On Broken Wings (The Witness Series Book 7)

by Heather D'Agostino

  Ooooooooo

  Evan

  It’s early, earlier than I ever get up for unless I’m called in on a case. The sun was just starting to rise and the air had a chill to it. It was the perfect fall day. I grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on as I made my way downstairs. I was picking up Jenni and taking her to the gym. Today could either earn me major points or put me in the doghouse for good. I was taking a chance and hoping that she’d see my gesture as something out of love.

  “Why are we here before the sun?” Jenni grumbled as we walked to the front door.

  “You’ll see.” I chuckled as I punched a key code into the numeric lock.

  “I’ve never been to this gym. Is it new, or something?” She glanced around. The lights weren’t on inside and I was starting to rethink my plan.

  “It used to be something else and a friend bought the building. It’s only been open a few months.” I reached to my right and flipped the light switch on.

  Bright lights began to come on one at a time, lighting up the large room. Mats were stacked on one side, a balance beam, uneven bars, and rings were off to the side and a floor area was right in the middle.

  “Surprise?” I turned to face her. She looked shocked. “Was this a bad idea? I thought it would be fun.” I reached for her. “Is this ok?”

  “I don’t know what to say. I haven’t done this in almost four years. I don’t even know if I can anymore.” Her eyes were wide as she wrapped her arms around her middle.

  “We can go to a real gym if you want. I just thought you could have fun today.” I started to turn, but she grabbed my arm.

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “I’m outta shape and don’t have the right clothes. I’m not sure how this will go.” She grimaced.

  “No biggie.” I shrugged. “Show me what you got, Superstar.”

  “I don’t know about that.” She laughed as she kicked off her shoes.

  I watched in fascination as Jenni removed her t-shirt so she was only in her sports bra and shorts. She dipped her hands in a bucket of chalk off to the side and then marched over to the beam with determination plastered across her face. “Beam was my thing. Come over here in case I take a bad spill.”

  I kicked my shoes off and shuffled after her. She placed her hands on the beam and hoisted herself up. I watched as she paced from one end to the other, reacquainting herself with the feel. “Here goes nothin’,” she muttered as she flung herself backwards into a walk over. She wobbled slightly as she stood up, but her face was covered in a huge smile.

  “That was great.” I watched in amazement.

  “That was terrible. Did you see that wobble? How about the fact that I only did one? I used to do three in a row,” she growled as she moved to the end. “You got your phone right?” She glanced at me. “I mean, in case we need to call an ambulance?”

  “What are you going to do?” I started to rush over, but she held her hand up.

  “Take back what I gave up.” She tossed out as she positioned herself at the end of the beam. She glanced back as she pointed one foot and balanced on the other. Then in quick succession, she flipped backwards much like the first time, but continued with three flips. When she reached the end of the beam, she dismounted and then turned to me with a victorious grin. “I can’t believe I did that.”

  “I can’t believe you did that.” I rushed up to her and hugged her.

  “That felt so good, but I’m tired. I need to get back in shape.” She sighed.

  “We can come here whenever you want. I know the owner.” I winked at her.

  “I’m too old to compete, but it does feel good. Wonder how the floor feels.” She nibbled her lip as she turned toward the giant blue mat in the center of the room. “This I don’t need a spotter for.” She took off in a run and did several fancy flips before coming to a stop in the far corner. She looked like a little kid. Her face was almost splitting in two she was smiling so much.

  We stayed at the gym for most of the morning. It didn’t open to the public until noon. When coaches and students started trickling in, we grabbed our things and left. It was cold out, so I stopped at a local coffee shop to grab us coffees and pastries.

  “Today was so much fun. Thank you for that,” Jenni mumbled around a bite of her strudel.

  “You’re welcome. Why’d you stop anyway?” I finished off my coffee but waited for her answer.

  “I didn’t plan to.” She sighed. “My boyfriend gave me a hard time about it when we were dating. He thought it took too much of my time and he wasn’t getting enough of it. I was young and stupid. I started cutting back on training, then I started dating Nate and you know what happened there.” She looked away.

  “Well, I’m glad you found your wings again.” I wrapped one arm around her in a hug. “You were meant to fly, Jenni. Don’t ever think otherwise. You were born to soar high and I think you’re slowly finding your way back.”

