Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
I close my eyes, asking any higher being for patience. “I’m not coming back.”
“You goddamn fucking bitch,” Joshua screams, and it makes me wince as I pull the phone slightly away from my head. “You will regret doing this, Juniper. You’ll be crawling back on your hands and knees, begging me to let you in. But first you have to suck my cock before I take you back. You’re going to choke—”
My phone is ripped from my hands and I understand by the thunderous look on Callum’s face he heard every bit of that despite me taking it off speakerphone.
Putting the phone to his ear, Callum’s words are so frigid, a shiver runs up my spine. “You lowlife piece of shit,” Callum growls. “You come near Juniper and I will destroy you. Your days of terrorizing her are over. You’re going to let her have a divorce and you will give her a generous pile of money to pay for the misery you’ve inflicted upon her. If you cause her any grief or stand in her way, you will regret it. Am I clear?”
Joshua starts yelling again but I can’t hear the words clearly. Callum merely disconnects the call.
“Why did you do that?” I ask, aghast. “Now that he knows you’re involved, he’s going to go berserk. He’s going to come after me harder.”
“He was going to find out anyway. I guarantee he’s calling the nursing home right now to cut off funds to your dad and he’d have found out about my involvement. This town is too small not to.”
“Shit,” I say, turning my back on Callum. I start pacing the room, wondering what in the hell I’m going to do with my life. I mean… I can easily find an apartment to rent, but Joshua will stalk me. I know it beyond any doubt.
I could move away, but I can’t leave my dad.
Should I just go back to him and let things settle down?
Hands come to my shoulders and Callum stops me mid-stride. Turning me around, he touches under my chin. “Whatever self-sabotaging thoughts are running through your head, just stop them. I’m going to protect you and help you through this. You have my word.”
“But I don’t want you to,” I manage, my voice clogged with emotion. “I let you go, Callum. It took forever for my heart to heal, but I did it by releasing and then forgetting about you. You can’t come back into my life now.”
His thumb grazes along my jaw, his eyes brimming with remorse. “I don’t blame you for feeling that way. But no matter what happened between us—no matter the mistakes I made—I never stopped caring for you, Juni. And now that I know what’s been going on here, I am not walking away from you. I’ll help you get out of this farce of a marriage and make sure you’re safe. I’ll make sure your dad is taken care of. And you’re going to let me do this because I still care about you, okay?”
I want to say no. I want to be strong and part of me wants to even punish him for cutting me loose all those years ago. But I’m also scared, and I know Joshua isn’t fully balanced in the head. He likes hurting me and I know he’s itching to throttle me right now. He’s going to want to make me pay for this embarrassment I’m causing him.
It’s one thing to leave him for what he did to me, but to do it with the help of my first love—my one and only true love, if I’m honest—it means Joshua’s going to come gunning for me.
I have no choice but to accept Callum’s help.
CHAPTER 7
Callum
I never did get an overt endorsement from Juniper regarding my role in helping to extricate her from her marriage to Joshua. She didn’t say yes or no, but the truth is, she has no choice. She has to let me help her. If what she said is true, that Joshua is going to put up a fight, she needs me at her back.
We spent a bit of time talking about what the immediate future will look like. In the next few days, as my mom continues to heal and hopefully is released from the hospital, I will try to figure out what to do about her and the very real probability that she was hurt intentionally. I also have to devise a plan for how to keep Juniper off Joshua’s radar. I delved into her life here in Incline Village, curious if she had any other support like girlfriends who would rally to her side.
Sadly, though, she’s been slowly alienated from everyone because of Joshua. He methodically—using his financial support of her dad as leverage—cut her off from everything she cared about. The one thing she put her foot down on was her job, unwilling to give it up. As it stands, she has to work tomorrow as she’s giving nutritional coaching sessions at the local YMCA.