Page 32 of Broken Hearts (Hibiscus Hearts #1)

I hold Sage against me, knowing that whatever her dad has written for her, these are the last words he’s ever going to say to her. The last words she is ever going to get from him.

And I can’t even imagine how fucking hard that must be. God knows I am terrified to read my letter.

“You okay?”

I eventually ask, even though I know that’s probably the dumbest thing I could ask her.

Sage sniffs, lifting her head as she swipes her fingers across her cheeks. I cup her face in my hands, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips.

“I wish I got more time with him,”

she whispers against my mouth.

I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close. “I know, me too,”

I tell her. “And I feel like an asshole for saying that because I got to see him every day for the last nine years.”

Sage turns her face into my neck, resting her lips against my skin. “Tell me something about him,”

she murmurs. “Something that…I don’t know, was important to you.”

I blow out a breath, knowing that this is something Sage will probably ask me for a long time, given all the years she missed out on with him. And while once that question would’ve pissed me off, preferring instead to keep my stories to myself, now it doesn’t.

Now, I want to tell her everything.

The good.

And the bad.

“When your dad first took me in,”

I start, knowing this story is exactly that—good and bad. “I was such a little shit.”

Sage lets out a soft laugh, elbowing me gently. “Yeah, I think you might have mentioned that.”

I glance down to find her smirking at me, and I chuckle, dropping a kiss on the end of her nose. “No, I mean, I really was, though,”

I tell her. “I was so fucking angry, and I didn’t trust anyone, least of all this guy who acted like he wanted to look after me. I figured it had to be a con.”

“A con? Why?”

Sage asks, shifting so she’s sitting between my legs, half turned so she’s looking at me, her body wrapped in my arms.

“Foster parents get paid, Sage,”

I tell her. “It’s supposed to help cover the costs of looking after us or whatever, but more often than not it gets spent on booze and drugs. I figured Mitch was like all the rest. Didn’t give a shit about me, just about the money he would get.”

She rests a hand on my jaw, her eyes sad as she waits for me to continue. It’s weird because I’ve never told this story to anyone, and yet I want to tell her. I want to tell her everything because she’s still here. And not just that, she’s staying.

For me.

No one ever stays for me.

“It took me a while to realize that Mitch wasn’t getting any money, that he’d told them he didn’t need or want it,”

I eventually continue.

Sage smiles at that, curling her hand around the back of my neck as she pulls me in for a kiss. “That sounds like him,”

she whispers.

I kiss her again as a million different thoughts and images and feelings now wash over me. Images of the life I’m going to get to have with her, all the feelings I’ve been trying so hard not to feel for her. All of it just unleashes inside of me, needing to get out.

“I love you,”

I whisper, brushing my thumb across her cheekbone.

Her smile changes, into something sexy and sweet and all mine. “Love you too,”

she whispers back before she adds, “Keep going.”

With a teasing groan, I drop my face into her neck, nuzzling against her. “My last foster parent was pissed,”

I continue. “Pissed he’d lost his cash cow, pissed at what Mitch had done. Apparently, they were looking into things and there was a chance the other kids he didn’t give a shit about were gonna be taken away too. He was gonna lose all his bank.”

“Good,”

Sage says, nodding her head. “He shouldn’t have been allowed to have anyone.”

I nod once, my eyes moving to the ocean now, thinking Sage doesn’t know the half of it. And I’m not sure she ever will because while I might be able to tell her the good and the bad, I don’t ever want to subject her to the ugly.

And there were times when things were really fucking ugly.

“He came here,”

I now say, my mind flashing back to the day, to all the things that happened.

“When?”

Sage asks, her words low.

I shrug. “Maybe a couple of weeks after I was taken from him.”

I pause, swallowing hard, because it doesn’t matter how much time exists between that day and now, the fear and the pain never goes away.

“Nate,”

she now whispers, her hand resting over my heart, which I know she can feel pounding in my chest. “Tell me what happened.”

I nod, because I do want to tell her, even though it’s fucking hard when I’ve never told anyone. “He came into the shop,”

I say, my gaze on the setting sun. “Mitch had run upstairs, so I was there by myself, I was…”

I swallow again, willing myself not to bolt, to not get angry or pissed or just stop. “He walked right up to me, grabbed me by the neck, lifted me off the ground and slammed me against the wall. He was drunk, he fucking stank of beer and weed and fuck knows what else.”

The words are pouring out of me now, as though the second I give voice to them, I have to get it all out. “He held me there while he slammed his other fist into my stomach so fucking hard I nearly puked. I thought he was gonna kill me this time, he was so angry he wasn’t getting his money. Told me it was all my fault, that I was just one big fuck up and now I’d fucked this up for him too.”

Sage sniffs, and when I glance down, I can see she’s crying, the tears streaming down her cheeks as she watches me.

“Hey,”

I say gently, brushing her tears away. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not,”

she says, shaking her head. “I hate that all this happened to you.”

Smiling, I brush the hair back from her face, leaning in to kiss her as I whisper, “I’m doing pretty damn good now though.”