  “I think I am too.” She offered a half smile.

  We sat there in the café just talking for hours about nothing really. Jenni told me stories of her competition days. I told her about my academy days. We were like old friends reminiscing together. We were learning more this way than I ever thought we would and I couldn’t help but wish we’d met like this the first time. Jenni was special. I knew that much. I wasn’t sure where life would take us, but I knew that we were going to fly there together.

  Epilogue

  7 months later

  Jenni

  “You ready for this?” Evan was leaning against the doorway to my room.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I ran my fingers through my hair one last time before standing to grab my things. Today was graduation day. I’d worked too hard and too long to miss it.

  Mason had gotten married last fall and I’d been living alone since. Evan had talked about moving in together, but I wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “You look great.” He smiled as I looped my arm through his.

  Mason was planning to meet us at the stadium, so Evan had come to my place. His car was waiting by the curb in a No Parking zone.

  “Really?” I rolled my eyes as he chuckled.

  “I know the guy that works this beat. We’re cool.” He opened the passenger door for me to climb in. “Besides, I would have paid the ticket if he was dumb enough to write me one.” He jogged around to his side, hopped in and headed toward campus.

  It didn’t take long to get there and Evan was able to get pretty close without pulling rank. I gave him a quick hug and made my way to where the graduates were supposed to meet. Today couldn’t get any better than this. I found out last week that the job I’d applied for was mine and after today, the world was mine for the taking.

  ooooooooo

  Evan

  She looked gorgeous today and I think she knew. Jenni was smiling ear to ear when I picked her up and happiness has always looked good on her. Over the past several months I’ve worked really hard to make her happy. We’ve been taking things slow and getting to know each other on a much deeper level. I’ve asked her a couple of times to move in with me, but she’s turned me down. I’m hoping that after today, she might say yes.

  “You ready?” Mason elbowed me in the side as I shifted in my seat. We’d met up after I dropped Jenni off and were now just waiting for everything to start.

  “Yep.” I patted my pocket. “You really think this is what she’d want?”

  “I don’t think she’s ever considered it.” Mason shrugged. “I think you gotta good shot though.”

  “Good? I was hoping for something better, like great.” I grimaced.

  “You gotta stop worrying. I know my sister.” He turned away from me as music began to pour through the speakers and students filed in from the tunnels.

  Ooooooooo

  Jenni

  Finally. I was finally finished. The leather case to my diploma felt foreign in my hands. We were currently sitting at a large table in the back of The Rusty Nail. Mason had planned a party h
ere before the bar opened just for me.

  “Wanna dance?” Evan stood and held out his hand.

  “Sure.” I rose and followed him over to the dance floor. Someone cranked up the music and Evan spun us around. I’d never seen him dance like this and it reminded me of the way my dad used to dance with my mom in the kitchen.

  “I’m so proud of you.” Evan smiled down at me. “You’ve come so far in the short time that I’ve known you. I hope you know your parents would be really proud of you.”

  “I know.” I nodded a few times. If I was being honest, I’ve thought about them a lot over the last couple of months. I’ve wondered if they could see me and hoped that I’d become the daughter that they always knew I’d be. I’d tried not to dwell on the fact that I wouldn’t have a bunch of family at my graduation, but Mason reminded me that it wasn’t true. I had a huge family at the ceremony. Just because we weren’t related by blood didn’t mean that we weren’t family. All of our friends had come and when I walked across the stage, I could hear them all shouting for me.

  The music changed to a softer song and Evan paused in his movements. “I know you said that you wanted to wait to move in, but I wanted to ask you something else.” He stepped back slightly and held both my hands in his. “I love you, Jenni Stone. I think I’ve loved you since the first time you rejected my coffee offering. I knew you were special back then. You’re smart, funny and stronger than you will ever believe. We’ve survived a lot together in this last year, but I’d like to make it lifetime.” My eyes widened as he dropped down in front of me. “Jenni Stone, will you marry me?”

  Tears fell faster than I could wipe them away as he pulled a small black box from his pocket. His hands shook as he opened it and a round diamond appeared. “Evan.” I gasped.

