Page 43 of A Wreck, You Make Me (Bad Boys of Bardstown #3)

They’re locked on me so tight and so hard that I know I’m the only thing he can see.

Because he’s the only thing I can see in this moment.

The rest of the world has disappeared and all I can focus on is him.

His large and broad body. His wide stance and fisted hands.

The way he’s breathing hard and fast, a little wildly, causing his chest to swell big.

His messy hair. The harsh lines of his face.

God, it feels like ages since I saw him.

But he hasn’t changed at all. No he’s still the same. I still feel that connection with him. I still feel that intimacy, that sense of safety. I still feel cherished by the way he’s looking at me. Even though I know it’s not true. It’s all in my head.

I don’t get to dwell on that though, these feelings, because someone knocks at the door.

Actually, someone bangs on it and the moment breaks.

I finally take in the rest of the room, the rest of the men, Conrad, Ledger and Reed, and they’re all on alert now.

They stand up from their seats, their eyes collectively locked on that door, and Ledger heads to it.

We stand up too, Callie and I, but she doesn’t let go of my hand. If anything, Tempest holds my other hand and Wyn puts her hand over both of ours, giving me all their strength, silently telling me they’re there for me, and my chest warms with gratitude.

In any case, Ledger’s the one who opens the door, and it turns out I needed all the support I could get in this moment because it reveals my mother.

At first I think I’m dreaming. She can’t possibly be here.

If she hates anything more than me in this world, or at least as much as me, it’s the Thornes. She absolutely hates them for existing.

Growing up, I’d hear Jeremy and my mom fight about them a lot especially after we moved to Bardstown.

Jeremy would want to see them, but only to ask them for money, seeing how the brothers had done so well for themselves.

But my mom always refused. She didn’t want anything to do with them.

She saw them as a threat that could take Jeremy away, like me.

So this doesn’t seem real. Until her angry eyes land on me and her face twists in rage as she snaps, “I knew it. I knew I’d find you here. I knew you’d come here, begging at their doorstep. How many times have I told you not to have any contact with them? You’re not to even look at them.”

She takes a step in and even though she’s still far away, I flinch and jerk back.

Although I probably shouldn’t have worried about her flying over to me because somehow there’s someone between me and her.

Someone who was standing all the way over there by the stairs, but now is standing here, facing my mother.

Someone who says, more like growls in a very low-pitched voice, “I wouldn’t take another step if I were you. ”

My mother glances over at him. I watch how her eyes move over his face before she sneers. “You’re one of the twins, aren’t you? There’s so many of you, it’s hard to keep track. So I’m not really sure which twin you are, but if you don’t let me get to my daughter, you?—”

“She’s not your daughter,” he cuts her off, again in that same low-pitched voice, almost calm but not really.

“Excuse me?” my mother snaps.

“Not anymore,” he says, and I notice his broad back twitching with his long breath. “And if you don’t step back right the fuck now, you’re going to remember what my name is.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“You threaten my family, I threaten you back.”

My mother scoffs. “She’s my daughter. She’s not your family.”

“Again, she’s not your daughter,” he goes, shaking his head slowly. “And I’m not a very patient man.”

She looks him up and down. “I see you really fell for her ‘woe is me’ act. Just so you know”—then she looks at everyone in the room—“that’s what she does.

She tries to paint herself as the victim.

I bet she didn’t tell you that it was her fault.

” I stiffen as she keeps going. “What’s happening to Snow.

She missed the signs. If she’d caught it earlier then my baby girl wouldn’t be in this mess.

She likes to think of herself as this responsible know-it-all but she can’t even hold a job.

Did she tell you that? She got fired from her only job that made her any money and now?—”

“That was also the job where she got assaulted every fucking day,” he cuts her off and my heart clenches.

Mom’s eyes narrow up at him. “Are you the one who’s putting these ideas in her head? No one is assaulting her. She likes to make things up and if you think you can take my daughter away from me?—”

“That’s it,” Shepard cuts her off and this time, his voice has enough of a threat in it that my mother winces. Then, leaning forward a little bit, he says, “Get out right now or I’ll put you the fuck out. And I’m not gonna be nice about it.”

My mother leans back but her fire isn’t totally gone. “Apparently, you all have been without any parental supervision for too long, or maybe your mother never taught you any manners, but?—”

“My mother is none of your business, so don’t even think about mentioning her,” he growls. “And while you’re at it, get your daughter’s name out of your fucking mouth too, or I’ll explain to you, in great detail, where my manners go when it comes to family.”

Before my mother can say anything else, I see Ledger step forward. “He’s not the only one. My manners fuck right off too when it comes to someone threatening my family.”

Before I can contend with that, Reed joins the group as well. “They’re being too nice about it. But I don’t have that problem. So why don’t you stay? Fuck around some more and find out exactly what we do to people who threaten our own.”

If I thought this was all then I’d be wrong, because there’s one more person, or rather brother, in this room and he speaks next. “She’s ours. And we don’t like when people interfere in our family business. So leave. Now.”

So this is what it feels like, then. To have a family. To have someone at your back.

To belong .