inspector had apologized, but I didn’t think that was enough. Neither did Lex and Dash.
In fact, we were going through every step that we had taken after that particular inspector, and repeating everything that we could.
It was just a freak accident, that’s what I kept telling everyone, and that’s what the evidence seemed to prove, yet it seemed that the house there wasn’t the only thing that had broken.
My doorbell rang, and I frowned, wondering which Montgomery it was this time. I opened the door, careful of the bandages on my hands, and sucked in a breath when I realized who stood there.
“Brooklyn!” Bella launched herself at me, but Reece caught her at the last moment.
“She’s hurting, Bella. I don’t want you to jostle her.”
Bella frowned, her eyes wide and sad, and I opened up my arms. “I could do with a hug though.” Then Bella was there, holding me tight, and I let out a shaky breath.
“Dad said that you needed some time,” she whispered, and my heart did that little clutching thing at the sound of her calling Reece Dad. From the way that Reece’s eyes warmed for an instant, before they went to their normal glower, I knew he felt the same.
“I’m really okay. It’s a long day at work, but I have sourdough bread to keep me company.”
“Will you help me make a starter?” Bella asked.
“Bella—” Reece began, exasperated.
“I said I would. Don’t worry. We will make you a baking star.”
“Why do I feel like there’s going to be flour all over my kitchen?”
I looked at Reece then, my arm wrapped around Bella’s waist, hers around mine, and smiled. I hoped it reached my eyes. “Hi.”
“Hey Freckles. Sorry it took us so long to get here. I wanted to make sure you had time to rest.”
I knew it wasn’t quite the truth, but with Bella here, there wasn’t much else to say. “I’m really okay. I could have gone back to work today, but my dad yelled at me. Lex yelled at me, and Dash scowled. There’s a lot of yelling going on.”
Reece’s jaw tightened, and he gave me a slight nod. “I was scared,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you in front of your team.” He looked at Bella and sighed. “I shouldn’t have yelled at all.”
“In the heat of the moment, I understand the yelling. I shouted as well, but we’re going to need to figure this out.” I looked between the two of them. “I think all three of us are going to need to figure this whole thing out.”
“That means talking about relationships,” Bella said slowly and dramatically. “Using real words and everything. Don’t worry, I have a book on this.” She sounded so serious, that I had to press my lips together so I didn’t laugh.
“God save me from you two working as a team.” Reece shook his head. “I’m sorry, Freckles.”
“Apology accepted. And I’m sorry for storming off. I think I was embarrassed that of all the people that a house could fall on, it was me. The one who tries to be the big boss.”
“We all know that Lex is the big boss that likes to move you all around like chest pieces,” Reece said dryly.
“Okay, fair.” And then I was in Reece’s arms, and he kissed the top of my head, and Bella held me close.
“Does this mean we can get ice cream?” Bella said softly, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Tomorrow, kid. You two can go get the ice cream that you’ve promised each other.”
I looked up at him then and smiled. “Really?”
“Don’t look so surprised. You and Bella said you wanted a girls’ trip, and I need to help my brothers out at the station with one of their enrollment gigs. So I do assume you’re going to bring me ice cream as well.”
I laughed and finally pulled them into the house fully.
“Of course we’ll bring you ice cream. Bubblegum, right?”
Bella made gagging sounds as Reece didn’t even bother to answer. Instead, he went to my kitchen, began to make coffee, and poured milk for Bella. He was there in my kitchen, acting as if he knew what he was doing, and comfortable with it.
I would never understand this man, not fully, but I truly wanted to figure him out.
“Ice cream tomorrow for you two, but tonight, movies, popcorn, and we’ll order a pizza.”
“Yay for junk food,” Bella said as she danced around the living room.
“Do I get a say in this?” I asked, laughing.
“Not in the slightest.” Reece leaned forward and kissed me softly on the mouth and just like that, the tension that had been riding my shoulders began to ease. “I’m sorry, Brooklyn.”
I cupped his face, his beard soft under my hands. I should tell him I loved him, but I didn’t. The words would come, but in this moment, it just needed to be us.
“It’s okay. You should have yelled. Maybe not those exact words, but screaming was a must.”
“I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d been hurt even more than that.” He let out a shuddering breath and kissed my temple. “Just be careful with trees or anything else that could hurt you while you’re at the job, okay?”
“You’re the one who works with fire, I should be more worried about you.”
He kissed me softly again, and I ignored Bella’s fake gagging behind us.
“Go sit down, let me take care of you.” I met his gaze then and tried to understand exactly what he was saying.
“Can Bella and I pick the movie?”
“Nothing animated,” he said with a sigh, then he went back to the kitchen and continued to get things ready.
I sank into the couch next to Bella, wondering how this had happened. It wasn’t one quick moment, not even a purposeful path. I was surrounded by two people I adored, two people I loved. And we needed to figure this out. As Bella went through the movie selection, I knew we could.
We were doing good, the three of us, and nothing could take that from us.