  “We can get something else, but I thought this would mean more.” He removed the ring from the box. “It is a yes?” He held the ring at the end of my finger.

  My headed nodded vigorously. “Yes. Of course, it’s a yes.”

  As he stood, I admired the ring, forgetting completely that we were surrounded by our friends. Mason came up and hugged me. “Mom and Dad would have wanted you to have it.” He hugged me tighter and the tear came back.

  “How did you?” I turned toward Evan.

  “I had some help.” He smiled sheepishly. “We can get something bigger if you want, but I thought having your mom’s ring would mean more.”

  “It means everything. I love you so much.” I flung my arms around him as I leaped into the air.

  “I love you too, baby.” Evan laughed as he spun us around. We were soaring, plain and simple and nothing would bring us down.

  The End

  Playlist

  Stand by Me- Ki Theory

  Beach House- The Chainsmokers

  Are You the Reason- Calum Scott and Leona Lewis

  Stop and Stare- One Republic

  Once in a Lifetime- Landon Austin

  Waiting for Superman- Daughtry

  The words- Christina Perri

  Unbreakable- Lani Misalucha

  I Don’t Know About You- Chris Lane

  I Lived- One Republic

  Brave- Sara Bareilles

  Other Works by H. D’Agostino

  http://amzn.to/2sXcY7L

  The Second Chances Series

  Unbreak Me

  The Boy Next Door

  The One That Got Away

  Inside Out

  Fallen From Grace

  The Family Next Door

  The Shattered Series

  Destined

  Shattered

  Restored

  Renewed

  Fated

  The Broken Series

  Irreparably Broken

  Saving Us

  My Broken Angel

  Broken Pieces

  The Cook Brothers Series

  Walking Among the Cherry Trees

  Beyond the Cherry Trees

  Before the Cherry Trees

  The Witness Series

  Being Nobody

  Becoming Somebody

  Promise Me Tomorrow

  Say You Remember

  Below the Surface

  On Broken Wings

  The Sutter Family Series

  Catching Raindrops

  Trusting You

  Finding the Green Room

  Teaching Cayden

  Standalones

  Privileged

  Beautiful Goodbye

  Pieces of Forever

  Sands of Time

  Home for the Holidays

  Just One More

  Acknowledgements

  This book has been a long time coming. When I started this series back in 2014, I never dreamed it would get so big. I had an idea about witness protection, and figured I’d give it a go. I hadn’t read anything at the time that dealt with the issue. Sam and Dev were always close to me, and if you’ve followed this series from the beginning, you’ll see that they are the only pair that show up in all 7 books. When I finished Crash and Burn, I had planned to jump right into Jenni’s story, but Jenni had other plans. She and Evan didn’t really want to talk, or tell me anything for that matter. I shelved them, and moved on to other projects hoping that they’d eventually cooperate. It only took two years and a lot of messages from readers looking for their book for things to finally work out. I’ve shed a lot of tears with these characters over the last 5 years, and I’ve had a lot of help.

  Thank you, Angie and Melinda, for always being there, and knowing just what to say to get me moving in the right direction. Thank you, Tabitha, for being my alpha on this read. I know I tormented you at times, but you loved it all the same. I mean, why would you keep coming back if you didn’t? Thank you, Kellie, for a speedy and accurate editing job. Thank you, Shauna, for the beautiful cover pic. Thank you, Matthew and Kristen, for bringing Evan and Jenni to life.

  A big thank you goes out to my readers. Thank you for sticking with me, and waiting patiently for this story. I know it took me a while, ok forever, but I wanted to give this series the ending it deserved. I hope you loved the gang from The Rusty Nail as much as I did, and who knows…you may see them again sometime down the road.

  About the Author

  Heather D’Agostino is an avid reader turned Bestselling Author of the Contemporary Romance Series The Broken Series, The Shattered Series, The Second Chances Series, The Cook Brothers Series, The Sutter Family Series, and Romantic Suspense series The Witness Series.

  She attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Elementary Education with a minor in Mathematics.

  She currently lives in Central New York with her husband, two children, two dogs, and three cats. When she’s not writing she can usually be found at the dance studio, soccer field, or one of the many other places that she plays ‘Supermom’.

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