Page 14 of The Moments You Were Mine

He was right. I had let it go on long enough.

It was stupid to be embarrassed by one night. I’d been drunk. That would have been excuse enough if I’d simply passed it off that way the next day. Instead, I’d held on to the humiliation and ended up making it a bigger deal than it should have been. I winced just thinking about it.

I’d never gone this long without texting Parker since I’d gotten my first phone as a tween. But maybe it had been a good thing. Maybe putting this distance between us had finally allowed me to accept that Parker and I would never be more than friends. It had allowed me to truly let JJ into my life.

Angry voices jerked my gaze toward the public restrooms a few feet away. A woman’s sharp cry of pain caused alarm to travel up my spine and sent me jogging up the beach toward them.

As I approached, the eerie orange glow of lights on the brick building revealed Ace Turner. He was not my favorite person on a good day, but tonight, with the dim lighting turning his hair black and his eyes into bottomless pools, the creepy-crawly feeling he gave me occasionally rocketed up to real fear.

My stomach lurched in ugly twists as I watched him shove his wife into the wall with a hand to her neck. The elfin brunette had two personalities—a vivacious surfer, challenging anyone around her to keep up on the waves, and a jealous harpy who resented anyone who dared talk to Ace.

Ever since I’d taken my first surf lesson with Ace, I’d tried to avoid them. But tonight, the terror on her face had me quickening my pace, hoping I could do something to calm things down or at least get her away from him.

“Fucking bitch. What did you do with it?” He shook her, slamming her head into the brick with a resounding crack. She let out another pained yelp.

“Sold it,” she choked out.

“Fuck! Where’s the money, Celia?” he snarled.

She scrabbled at his hands, trying to pull them away from her throat.

My heart hammered against my rib cage.

What the hell should I do? WhatcouldI do? Ace was twice my size and full of muscles, testosterone, and often the drugs he handed out like they were candy. I had no weapon on me. My backpack and the pepper spray Parker’s dad had ensured I carried were at the bonfire. I was in a bikini covered in shorts and a sweatshirt. I didn’t even have shoes on.

A dark, heavy weight settled in my stomach as I sprinted the rest of the way to them. All I knew was I had to do something, anything. I couldn’t just stand there while Ace strangled her. I’d seen enough violence in my life. I’d witnessed a cold-blooded murder firsthand and carried those dark memories with me. I’d be damned if I’d watch as someone else died without trying to prevent it.

Ace and Celia were so focused on each other that they didn’t see me coming. I used every ounce of muscle I’d earned from years of working on the ranch and smashed my fist into Ace’s shoulder.

Surprised, he staggered to the side with a grunt before spinning to face me. I didn’t give him time to regroup, kicking him in the groin. Even barefoot, it packed a punch that had him bellowing in agony and hunching over.

I grabbed Celia by the arm and hauled her into the women’s restroom. I slammed the heavy metal door shut, slid the bolt lock into place, and then whirled around to see what else I could use to block the door. Other than a rubber garbage can, everything else in the public restroom was screwed to the walls and floors.

Celia backed up into the row of sinks as Ace pounded his fist on the door.

“Celia. Get the fuck out here.”

She gasped for air, rubbing at her neck.

“You know what’s coming for both of us if you don’t give me that money!” he screamed.

She started toward the door, and I blocked her path. “Don’t. He can’t get to you in here.”

“It’s. My. Fault.” Each word seemed to cost her. He’d done a hell of a lot of damage before I’d gotten to her. It wasn’t just the bruising on her throat. She had a nasty one on her cheek, and blood was dripping from her swollen nose.

The blood combined with the fear rippling through me triggered unwanted memories that threatened to haul me into the abyss of my past. Dark moments at my stepmom’s bar when danger had found us, when Sadie had defended me by placing herself in harm’s way. Her strength and our attackers turning on each other were what had saved us.

But I still smelled the metallic scent in my nightmares.

My pulse turned erratic, sweat dripped down my back, and my lungs tightened.

The bathroom door rattled. Ace snarled in fury.

Spots drifted across my vision.

With a shaky hand, I pulled my phone from my pocket, opened my favorites, and hit the call button before registering that Celia was moving toward the exit. I blocked her path once again as Ace screamed her name.

“’Bout damn time, Ducky.” Relief at hearing Parker’s deep voice nearly brought me to tears. I didn’t have time to register the well of emotions I heard in his words. I didn’t have time for anything but the raw truth.