When We Collide (22 page)

I tried to push those thoughts aside, told myself,
it’s over…it doesn’t matter
. Maggie was mine. Now I just had
to figure out how to get her out of that house so she’d be
completely safe.

Maggie was already there when I emerged at the
outskirts of our refuge. Her head snapped up when she heard me
approach,
that
smile lighting her face when our eyes met.
There was no hesitation as I rushed to her. I sank to the ground
and pulled her into my arms.

“Hi,” I mumbled between our frantic kisses.

Maggie gasped then giggled against my mouth when I
spun her and pressed her into the cool grasses.

“Hi,” she said, grinning when I finally pulled away
to let her up for air. The moonlight seeped through the ceiling of
leaves and illuminated the joy on her face. That joy faded when she
focused on the mark above my eye. She reached out and ran her
fingers over it.

I grabbed her hand and brought her fingers to my
lips before she could say anything.

“It was worth it, Maggie…you’re worth it. I need you
to believe that.” I’d do it a million times over if what happened
last night had set her free.

I watched as disbelief and uncertainty twisted her
face, and she closed her eyes and seemed to struggle against her
past before she nodded her head as if maybe she understood.

Her eyes fluttered open. “I love you, William.”

“Do you know how long I have been dying to hear you
say that?” I almost teased as I settled myself between her legs and
hugged her closer. I felt the heavy breath ease itself from her
lungs and her spirit sink into mine as she relaxed beneath me. She
smiled at me, her eyes wide and awakened. I loved the way she
looked right then, like the girl I’d fallen in love with over the
last three months, although now exposed and without the barriers
she’d erected between us.

“I think I’ve known it for a long time,” she finally
said, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of my neck. “I
don’t really know why I felt like I couldn’t admit it.” Maggie wet
her lips, glanced into the distance before bringing her attention
back to me. “I’m scared of
this
, of finally having something
I’ve wanted so badly, but I’m more scared of losing it.”

I squeezed her, a gentle encouragement. She was
never going to lose me.

“I’m not a normal girl, William.” When she said it,
her eyes burned into mine, as if warning me, giving me an out.

I brushed the bangs from her face. “You think I
don’t
know
you, Maggie?”

Yeah, I knew she was broken, knew no matter where
she ended up in life, her past would always be there to haunt her,
knew she had so much to overcome. But I also knew, underneath it
all, she was strong. I saw it in her eyes and felt it in her
spirit. I knew she was kind and good, knew she was beautiful. And I
knew I was never going to stop loving her.

“I fell in love with
you
.”

A tremor of a smile tugged at one side of her mouth.
“I guess that’s the part I really don’t understand.”

“Maggie,” I said as a whisper as I leaned down to
kiss her. I pulled back. “You deserve to be happy.” And I’d do
whatever it took to be sure she was.

Cupping my cheek, she ran her thumb beneath my eye.
“You make me happy.”

I didn’t even try to contain the smile that spread
over my face.

With fall’s approach, the air had cooled, a tepid
breeze winding itself through the trees. Leaves rustled, and the
Mississippi night hummed low. I thought I might have found paradise
when I leaned down to capture her mouth with mine, as our mouths
danced in a languid fluidity and I undressed her in this place that
was only ours, as I held her in our sanctuary. As I loved her and
promised that I always would.

I dug my fingers in the dirt where I braced myself
with one hand. The other was flattened across the small of her back
where I held our bodies close. Maggie cried out in a pleasure she
had never known, her eyes squeezed shut tight before she opened
them wide with shock.

Her expression would forever be etched in my memory.
I was sure it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

I had spent my life believing I was happy.
Satisfied. Until the day Maggie Krieger sent my world careening out
of control. I knew then that having her was the only thing that
could ever right it.

William ~ Late September, Six Years Earlier

Almost two weeks had passed. To me they felt like a
day. Time sped in a blur of laughter and kisses, in a haze of
tender touches and even softer words. The grasses had been crushed
and flattened from the countless hours we’d spent there, every
second we could find to sneak away. For me, they had been the best
two weeks of my life.

