An Unexpected Everything

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“Every time I drive, I hear a whomping sound. I think it’s the rear axle. It has to be. I looked it up on this one website. They were very informative. They even told me about that special air I need for the tires. You know the one I told you about last time? And how I need to change my filter every month. So I think I need a whole new rear axle and thingy.” She then proceeded to make the whomping sound her car currently made, complete with hand motions.

I nodded along as Diedre continued to talk about her sedan’s apparent rear axle problems. She had multiple notes on her phone, as well as various links to random websites since she’d done her research.

And since Diedre had babysat me as a kid and I’d had a crush on her when I was eight, it hurt me to hold back the biting words such as—her car didn’t have a rear axle. And that I hadn’t charged her to put air in her tires—special air or not.

“I’ve got your notes, Diedre. Thank you for all of your hard work. Now let me go take a look. Your car is in my team’s hands. I promise.”

“Oh, Weston. You’re the sweetest. Drew told me he’d get to it when he finished his big project, but he’s been so busy.” Her eyes tightened at the sides.

I fisted my hands, doing my best not to show any other reaction.

Drew barely worked on his construction crew for some of the new builds in town, and when he wasn’t working, he was drinking. The Lake Bar wouldn’t let him run a tab anymore and that place was the only so-called seedy area of Cage Lake. I wasn’t even sure if Drew remembered the names of two of the five of his kids. The kids who either hung out with my kids or my kids watched hers when Diedre couldn’t get Drew to take care of them on his own.

I wasn’t surprised Drew hadn’t had a chance to look at the tires. And frankly, if the man touched this car, then it would most likely end up with a worse issue later. Not that I’d tell Diedre that.

I grunted in response at Drew’s name, not in the mood to speak about him, then looked down at her notes. “You popped two of your tires?” I looked up at her, confused. “Hell. How did that happen?” Visions of exactly how she could have done that slammed into me and a sweat nearly broke out on my forehead.

“Yes.” Diedre bit her lip when I looked up. “I went off the road on…well on the bridge. I mean…after it, but I slid on the bridge itself.” Regret covered her face, and my heart kicked that familiar beat, but I ignored it.

“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt. Kids okay?”

Relief that I didn’t want to go into detail or that I didn’t react to her perceived slip up covered her features, and she nodded. “Yes. Thankfully. And then well…we should have come here right after it happened, but Drew said he’d handle it. He got a good deal on the replacement tires and took care of it himself.”

I held back a curse and nodded, having a clearer idea as to what the issue was with her car. Because Drew was a damn idiot and hadn’t put the tires on correctly. She’s lucky she hadn’t been run off the road again—this time hurting herself or someone else.

“I’ll take care of it, Dee.”

“Thank you, Weston. Just…thank you.”

I turned at the pleading in her eyes and made my way back to the shop. She was never going to leave Drew and his wasteful ways. No matter how hard people in our small town tried. After all, Cage Lake was all about that small town feel. People got into their business and tried to do what was best for others. Even if that meant constantly being in the way or taking steps that could make things worse. They ignored the ugly sides of things, though, and I was pretty sure most people forgot that key detail.

I owned the only mechanic shop in the area so people from town and a few towns over would come to me for help. Meaning this family run place always had business. My uncles had opened the place and had taught me everything I knew. Dad had been the small-town lawyer with Mom working with him, but he’d stood by my side when I’d wanted to learn how to hold a wrench and then later, when college had called my name—at least until the world changed. Caldwell’s was a staple in Cage Lake, much like many of the places that dotted the town but actually brought in tourists.

Cage Lake was a small town in the Rocky Mountains a couple hours west of Denver. It had nearly everything someone needed to stay and never leave—not that I hadn’t tried. There was one main road leading to the town and two large bridges that connected the area to other towns and the main highway that cut through the Rockies. And like most small towns, there was one main road that bisected the area. Most of the business, restaurants, and historical areas were located there. Then each of the lanes branching off the main road led to mostly residential and forested areas. There were a few other businesses—like Doc Henry’s clinic—that popped up around them as well. Then the road curved to either lead to the lake or the resort the Cages owned. There were other houses lining the lake and the road that circled back to the main road.

In other words, it was hard to get lost and everyone knew everyone. And there was no escaping the constant need to be in everyone’s business. It’s why I’d tried to get out of the place all those years ago.

And then a single deer on that lone bridge with just enough rain on the road had changed everything.

I quickly got to work and by the time my shift ended, the rest of my crew was ready to head out or start on a couple custom pieces after hours. I wasn’t closing today so I grabbed the endless paperwork that came with being an owner, and decided to head to Rise and Cage, the main bakery in town. I was in the mood for sugar and caffeine, though a beer sounded damn good too.

