Chapter 43
Forty-Three
Storm
Fuck.
Fuck.
I clip across the parking lot, my mind twisting, my lungs working in overtime, my vision reduced to pinpricks of light.
Fuck. I can’t do this.
Fuck. I can’t be here.
Fuck. I need to go.
“Storm?”
Whipping around, I see Poppy hurrying across the lot, her expression full of concern. “What’s happening?” she asks as she reaches my side.
I open my mouth to explain.
But I can’t.
The words won’t come.
Or the right ones won’t, anyway.
“I can’t do this,” I rasp. “I can’t be here. I can’t—”
“Stop,” she says, settling her hand on my back and there’s nothing in her tone that allows for any argument. Maybe in another situation, I’d resent the sharp order, the terse command. But right now, when she instructs me to, “Breathe,” I just do exactly that.
I suck in air.
Release it in a rush.
“Again,” she says, her hand moving up and down my back, her tone softening ever so slightly when I follow that order too. “Good, honey. Now keep going, slow and steady.”
I do that too.
“Talk to me,” she says when I’ve managed to connect a few breaths and not pass out.
I close my eyes, shake my head. “That’s Joey,” I whisper. “And Damon.”
Now it’s her turn to inhale sharply. “Oh, fuck.” She presses a little closer, hand convulsing on my back.
“Yeah.” My laugh is far from amused. “Fuck.”
“I’ll go inside and tell them to leave.”
“No.”
But it’s not me who’s saying that.
It’s…
Joey.
I straighten in a rush, spinning to see her and Damon standing there.
“We’ll go,” she says. “We—I—” A shake of her head. “I’m sorry. We didn’t know you’d be here.”
I nod tersely.
Joey swallows hard, but just nods back, starts to turn away.
And, surprisingly, it’s Damon who speaks.
“I know you’re pissed…”
Rage.
It envelops me in a second, coating me from head to toe, making me want to lash out, to punch and hit and hurt.
To make him feel what I felt.
To make him hurt like I hurt.
But…
The rage fades away an instant later.
Because without what went down between me, Damon, and Joey I wouldn’t be here.
I wouldn’t have Poppy, wouldn’t have Holly.
Before I can tell them that, I hear,
“Damn right he’s pissed!” Gertie snaps, marching over and standing in front of me, as though her tiny five-foot nothing frame could somehow block Damon’s six-foot-plus one.
She plunks her hands on her hips. “Haven’t you two done enough already?
Leave our Storm alone! You are not welcome in Cedar Hollow. ”
I just stand there, staring at Gertie, my mouth hanging open, unable to believe what I’m hearing.
But Cedar Hollow isn’t done.
Roger and Tommy troop to Gertie’s side, crossing their arms. “He doesn’t need you two coming in and messing things up.”
“No,” Clover says quietly, coming to stand beside me, her eyes soft and sad, “he doesn’t.”
Blossom and Clem’s eyes are full of fury. Daisy’s of concern, along with Clarke’s. And Shep…
I brace for some Shepnanigans.
Instead, he just stands close to Clover and me as Rain and Riley join our group. My brother’s gaze catches mine and he nods slightly, silently telling me he’s here.
And fuck, that—
It hurts in the best possible way.
Rain here. These people at my side…standing between me and a threat.
Cedar Hollow showing up for me when, once upon a time, I was standing on the outside looking in.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” Rain says.
“Right.” Joey tugs on Damon’s arm. “We’ll leave. We’re sorry we intruded.”
Damon’s eyes connect with mine and he nods.
“Actually,” I say, “I’m glad you’re here.”
“You are?” everyone around me asks in shock.
“You are?” Joey asks more softly.
I nod, ignore the eyes on me, and focus on Damon and Joey. “I was pissed. And hurt. But I don’t blame you for trading me. It was…” I shake my head. “Untenable for everyone. And I wasn’t producing,” I say. “You’re trying to win a Cup, and I was dead weight.”
“Storm,” Joey begins. “That’s not—”
“It’s the truth. And I need you to know I understand. I didn’t before, didn’t realize what it felt like…” I look to the side, to Poppy. “I didn’t know what it was to truly love someone. Not until I came back.”
Poppy’s eyes fill with tears and her hand tightens around mine.
“Don’t cry, Poppyseed,” I murmur.
“I’m not sad,” she murmurs back.
“I know.” I wipe away a tear that escapes. “But I still don’t like to see you cry.”
“Aw,” Gertie says, and Christ, I forgot where I was for a second.
“That better not end up in the Cedar Hollow Gazette,” I warn.
She just winks, taps her phone screen repeatedly, and…
I just roll my eyes.
Gertie’s gonna Gertie.
But at least Poppy’s not crying anymore. She’s holding my hand and leaning closer and whispering, “I love you too, honey,”
I touch her cheek and turn back to Damon and Joey, and since the whole town knows all of my business anyway, I give them all the rest of the truth.
“You gave me a gift,” I say. “You gave me the freedom to come home, to recognize what I was missing, to have a life I never dreamed was possible. So, I’m not pissed—not anymore, anyway. I’m thankful.”
Everyone gapes at me, Joey and Damon most of all.
But I just tug Poppy a little closer, brush my lips over hers.
“But if you really want to make it up to me, let my woman make you a few Cedar Hollow Kisses then tell the team to come down every once in a while and do the same.”
“Cedar Hollow Kisses?” Damon asks, his eyebrows dragging together.
“Drinks,” Gertie supplies. “Delicious ones.”
Joey’s lips twitch. “We can do that,” she says then adds softly, “And the guys will too. They miss you.”
I nod in thanks.
“Great,” Clover grumbles. “More hockey players.”
Shep looks just as surly.
Meanwhile, Damon asks as we all turn back for the bar, “What’s in a Cedar Hollow Kiss, anyway?”
I glance at Poppy.
She looks up at me.
Then we exchange grins.
But all I say as we walk inside is, “Hey, so what are you all doing on August tenth?”