Lying on our backs, Maggie was nestled in the crook
of my arm with her head resting on my shoulder. We stared up at the
shelter of leaves partially obstructing the blanket of stars.

“I could lie here forever,” Maggie whispered into
the night.

I pulled her closer, kissed the side of her head.
“Me, too.”

Her palm rested flat across my stomach, my hand
holding her firm at the hip.

“I can’t believe you have to leave in two days,” she
said. Heartbreak flowed through each word. “I don’t…”

I looked down to see her mouth trembling as our
reality took hold. Burying her face in the side of my chest, tears
broke free, and she slid her hand to my side and clung to me.

“Shh…baby…don’t cry.” I only had one year of school
left, but even to me, that felt like a lifetime. I couldn’t imagine
being separated from her for so long, even though I’d come back to
visit every chance I got. “Will you wait for me?” I murmured into
her hair.

Maggie slowly shook her head through her tears,
shifting so she could look up at me.

“Do you think I couldn’t? I…I—”

In her expression, I saw everything I felt.

I cut her off with a kiss, unable to bear the
thought of being separated from
this
girl for so long. I
couldn’t fathom how lonely my nights would become or how the worry
for her safety would torture me while I was away.

I wanted to consume her, every inch, every day.

Maggie gasped when I abruptly tugged her on top of
me, her eyes wide and surprised as I held her face. Those warm eyes
were so beautiful, still so sad, but so different than when I’d
first been plowed over by them from across the fire. Now they shone
with love as she looked down at me. With a measure of joy. With the
beginnings of
life
.

“Marry me,” I whispered urgently, increasing my hold
as her eyes flooded with confusion before they grew wider with
shock. She tried to scramble back, but I refused to let her go,
said it again, “Marry me…let’s get the hell out of here. We can get
a little apartment or something while I finish school.”

“Are you insane?” she asked, her hands flat on the
grass on either side of my head, her hair falling around her face
and down my arms.

I grinned. “Completely.”

She smiled, but shook her head. “William…” My name
was the sum, in it how much she really loved me, how scared she
was, the sadness that she believed the idea of us only a fairytale.
“My mom and my little sister. You know I can’t leave them.” Loyalty
and fear sogged her spirit and made her twitch in my hands.

My voice softened. “I’m serious, Maggie. Marry me. I
love you, and I can’t stand the idea of being away from you, even
if it’s only for a few months at a time. I
can’t
leave you
here. I know you love your sister and want to take care of her, but
what about you? Tell me what
you
want.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and she bit at her
lip.

“You really are insane.” This time when she shook
her head, she released a low, dubious laugh.

I smiled up at the girl I knew I’d never stop loving
and asked her again, “Maggie, marry me.”

She threw herself at me, her mouth frenzied. I was
nearly delirious when she murmured, “Yes,” against my lips. It shot
straight through me, rushed as commitment through my veins where it
grounded in my heart.

Yes
.

We were laughing as we stumbled through the woods, a
whirlwind of expectant hands and excited words. I pulled her into
the shadows and pushed her up against the nearest tree. My mouth
descended on hers, my spirit fevered and roused. Maybe I was
insane, because I couldn’t focus, could see nothing but
her
.

“Oh my God, Maggie,” I murmured. “I love you. Do you
have any idea how much?”

Her fingers burrowed deep in my skin, “Yes,” her
only reply.

I smiled at the word again, slowed my movements, and
kissed her softly. I ran my fingers through the length of her hair
framing her face, and whispered, “Yes.”

Taking her hand, I snaked us through the hollows of
town, along the sides of darkened buildings and obscured alleys.
Hidden at the end of her street, I kissed her goodbye, and watched
her sneak in the front door of her house one last time.

Tomorrow night, she wouldn’t go back.

I sucked in a deep breath of relief and overwhelming
joy.

I tracked back the way we’d come and hopped on the
sidewalk halfway home. My mind was with tomorrow when I noticed the
truck trailing close behind. My feet slowed as hatred flared.