However, the moment I took a step outside of my truck, I knew I’d made a mistake. If I wanted to be alone with my paperwork, running into the mayor’s wife who looked to be in the mood to gossip—which was most hours of the day—wasn’t a good choice. I was a permanent Cage Lake resident, so listening to Ms. Patty talk about her husband and his choices as mayor was par for the course. Practically rote at this point.

“Like I was saying. When those girls of yours graduate you’re going to find yourself with an empty nest. With Lance off at business school and Sydney and Sam ready to start their new lives, you’ll have so much time on your hands you won’t know what to do with yourself. Believe me. I was the same way back in the day when the boys moved to Denver and Cheyenne and decided to stay there after college. Not that it’s too far away, but I do miss being able to see my babies and their babies often. But it’s not as if Mr. Mayor and I could truly leave town and move to be near them. Cage Lake is our home. You would know that, after all. This is your home and you’re never going to leave. It’s what we do as Cage Lake Lifers. It’s everything we need even with so many new transplants. Like the other Cages. I’m sure you heard about the other Cages, of course.”

I nodded along, letting Ms. Patty continue to ramble because I knew from experience that if I spoke aloud or asked a question, I’d relegate myself to another ten minutes of this. For one moment, I let myself think the terrible thought of her calling her husband Mr. Mayor. I didn’t want to know when else she used that title. Ever.

Then the rest of her question that wasn’t a question finally slid through the mud that was my thoughts and I blinked. “The other Cages are moving here?”

That’s all we needed. More drama because Daddy Cage couldn’t keep his pants zipped. I might be friends with Hudson, one of the original Cages, but I had no desire to learn about the rest of them.

Especially one of them in particular.

Ms. Patty tittered but there wasn’t any harm in it. There never was with her. She might gossip like nobody’s business, but she was also one of the first to call Drew out to his face. And she’d been at my house the day after the funeral with casseroles and cookbooks so I’d know how to feed the kids. “Oh, I don’t think so. I know a couple of them have visited, but I don’t know all of the details yet.”

I knew that had to be killing her.

“Anyway, since the patriarch of the Cages decided to keep both families secret from each other, I can only imagine the dynamics over those family dinners they are forced to have. You heard about that, right? They must have dinner once a month in order to keep their inheritance. And considering this town is part of inheritance, I sure hope they find a way to break bread. Could you imagine what would happen to Cage Lake if the Cage assets were divided and dissolved? Why, they own over eighty percent of this town—including the homes around the lake itself and the resort that brings in the town tourism budget. In other words: No Cages. No town.”

I ground my teeth at that. Hudson didn’t like talking about what his father had done and I had no desire to learn the details. If he needed to talk, I’d be there like he’d been there for me when I’d been forced to raise my three siblings and was so out of my depth it wasn’t even funny. But if he made me talk about it beyond the superficial, I’d be required to think about the one person and time in my life I’d done my best to forget.

Not that I could truly forget.

After all, she survived in my dreams, my memories, and my waking regrets every day.

“That gives you something to think about for sure.” I cleared my throat before she could continue. “I’m headed out to the lake to catch up on something. You have a nice day, Ms. Patty.”

“Oh yes, my mouth and I have kept you for too long. Be safe, Weston. This town needs you.”

And without waiting for her to say another word, I headed out to my truck. I needed air and I knew the best place to do that wasn’t going to be on the primary street with everyone watching me. They might not know my past, but they always knew when something was beneath the surface.

The problem—one of many—with a small town.

I drove down Main Street and turned toward my favorite thinking spot. Right on the edge of the mountain itself, it had a great view of the town and the beauty that was the Rocky Mountains. The best part of Cage Lake was that most of the views were breathtaking. It was hard to find a shitty spot of town—something the residents and Cages who didn’t live here full time worked hard on.

I turned off the engine once I made it to the parking spot at the edge of the trail and hopped out of the truck. I took a deep breath of that mountain air and told myself I needed to get out of my head. It had been eight years since my world had shifted and I hated the idea that my brain couldn’t help but focus on the two months of peace I’d had in between when life had been normal and when it had broken.

The math just didn’t add up. I hadn’t spent enough time with her to regret her and yet that was a damn lie.

I turned the corner, eager to sit on the cliff’s edge and breathe, when the scream echoed through the forest. I took off at a run, hoping to hell I wasn’t about to end up on the wrong side of a bear’s claws—or worse.

