From Ashes

I nodded my head against his shoulder before he let me down.

“Whose Tahoe?” he asked appreciatively. “And who are they?” he asked, looking at Jesse, who was holding his mom up.

“Uh, my Tahoe, bought it yesterday.” I grinned impishly. “And this is Jesse and his mother, Isabella.”

“You’re Isabella!” Amanda gasped, and she quickly came to my side to hug me, touch my cheek gently with her fingertips, and smile brightly at me. “I’m so happy you’re here, Cass,” she said softly, then turned to Isabella and Jesse to introduce herself.

I was surrounded by hugs from Nikki and Emily and quickly explained to Tyler who Jesse and Isabella were. I’d told them last night about everything, so they knew about the fight, the fire, California, and Tyler, but Jesse still didn’t seem to like Tyler all that much. I did notice he and Amanda couldn’t take their eyes from each other though, and Isabella took one look at them, turned to me, and winked.

Emily and Nikki tugged me toward the house, Amanda helped Isabella, and Jesse and Tyler got all the bags and followed us in. When Gage’s mom, Tessa, heard us all come in, she walked out of the kitchen and actually dropped her wooden spoon as she ran to engulf me in a hug that lasted for what felt like minutes. When she pulled back, her eyes were bright with tears and she was touching my cheeks just as Amanda had done.

“Oh my sweet girl, thank you.”

My eyebrows drew together in confusion, but I didn’t have time to ask what she was thanking me for because it was then that she noticed Jesse and Isabella, and the next round of introductions took place. Of course, she grabbed the phone and called Gage’s dad right away, telling him that he had to come back immediately. Not ten minutes later, he waltzed in, took one look at me, and a huge grin broke out from under that Sam Elliott mustache. He took large steps across the room and picked me up off the floor to hug me before setting me back down.

“Damn, girl, it is good to see you in this house.”

“Thanks, John,” I said softly. I just hoped Gage felt the same way. “John, this is Jesse and his mother, Isabella. They’re the family you’ve been helping.”

Isabella was crying softly and Jesse actually left her side and walked right up to John to hug him. John’s eyes went wide with shock and his hands came up and patted Jesse’s back. When Jesse stepped back and tried to thank him, no words would come out and he just hung his head. John patted his shoulder and walked past him to sit next to Isabella on the couch and pull her into a hug as the rest of the family had done.

Tyler wrapped an arm around my waist and touched the exposed part of my back. “That’s awesome, Cass, when’d you get it?” he whispered.

“Thursday. Where’s Gage?” I’d bought a couple of those racer-back tanks; the one I was wearing today was a dark green, the same color as Gage’s eyes, eyes that I’d spent way too long without.

He pulled me back a ways from the living room toward the dining room. “The girls said he went out to ride a couple hours before you got here. He must have gotten back sometime early this morning; I was still asleep when he did and when he left.”

“Gotten back?”

“He went to California yesterday to get you, Cass; got to my parents’ house, and my mom told him you were gone. From what Aunt Tessa said, he thinks you’re gone gone. I’m tellin’ you, Cass. He’s. Fucked. Up.”

“He went to California? How did he know I was there? Did you tell him?”

Tyler looked at me like I was dense. “Cass, come on, I told him when we were in the airport before we even left Texas. I thought you just left without a word. He’d already woken up and was looking for you. He told me about the note you left him—not a good choice, by the way.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Wait! He has known where I was for two weeks and he didn’t try to come get me or call me before yesterday?” Connor’s words in his apartment yesterday morning started flooding my mind.

“Gage and I decided it was best. You were slipping away, and it was because of what Gage had done. If he had tried to push you by calling or coming right away, which he wanted to, we both agreed it would have just pushed you even farther away. We agreed to let you work it out and wait for you to come back to him, but he’s been so messed up, yesterday he just couldn’t wait any longer.”

“But now he thinks I’m gone,” I said softly.

Tyler nodded. “Yeah, sweetheart, he thinks it’s over.”

His words felt like a physical blow and I bent slightly, reaching out to grab Ty’s arm to keep myself standing. “It can’t be. I just had to deal with what happened, I had to fix me. And I did. I couldn’t come back to him without fixing me.”

“You guys will figure it out—you’re meant for each other.” He kissed my head and wrapped his big arms around me. “Just be easy on him, all right? Like I said, he’s not doing well.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, and looked back over at Isabella. I remembered all the stories she’d told me of her true love during the times I’d come to visit her, and how she was so sure Gage and I were soul mates and would be together forever. God, I hoped she was right.

GAGE

BEAR AND I were making our way over the last hill before the main house came into view. I’d spent the morning staring at the house I’d built with Dad, unable to make myself go inside. We’d run for a bit to get some pent-up energy out of Bear and for me to try to clear my mind, but nothing helped; it just reaffirmed that Cass was gone. As soon as I saw the house, I saw the other cars, and when we got closer, I noticed a brand-new Tahoe and familiar Camaro . . . Jesse’s. Shit, I thought, something happened to Isabella.