by Callie Rae
“Fallon,” Jesse growls at me. “Don’t.”
“Marcus, man. Come on. This is crazy, let them go. She’s just a girl.” Jax speaks up for the first time. “She’s not worth all of this.”
“Look at you all. Working together. If you only knew the truth,” Marcus says with a laugh, all while keeping the barrel trained on Jesse.
“Marcus, stop.” James speaks up. He hadn’t said a word while a gun had been pointed at his son, but now he looks terrified. How can he not be scared of his son dying but yet is scared of the truth? Typical piece of shit father.
“Oh, that’s perfect. Daddy Callaway has a secret he doesn’t want spilled,” Marcus sing-songs. “He wouldn’t want his sons to know the truth. Sons. Plural.” He shakes his head before looking at the group in front of us with derision. “You’re all pathetic.”
I freeze. I watch Cason and Jesse as they glance first at each other, and then Jax. They’re confused as they ponder Marcus’s words. I’m not sure what Marcus is getting at, but I know I have to get him out of here.
“Jax, Jesse, Jade. Doesn’t it all sound so familiar? It’s just like James to give all his kids J names . . .”
The color drains from James’s face as Jesse and Jax lock eyes.
“That’s right Jax. You’re not even Vic’s. Didn’t you ever wonder why your own father hates you so much?” Marcus says to Jax. “Why you were never going to be Vic’s successor? It’s because you aren’t his blood. You’re the bastard son of a fucking whore.”
Marcus turns to Jesse. “And you—your own father has been lying to you your whole life. Although, that isn’t really news to you, is it?” Marcus smiles evilly at Jesse. “He even let you war with your own brother because it was easier than telling his family the truth. Typical James, letting someone else handle his problems. And his teen son, of all people.”
“All right Marcus, enough with the drama,” Vic says. The lack of urgency in his voice is disturbing to me. That man honestly doesn’t care if anyone gets hurt today. “Put the gun down, and let the girl go. I have ground to break.”
“Why would I do that? I’m not stupid—you won’t let me go after this. There’s no way you’ll let me touch the company once we leave here. I’ll have a bullet in my skull before I get to the door,” Marcus snarls at Victor. “No, we are going to get in this car and drive off and none of you will stop us. If you do, it’s bye bye Fallon.”
Jesse rushes up, reaching for me, but Marcus aims the gun at Jesse’s forehead before he can reach either of us. I scream. Marcus’s finger twitches on the trigger and my entire life is one trigger pull away from being destroyed.
“Jesse!” Cason and James both yell out at the sudden move he made. Sudden and stupid. What is he thinking?
I can’t let anyone else get hurt. I just can’t . . . and I certainly can’t let Jesse sacrifice himself to save me. If anything happened to him, I’d never be able to live with myself. So I breathe out and do the only thing I know to do.
“Stop! Stop. I will go with you—just stop. Don’t hurt anyone else. Just stop.” I grab the hand on the gun and hold onto it, placing my finger behind the trigger so he can’t pull it and shoot Jesse.
“Please. Please, Marcus . . .” I beg him. “Let’s go, just you and me. We can be together. Like old times.”
“Fallon, what are you doing?” Jesse hisses. He’s confused and worried, and he has a gun pointed at his skull. “You can’t go with him.”
Marcus’s attention flips back to Jesse with a snarl. “Did you hear that? She wants to go with me. She’s picking me.” Marcus chuckles before saying to me, “Get in the car, Fallon.”
Jesse says angrily, “No. She’s not going anywhere with you.”
“Jesse, I need you to let me go.” I say the words, but I can’t look him in the eyes. If I do, I’ll never be able to walk away from him. So I look beyond him to Cason—the disappointment in his face is easier to swallow. “You have to let me go.”
“I’ll never let you go, Fallon,” Jesse says. I finally look into his eyes and try my best to tell him with a single glance that I’ll never stop loving him.
Marcus pushes me behind him, and I turn away from my entire life to climb through the driver’s side door of the SUV. Vic’s idiot guards left the engine running but it’s an idiot move that might have just saved Jesse’s life.
Marcus slowly backs up towards the door. “Do not follow us. Do not search for us. The moment I find out you do, I will put a bullet between her shoulder blades.”
“Fallon!” Jesse yells frantically as I close my eyes and look away. “Fallon, don’t do this.”
“I’m in the car. Let’s go Marcus,” I tell Marcus. He climbs slowly into the driver’s seat so he can keep the gun pointed out the window before shifting to close the door and pointing the gun at my heart. Then he slams on the gas and flies out of the warehouse.
I stare out of the window as we drive away from everything important in my life. I’ve accepted my fate. But Jesse’s life means so much more than mine. He’s going to make a difference in this world. He needs to.