She lets out a half-laugh, half-sob against my lips. “Please tell me my dad came back downstairs. Please tell me he got that guy away from you.”

“He did,”

I confirm, my thumb brushing across her cheekbone again. “He saw what he was doing, and even though I fully expected Mitch to walk over and deck the guy, because that was everything I was used to, he didn’t.”

“What did he do?”

I huff out a smile, remembering my surprise when I saw that Mitch wasn’t resorting to violence like everyone else in my life did. “He walked over,”

I start, my smile growing. “And he just casually pulled this guy off me, basically pinning him against the wall now, while he checked if I was okay. And then he bound his hands behind his back with a surfboard leash and called the cops.”

I burst out laughing at the memory, shaking my head as I say, “I legit never expected him to do that.”

Sage laughs. “My mom always said he was a total softie.”

I tilt my head to the side. “He was, but he could be tough as nails when he wanted to be. He just showed it in a really different way,”

I add, turning back to her. “A way I wasn’t used to.”

She smiles up at me and fuck, I still can’t believe she is staying. Still can’t believe I got this lucky. “I am so glad Mitch was there for you, Nate,”

she says. “He gave you the life you deserved to have.”

Now it’s me smiling. “He gave me you,”

I whisper.

“He did,”

she says, kissing me again. “You ready to read your letter?”

“No,”

I say, blowing out a breath.

“Yeah, you are,”

she says, handing it to me. “And I’m right here while you do. I’m not going anywhere.”

I kiss her, hard, wishing I had the words to tell her how fucking amazing I think she is or how much she means to me or how grateful I am that she’s not only letting Mitch’s dream continue, but that she’s staying here to help it. That she’s staying here for me.

“Fuck, I love you,”

I say to her. “I’ve never said that to anyone before, and now I…fuck, I can’t stop saying it to you.”

“Good, I never want you to. And I’ll never stop telling you either.”

Chuckling, I say, “I feel like we’re being kinda cheesy and dramatic here.”

Sage scoffs as she says, “What? How dare you, Nathan Peterson. We’re having a moment!”

Grinning, I pull her close. “I can’t wait to have all our moments.”

She snorts at that, elbowing me in the stomach. “Now who’s being cheesy,”

she teases. “Come on, enough stalling, read the letter.”

I suck in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly as I take the letter from Sage. Sliding my thumb under the flap, I carefully open it, pulling out the paper with Mitch’s handwriting.

* * *

Dear Nate,

* * *

Shit, so this is it, huh? I’ve finally left you. I’m sorry, kid, you know that was never part of my plan, and I can only hope that you are okay this time around. That my leaving is different to all the others. It’s not my choice to leave you, I hope you know that.

And…I’m guessing you’ve probably met Sage by now, too. Guessing you’re probably wondering why I never told you about her. Shit, maybe you’re glad I’m gone since discovering that piece of news.

Two things to know, Nate.

First, me not telling you about Sage was never anything to do with you. Ever. It was on me and all the things I’d done. The father I wasn’t able to be for her. I never wanted you to know that side of me, to know I’d failed at something.

And second, no, you were never a replacement for her. That’s not why I took you in, so please don’t ever think that, okay? You were, are, like a son to me, Nate, and I will forever be grateful for that pissy little kid I found sleeping on the beach.

I hope you and Sage can get along, that you can find some common ground with the future of The Pipe Dream. I kind of have a feeling that you will, but what would I know, right? I’m just a crusty old surfer.

Whatever happens, I hope you are happy, Nate, and I hope you follow your dreams.

I love you, kid.

Look after my girl for me.

* * *

I’ll be seeing you,

Mitch

* * *

“Fuck,”

I breathe out, and this time it’s me sobbing like a baby as Sage now wraps me in her arms. I have no idea if she read the letter too, I wasn’t trying to hide it from her, but fuck me, that was not what I was expecting.

“You okay?”

Sage asks.

I let out a laugh, shaking my head as I tighten my arms around her. “No, yeah,”

I say. “Fuck, I don’t know. I just… Shit, I don’t know what I expected to find in that envelope.”

She smiles, wiping at my cheeks. “If it was anything like mine, I’m guessing it was exactly what you needed.”

I smile, shaking my head as I scrub a hand down my face. “Yeah, something like that,”

I say, exhaling. “You can read it,”

I tell her.

“It’s yours,”

she says softly.

“I know,”

I say. “I don’t know, I kinda want you to read it, I guess. But you don’t have to.”

Sage smiles, leaning up to brush her lips against mine. “I will, and you can read mine too.”

I smile against her mouth. “I can’t believe your dad left us the shop when we’d never even met each other, never even knew the other existed.”

She laughs, shaking her head a little as she says, “I guess he just knew.”

“Yeah,”

I say. “You think he’d be happy if he knew about this…us?”

I ask, circling a finger in the space between us.

She smiles up at me, her beautiful ocean blue eyes sparkling with happiness and love, and all the things I want to see for the rest of my life. “Yeah,”

she whispers. “I really do.”