Page 116 of Break the Barrier

I was just so pissed.

But…I still love her.

“Don’t push me away when we need each other the most. Don’t break us.”

For several moments, neither of us spoke. The deafening silence seems to be an answer, and I take a step back. “Thea, I?—”

“Holy shit, I’m going to fucking kill you.” Annmarie’s voice breaks us out of the trance we’d been in, and my time is up.

I take another step back, and Thea watches as I walk away. It kills me when she doesn’t say anything, but it’s killing me to stay.

As Juniper and Annmarie crowd her, I notice a third woman walk into the room, and I know whatever we need to say to each other will have to wait.

Thea has her sisters now. It was time for me to make my exit.

46

thea

Slowly over the last week,I have allowed myself to start getting back into the swing of things. Not as easy with a brace on my wrist, stitches in my leg, and wounded pride, but I was making it work.

The days where Eric kidnapped me up to Logan showing up to save me feel like they were ages ago, and yet, I can still remember every second of the time I was there.

It was an actual, living nightmare, what I had been through.

But I could be grateful for that—I lived.

I’m alive and well—almost, anyway—and none of my family members had to endure the awfulness that came with losing a family member.

All four of my sisters were here in town with me. Ophelia’s instructors let her take a leave, working remotely for a time to be with me.

And Tori…Tori had shown up.

We haven’t spoken much, but she gave me a hug as soon as she saw me in the hospital. She was here for me.

Everything else would work itself out.

I had cried when I saw her, partly because I was emotional about the trauma, emotional about Logan, and then seeing her for the first time in years…yeah, it made me far too emotional.

I was working behind the bar, my fractured wrist strapped to my chest, making it easier for me to not have to worry about it. You can’t worry about an arm when you literally can’t move it. But I made use of my right one, wiping things down and organizing the lightweight stock.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Annmarie grumbles behind my back, and I roll my eyes, even though she can’t see me.

“I need to,” I respond, not really wanting to get into the why.

“I know,” is her reply. “You have company.”

I glance up in surprise, seeing a stern-faced Lue stomping up to me. It may be some weird motherly instinct thing, but I swear the girl grew like three inches since I last saw her.

“Thea,” she says, nodding at me in a held-back manner.

“Lue.” I breathe out her name, an overwhelming sense of relief flooding my system at the sight of her. “What are you doing here, honey?”

Before I know what’s happening, Lue’s lower lip trembles, and tears flood her eyes. I was around the bar in a flash, gently pulling Lue into my arm, wishing like hell I didn’t have one strapped to my chest so I could fully envelop the girl who had become like my own.

Worry overcomes me. “What’s wrong, Lue? Is it your dad? Didi?”

She pulls back slightly, wiping at her eyes and nose. I reach over the bar and grab a napkin, handing it to her. “No.”