I watch as we drive past a series of warehouses. The monotony of the landscape is oddly soothing. There are streetlamps hung from utility poles spaced out in even intervals. I focus on the poles, counting the seconds between each one we pass and the next. Focusing on the poles is better than focusing on leaving Jesse.
“Don’t worry, Fallon. We will have a good life together,” Marcus chuckles.
One, two, three, four . . . the next pole.
I thought this was over. I thought I was finally going home. I had hoped to be in Jesse’s arms again. But that isn’t going to be my life. It was never meant to be.
One, two, three, four . . . the next pole.
I’m tired. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of hurting the people I care about because of my poor decisions. I’m tired of continuing Marcus manipulating everyone’s life. It has to end. It all has to end.
One, two, three, four . . . the next pole.
I look over at Marcus. He’s driving down the road with a smug, satisfied smirk on his face because he knows he won. He’ll continue to win until someone finally stops him. I’ve let everyone try to stop him for me. I’ve let everyone I care about try to handle my problems. He needs to be stopped. I know now I’m the only one who can do it. And I’d warned him—when he wasn’t watching, I would be.
One, two, three, four . . . I reach up and yank on the steering wheel. I hold tight and aim for the next pole.
“What are you doing? Fallon! Let go of the steering wheel!” Marcus yells. He grabs onto my arm and pulls, but I hold with everything I have in me. We both struggle to pull the steering wheel in different directions, but I fight hard, and ultimately, I win. “Fallon! We’re going to hit—"
One, two, three, four. Metal crunching on metal never sounded so sweet.
I turn to my father. “Give me your keys.” I can’t let that asshole get away again. I won’t fail her again.
“Jesse what are you going to do? Is she really worth it?” James says as he stands back. He has no intention of giving me his keys. I can see it on his face—he figures he held up his end of the deal, and letting her go solves any potential issues he’d have trying to keep us apart later.
“What is it about her that you don’t like? You’re a fucking shit father, and to more kids than we knew.” I grab him up by the collar. “You’re just going to stand there and let him take her again? Give me your fucking keys.”
“I got her here. That was the deal. But I say good riddance. She’s a distraction for you. Let her go. She willingly got into that car with him,” My father looks me in the eye with distaste.
My fist is in his face before I can stop myself.
“Jesse!” Cason yells my name as he tries to pull me off of my father and someone coughs, diverting our attention.
“I’ll be taking my part of the deal,” Vic says with a snide smirk on his face.<
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“You’re not getting shit, asshole. How about you deal with your psycho nephew first,” I growl. I don’t let up on my father; I still have him pinned to the ground.
Vic looks to the remaining guard and nods to him. The guard pulls a sleek black piece out of his holster and directs the barrel straight at us. I finally let go of James and stand up. I stalk towards the old man with no balls. I growl as I gain a few more inches with every step.
“The deed. Now,” Vic snaps.
“Vic, do you really think this is a good idea?” James asks. The dumbass has a gun pointed at him and that’s what he chooses to say?
“You said it yourself. Business has been . . . slow. I need that deed,” Vic says with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Don’t come in any closer or I will shoot,” the guard yells at me. I put my hands up slowly but my eyes are on Vic.
James puts his hands up. One hand holds the folder with the deed. He slowly steps forward. “Okay. I’m going to put it on the ground in front of us.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you really about to hand over that deed right now?” I say to my father incredulously.
James takes another few steps forward slowly and then nods his head. “Would you rather be dead or not have the Depot son?”
A large thunk has my head yanking up. Surprisingly, I see the guard lying on the floor face-down. But what is even more surprising is that Jax is standing over him with a crowbar in his hand looking down at the man. I look at him, feeling confused. Behind him I see the trunk of the Town Car open. I think we all forgot Jax was even here.
“Jax. Son, what are you doing?” Vic yells at his son. No, not his son. I think?
“I’m not your son.” Jax sneers at the man he’s called father his entire life. It makes total sense and explains why Vic and my father aren’t partners anymore.
He bends down and pulls out a key ring from the guard’s pocket. He stands up and tosses them to me. “Go get your girl.”
I catch the key ring, and I don’t hesitate. I just run to the car, jump behind the wheel and start it just as fast. Just as I put the car in drive, the passenger door flies open. Cason jumps into the passenger seat. I hit the gas, the tires spin and I am sliding out of the warehouse. As soon as I hit the daylight, I see a cloud of smoke coming from a mile away. It’s the only direction they could’ve gone. My gut lurches, but I continue to drive.
What did you do Fallon?
“Where are we going? We don’t know what direction he went in,” Cason is holding onto the handlebar on the roof of the car. He better hold on tight because I’m not slowing down until I find that SUV.
