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“Now, boys, calm down,” Jake’s reasonable voice made her smile. He was supposed to arrive for dinner that night, she wondered what he was doing there now.

“Pepper has to come home. She has a life there.”

Maybe it was her brother’s voice?

She still hadn’t heard Nick speak and that more than anything worried her. He was quiet, not nearly as volatile as Ace could be. Until it was too late. She may not have known them long, but she knew their personalities better than her own.

“You do realize she is her own person, right?” Jake sounded bewildered.

“Ace,” Nick finally spoke. “He’s right.” Her heart plummeted. “I don’t want her to feel pressured into staying. If she wants to leave, we have to let her.”

Now that pissed her off.

Rounding the corner, hands on her hips, she shouted to the room in general. “How about we ask Pepper what the fuck she wants?” Through her anger, she saw shock on everyone’s faces excepts Jake’s, the funny old man smiled with pride, winking at her.

“Pepper.”

She finally saw the stranger and now realized he was her brother from the pictures she’d seen of him online. When he attempted to walk closer to her, she backed away. He might be her blood, but she had no idea who he was. For all she knew, he’d left her for dead. Without her memories, she had nothing.

The hurt on his face nearly made her back down.

“I don’t know you,” she muttered softly.

“You still don’t recognize me?” His voice was gruff with emotion.

She looked to Nick for help, and when he held open his arms for her, she rushed to his side. His embrace was comforting. Ace walked over to them, leaning down for a kiss. “Morning, baby,” he said.

“Hi,” she murmured back, a shy smile gracing her lips.

“Un-fucking-believable!” was shouted from across the room.

“Watch your tone,” Nick warned, getting to his feet.

She observed James as so many emotions crossed his handsome features. A face that looked much older than her dreams from when they were younger. He looked haggard, worried, and sad.

“What happened to her?” she asked him, meaning the woman who’d turned him against her. Ruined the perilous relationship they’d had.

There wasn’t much she did remember, but there were things that lingered. What that woman had him believing and saying to Pepper was one that stuck with her. She couldn’t let it go. He may be there now, but what about before? She couldn’t help but wonder if the situation she found herself in now ever would have happened if he hadn’t pushed her away so callously.

“Gone,” he told her flatly, not even trying to pretend like he didn’t know what she was talking about. “You remember that?”

“I remember certain things, feelings. I woke up after a nightmare one night with your words ringing in my head. How I felt when you said them. I know that before anything happened, I felt lonely. I wanted to finally have someone love me for me. I remember feeling like I would never have that.” Tears threatened to spill over as she explained what was happening in her own mind.

“I didn’t mean it,” he said, and she believed him. When she remembered him and the fractured images of her family, she only ever got a sense of love.

“Who was he?” she finally asked the room at large. Nick had mentioned they had her attacker’s name, but she hadn’t been ready to hear it yet. The time had come, and she couldn’t avoid it.

“Alex Medina,” Nick answered again. She had blocked his name out the first time they mentioned him. Closing her eyes, she relaxed her mind, pushing everything to the side in the hopes of something coming through. It was nothing but blank space.

“He works with Ray,” James said.

“Who’s Ray?” The name wasn’t familiar.

“Shit,” he mumbled. “Tami. You remember her?”

“I had a dream or memory, whatever. There was a Tami in it, and she helped me get ready for a date?”

His smile was blinding. “Yeah, that sounds like Tam. She’s your best friend. Has been your whole life. Ray’s her brother. They’re both firefighters. Since you and Alex came here, no one’s seen hide nor hair of the man. You were supposed to be back two weeks ago.”