Looking over my shoulder, I was blinded by
headlights that sprayed out from a truck not more than fifteen feet
behind me. I squinted, nerves zinging as I prepared for a fight. It
was after three in the morning, and the town was dead. I could only
hope Troy was alone because I was going to be in a ton of trouble
if he wasn’t.

Blake’s warning flared in my head.
He will find a
way to make you pay for what you did
.

I braced myself. Like I’d told Blake then, I’d take
anything Troy brought my way.

I jumped back when the truck accelerated and swerved
my direction before it righted and sped down the street.

Fisting my hair in my hands, I watched the
taillights fade in the distance, trying to get ahold of my pounding
heart and make sense of what had just happened.

Shit. That was stupid. Maybe I should have given
Blake a little bit of credit, laid low like he’d asked me to,
instead of traipsing down the center of Main Street in the dead of
night.

I climbed in bed, thanking God tomorrow all of this
shit would be over with.

William ~ Present Day

Fatigue pinned me to the forest ground, chained by
confusion and the unknown, by the memories of what had been created
in this place. I ran my palm over the cool grass. Maggie and I had
shared so much here, my greatest joy and the worst heartache I’d
ever known. I didn’t know how much of this I could take. All I
wanted was my family, wanted them safe. I sagged further as the
emotional exhaustion took me over, curled onto my side. Wished I
could go back six years and she would be here.

A flash of blond streaked in the moonlight,
disappeared in the shadows. William lumbered over the earth, a
tangled web, a snare underfoot. “Wait,” he called, reaching into
the shadows, grasping at nothing at all.

Despair clung to him, clawing it his skin, burrowing
itself deep. He pushed forward, lost in the thicket and haze of
night.

William stumbled when he came upon a clearing.

Beneath a tree, the boy rocked himself, soft cries
buried in his knees.

“Jonathan,” William whispered.

Startled, the boy looked up. William gasped for air,
the boy’s face covered in blood. “My daddy is so mad.”

I woke up gasping for the same breath, gripping my
head.

On my hands and knees, I pushed myself onto my feet.
I jogged back through the forest trail, materialized on the edge of
Main Street of the sleeping town. Chills rolled down my spine as I
forged ahead. I passed Blake’s street, rushed across the road, and
took the third right down.

There was no other place I could go.

I stood in the middle of the road, staring. It was a
tiny house, painted a dingy blue. Night wrapped it in silhouettes.
I crept forward, light underfoot, slinked along its outer walls. I
placed my hand flat on the side window. I felt the sadness within
those walls, the ache of a home where no joy lived. It lit a
seizure of emotion, anger and hurt and an old devotion I’d hidden
deep.

The boy’s face swirled behind my closed eyes.

I lowered the gates and let the anger well.

By the time I forced myself away, I was swimming in
it, in the same fury that had overpowered me six years before, the
same that had wanted to see him die. I waded through the storm,
fumbled my way back to Blake’s house, and collapsed onto the unmade
bed.

Maggie ~ Present Day

With the snap of my wrists, the blanket unfurled,
billowing out in the wind before it settled to the grass floor.
Just a mild chill still hung in the air. I lowered myself onto the
blanket and drew my legs up under me.

The children ran to the playground. Amber’s two
small children toddled out over the field and to the sand. Jonathan
trailed awkwardly behind. He looked back over his shoulder, as if
asking for guidance. I gestured with my chin for him to go on.

I hated he was always this way, shy and unsure.

Amber climbed down beside me with a big, bulky
camera in her hands.

“God…they are just
incredible
, aren’t they?”
she said as she focused the long lens, snapping picture after
picture of the kids as they played. A shrill cry of giddy laughter
rose up from her eighteen-month-old daughter, echoing over the play
yard. “Sometimes I still can’t believe they’re mine.”

Jonathan flashed proud brown eyes back at me and a
timid smile crept over his face, but it was one that spoke of joy
as he cautiously found his footing on the jungle gym and wove his
way to the top. Incredible didn’t begin to describe the way my son
made me feel.