I stare at the cloud of smoke as I swallow my panic. “I think I know where they are.”
Bile rises in my throat as we get closer to the plume of smoke. I hoped I was wrong. I slam on the breaks when I see the black SUV wrapped around a pole. I barely skid into park before I am out of the car and running for the SUV.
“Fallon!” I scream as I start to bolt to the car. Cason catches me and holds me back.
“Jesse, be careful. The car is on fire,” Cason yells.
I push Cason off and run harder.
I get to the passenger door and tug, but the door isn’t budging. I can see Fallon through the window. She’s slumped over the middle console, Marcus is leaning on the steering wheel, and there’s blood everywhere. I can’t tell if she’s breathing. The car is filling with smoke.
“Fallon, wake up baby! Oh God, wake up! The car is on fire,” I scream. I beat on the window hoping it will stir her, but it doesn’t. I round to the next door and tug. I’m able to get the door open a few inches, and I squeeze myself through into the backseat. I pull my shirt up over my nose to block some of the smoke whirling through the cab of the car. I reach over the passenger seat and grab Fallon under her arms. As soon as I entered the car the smoke filled my lungs and my shirt isn’t filtering enough of it out. I suck in a big breath and hold it. I pull her hard until she clears the middle console and falls into the backseat with me. Her lifeless body flops across my lap, and I pray that she’s just unconscious. I kick the door back open, and Cason is there waiting and ready to help. I slide her feet through first and then do my best to wedge her body through the small opening in the door toward Cason. He grabs onto her and pulls her the rest of the way out, then picks her up and cradles her to his chest. His eyes meet mine for just a second, and I see the heartbreak in them.
“Get out of there Jesse! The car is going to explode!” he yells and turns around and runs to safety with my heart in his arms. I look over to Marcus, who has started moaning and moving his head from side to side.
I look out the window to Fallon. Then back to Marcus. Then I look back to Fallon again just as Cason lays her down on the side of the road. Her body is just lying there, beaten and bruised.
I push through the narrow opening in the door and run. I hear a hissing sound coming from behind me.
“Jesse, run!” Cason screams “It’s going to blow!”
I reach the spot where Fallon is lying on the ground and cover her body with mine just as the car blows, engulfing what’s left of it in flames. A heat wave reaches us and spreads across my back as I cover her.
My head lands on her chest and my arms are spread across her face. The explosion has been set off and the fire calms. For a beat, I simply hold on to her. Then I hear it—silence in her chest. She’s not breathing. I panic—I sit up and start performing chest compressions, frantically pumping air into her lungs while I bend over and breath for her.
“She’s not breathing. She’s not fucking breathing!” I yell as I press on her chest again. “Cason, call 911. Now!”
“Fallon, wake up.” I breathe into her again. When I look back up, Jax, James, and Cason are all looking down at me with grim faces. Jax’s phone is to his ear, and I think I hear him say something about 911.
I continue to give her CPR. “Fallon, don’t you give up. I need you,” I tell her.
My heart fractures a little more with each chest compression I give. I imagine my life without Fallon in it, and the thought nearly suffocates me. Despite the tears flowing down my face and my hope dwindling by the second, I keep going. I keep going because every pivotal moment in our lives always starts with a car ride, and I’ll be damned if this car ride is the one that destroys me.
I need her. I need her to live.
“Don’t you fucking leave me, baby. Not now. Not today. Not ever,” I say as I continue to breathe for her.
Oh man this book was hard to write. It was like a monumental exercise to see if I could accomplish my goals. But I didn’t get through it alone. And there were some serious injuries along the way. Any who let’s get started.
First, I want to recognize my team of professionals. From betas, to my editor, and my proofreader.
To my editor, girl you just don’t know how much I appreciate your skill of straightening out my thoughts. Without you there would literally be zero books in this world we’ve thought up. Thank you for understanding me.
To my betas. First Britt, I need those fruitus. Secondly, your snarky comments make this process enjoyable. Carrie you challenge me to think beyond the story and that makes me a better author. Ari, you came in at the last minute and yelled at me. So, thanks for that.
My proofreader, you are so good at catching it all. Also, I adore you too. Oh, and you aren’t allowed to ever leave me.
And then to all the people who told me I could do this the first time when doubted myself. Then to you having to go through the same exact conversations on the second book with me because the first book wasn’t proof enough. Thanks, but hang on, we still have three more books.
Then to my precious girl gang made up of readers of all walks of life. You make this possible with your support. Also, you don’t judge me when I say goofy things. So for that I appreciate every single on of you.
With love,
Callie Rae
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Novellas:
Cherry Creek Series