A Beautiful Wreck (Second Chance #3)
Page 16
“Oh, baby girl. You promised me you were going to be okay.” Miranda’s face drained of blood, and she scooted over to sit on the hospital bed.
Cassie wanted to speak, but her throat was raw. She gave her sister a weak thumb’s up instead.
“No, don’t be doing that. You are not okay!” Miranda’s bottom lip trembled. She threw a heated look at the man standing behind her. “Jason, I’m going to kill him.”
Jason rested his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “It’s not his fault, baby. He saved her life.”
“Shut up! Don’t get all rational on me! It’s because of him that this happened.”
Cassie tried to shake her head, despite the pain, but they ignored her. Where’s Luke? Frustrated, she closed her eyes.
Their voices faded to a drone as she fell asleep.
* * *
She opened her eyes again to see a tired Luke hunched asleep in an L-shaped chair.
“Lu-uke?” She faltered at the foreign sound of her voice, raspy like a sixty-year-old lifelong smoker.
He jerked before turning dazed eyes towards her. “Principessa? My girl?”
“Hi….” she whispered.
“Hi.” He moved quickly over toward the bed. Tears gathered in his eyes and he wiped at them. He lifted her hand—she frowned when she saw it was bandaged in gauze—and gave it a gentle kiss.
“What happened?”
“Rest, my love. You’re safe and I’m not going anywhere.”
She wanted to argue, but her throat still hurt too much. She settled for a grouchy look instead.
He smiled. “There’s my little fighter.”
She checked him over. His face was scruffy, and his clothing looked like it had been days since he’d last changed.
He looked amazing. Feeling a rush of joy, she curled her hand inside his before pushing her pain medicine button again.
The warmth carried her away.
* * *
The next time Cassie opened her eyes, sunlight filled the room. She felt different this time. Stronger. Stay awake, Cass. Third time’s the charm.
“Hey beautiful, you’re awake again.” Luke's deep voice made her smile. The mattress sank as he sat beside her.
“Luke….” she whispered. “I’m desperate, Luke.”
“What do you need Cassie. Whatever it is, we’ll get it.”
“I’m dying for a Life Saver.” I’m so mean. A soft chuckle came out.
Luke got quiet. “Feeling better, I see. You’re lucky you look so cute wrapped up in gauze right now, because I still have a bone to pick with you.”
Oh crap. Act sick. Time to work it.
“I’m sorry, Luke.” Oh good, my voice still sounds raspy. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“Cassie, I could never be mad at you. It’s not your fault.”
His voice sounded so sad, it woke real regret in Cassie. Her eyes stung with tears. “I really was an idiot. I didn’t take what you said seriously.”
“It’s okay, my love. Only moving forward from here.”
“Have you gone home?”
“No, I’ve been staying here. Had to fight your sister for the chair, though. I won.”
Her eyebrows flickered lightly. He’d won against her sister?
“I’m kidding,” he added. “She’s been staying here too. They just left for some food, but they’ll be back in a minute. But I really did sleep in that chair.”
“Awww, comfortable?”
“Yeah. Not bad. Especially if I was a Lego person.” He gently pushed her hair off her forehead. “By the way, Jason and Miranda are awesome.”
Somehow, knowing she’d been asleep when they met made her tear up. “I missed it.”
“That’s okay. I have a feeling we’re going to have lots of future opportunities with the four of us together.”
She lifted her hand, looking at the gauze curiously. “Am I okay?”
“You had some burns. I know they hurt, but they’re superficial. They have you here to watch your lungs because of the smoke inhalation.”
She looked up at him, alarmed.
“You’re going to be okay. You’re getting better every day.” He covered her hand with his own, bandaged also.
“You okay?”
“I have to do everything you do, and got a burn too. But we’re both going to be fine.”
She relaxed against the pillows. “How did you find me?”
His lips tightened. “I gambled that there was only one place they’d take you. One place that would hurt me the most.”
“Your house? But it was destroyed.”
“They chained you to the floor of the barn at the back of the property.”
At his words, she saw the barn, the flames. She gasped as she remembered the gunfire.
“Luke! What happened? After?”
His jaw clenched and he looked down at his hands. “I was betrayed, Cassie. Betrayed by someone I thought was a friend. Someone I trusted with my life. With your life.”
“Trevor?” His name came out like a hiss from her mouth.
Luke nodded. “He’d been working with the Russian mafia for a long time, taking a cut on certain deals. After I became his partner, suddenly we were bringing the heat. Blowing Nicholai’s deals. Nicholai put a bounty on me to make sure I was neutralized.”
“Oh, Luke.” Cassie teared up.
“And I was…until you came along and reminded me to live.”
“Nicholai?”
“Dead.”
Cold chills ran down over her heated skin.
“I wish it had been by me. I feel cheated it wasn’t. But, Trevor pulled the trigger.” His eyes blazed with emotion. “And then he turned the gun on himself.”
Cassie sucked in her breath.
“The Russian Mob is having a shakedown itself. And, one day, it will be me against them again.” He lightly stroked her arm. “But for now, Principessa, it’s over. We’re free.”
Chapter 31
The July morning was clear and quickly warming. A breeze lifted the leaves in the trees all around them and ruffled Cassie’s hair. She swept a strand away from where it had blown across her mouth and adhered to her lip gloss. “You ready for this?” she asked, looking up at Luke.
Luke rolled his shoulders and rubbed at his shadowed jaw. She felt his nervousness as he shifted next to her.
Back to his once-a-week shave job, I see. That was okay, she preferred him a little scruffy.
“Don’t worry.” She stretched to her toes to kiss his cheek. “You know I’m—Ow! Dangit!”
“Your earring.”
“I know! Don’t move!” Slowly, she disentangled herself from the seam of his neckline. With a deep breath to compose herself, she continued, “I mean, it’s a big deal.”
“I’m not worried, but how about you?” he finally answered, the green in his eyes appearing darker than usual as he watched for her response.
“I think it’s time.”
They had a new easiness between them. After the hospital, they’d both spent a week at Cassie’s house before returning to Freymere. Cassie continued to stay in the duplex, under a six-month lease agreement with Jared. The taxidermy room was still avoided at all costs but, thanks to Goodwill and elbow grease, she was personalizing the rest of the place and making it feel homey.
She needed that time alone, to be able to stand on her own two feet.
And Luke needed time, too. Every day, he worked out his recovery and had already earned the gold token for sixty days of sobriety. He was doing well, but they both knew it was a day-by-day choice.
They stood next to each other now, his arm slung over her shoulders, a new beginning ahead of them.
An engine rumbled. They watched the bulldozer tremble on the pile of debris before charging forward.
Slowly, the remaining beams of the house collapsed under a giant cloud of gray dust.
“You okay?” Cassie tore her gaze from the house up to him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Principessa. I’v
e had peace about this for a while. She’s no longer here. Time for a new life.”
“Did you call your sponsor?”
Luke squeezed her close. “I did. I’m good, boss.”
They watched the construction crew for a few more minutes. A contractor yelled directions to the demolition crew. The bulldozer backed over the wreckage with a thump and began to push the pile to one side.
An excavator lowered its bucket into the pile and took a big bite of the fire-stricken remains in its metal claws. It maneuvered the full bucket to the waiting dump truck.
Bucketful by bucketful, the house’s remains began to disappear.
Luke exhaled loudly. He buried his face into her neck. “Something beautiful is going to rise from these ashes,” he whispered. “I know it.”
She swallowed as a lump grew in her throat. She cuddled closer, breathing in the spicy scent of his cologne.
“A new house,” he continued. “One with a wide porch and a huge kitchen. A house for a family, full of life. A place where little kids can play with their Tonka trucks and Barbie dolls.”
“You’re thinking about our kids?” Cassie gave a double blink and looked at him in alarm.
The dump truck crashed as it received another load, bouncing on its huge wheels.
“Not ours, Principessa. I’m going to sell it, and we’re using the money to explore the California coastline. There’s a beach somewhere that’s calling our names.”
“For real?” Cassie’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”
“And after that, we’ll pick our favorite place out of everywhere we visit, and I’ll apply for a job transfer. It’ll be a fresh start for the two of us.” He smiled.
Tears blurred her eyes, and she nodded. All words left as her thoughts spun.
Luke wiped under her eye with his thumb, catching her tear and bringing it to his mouth. “One thing I’ve learned is when you get a chance at love, real love, you have to grab it with both hands and never let go.” His mouth kissed her bottom lip, whispering into it. “I’ve fallen in love with you and I’m not ever going to let you out of my sight again.” He pulled away as a tiny expression of concern flickered in his eyes. “Tell me you feel the same way.”
Cassie covered her mouth, completely overwhelmed. It’s here. The moment I never thought would come. I’ll always remember it. The moment I began my life again.
“Yes, Luke.” Cassie took a deep breath in. “I love you, too!”
She leaned in close and pressed her lips against his. Gently, she exhaled into his mouth. “You feel that?”
He inhaled, kissing her back. “Yes.”
“That hollow place inside….It’s not empty anymore.”
* * *
The End
Also by CeeCee James
Book 1 Wrecked and Yours
Book 2 Out of the Wreckage
Book 3 A Beautiful Wreck