Then I realized the edge of the cliffside where locals didn’t stand since the ground turned to shit once the rain hit had shifted. Meaning part of the place I liked to sit and think was now gone.

Another scream.

I ran toward the side, chest heaving, and finally knelt to get a good look at the situation, hoping to hell I wasn’t too late. I held back a curse as I realized a woman clung to the side of the mud and rockface, her limbs shaking, and dirt covering her body and clothes.

Then she looked up.

It was as if someone had kicked me in the chest.

She might not have been able to see me clearly with the angle—but I could see every inch of her face. Reality froze in time as my world crashed. Because I knew that face. That voice. I knew the fear in those eyes. Those eyes I’d fallen in love with when I’d been too damn young to understand what love was.

Isabella Cage Dixon.

The ghost I thought I’d excised long ago.

Another rock fell from beneath my grip, and I cursed, pushing out thoughts from the past because there wasn’t time for that. There never had been. Bella was one moment from falling to her death and I’d be damned if I failed her again.

“Reach for my hand, damn it!”

Bile coated my tongue as I clung to the side of the rockface, my hand outstretched. My voice came out as more of a growl, but I didn’t give a fuck right then.

“Come on. I don’t have a firm grip and we’re both going to fall off this fucking mountain if you don’t move!”

Scrambling, her fingers bleeding, she reached out, trying to grip my hands. Her fingers brushed mine before she fell down another inch, and a scream ripped from her throat.

“I can’t reach!”

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” I kept repeating the words as she tried to climb, tried to save herself.

My world narrowed to that pinprick of time. My Bella. The woman I hated because of what she represented, the woman I used to love because she’d been mine, would not fall.

I refused to even allow the idea to come to fruition. So I moved farther down the side, knowing if I leaned too far, we’d both fall and there would be no coming back from that. And I’d leave behind the ones I’d broken everything for.

Then my hand was on hers and we were both shouting, muscles straining. Somehow, she lay beside me on the edge of the hillside, both of us breathing heavily, my chest heaving.

As my mind struggled to process what had just happened, I sat up and looked down at the woman who had once claimed my heart. The woman who had every right to push me down that cliff and never look back.

“You. It had to be you.”

Bella finally got a good look at me, her eyes widening, and I knew she’d clocked on who I was. We both looked different than we had all those years ago, but not that different. My beard was longer, my hair similarly so. I had more ink down my arms, and even more where she couldn’t see.

Bella though?

Somehow, she’d become even more gorgeous and I thought I could resent her for it. She’d cut her hair a bit shorter than I’d last seen her, but the chestnut of it still called to my hands. I’d once loved running my fingers through it, then tugging slightly as I crushed my mouth to hers. Or I’d hold on tight so I could slide my cock between those pouty lips of hers. She had the same curves—her handful-sized breasts that pushed at her torn T-shirt, her hips that had been perfect grips for me, her sweet thighs that had clamped around my shoulders when she’d sat on my face.

“You.”

The vitriol in her voice didn’t surprise me. The need to growl right back did. Because it wasn’t her fault she hated me. I deserved it. But as I’d just saved her life, maybe she could have waited five fucking minutes before doing what Bella did best—tear me a new one with that passion that had always turned me on.

“Yes. Me. What the hell are you doing here, Isabella?”

She flinched at the sound of her name and I tried not to let it cut. Because Bella was the girl I left behind, not the woman with blood on her hands and jeans in front of me. I needed to use the name that wasn’t her.

“Shit. You’re hurt.” I was a fucking asshole and needed to think of her for once and not my own pent-up feelings.

“I’m fine,” she bit out. Yet as she tried to roll over and stand up, she let out a hiss when her cut-up hands touched the ground.

“You’re not fine. You’re going to get those cuts infected if you don’t fucking take care of them.”

She blinked at me, her dirt-covered face pale. “Don’t yell at me! How are you here? Of all people. It’s been years, Weston. How are you in this tiny town in the mountains?”

“Let me help you up,” I said in way of answer. It’s not like I had any real answers for her. Nothing made sense right now and I didn’t know why she was here in my town. The town I’d been forced to cage myself in over time in order to protect my family. To protect the kids. Because nothing else would have worked.

“Please don’t touch me.”

I froze in the action of reaching out, her words a slice to the soul. “Isabella.”

Once again, she flinched but forced herself to stand on her own. “How are you here, Weston? Was Cage Lake your hometown this whole time? The little mountain town that you always said suffocated you. The place that you swore you’d never go back to? This town?”

Considering where we were, there was no point in lying. Not when I now stood with Bella so close to me, I could feel the heat of her through my flannel.

“This is home.” Simple words for a not so simple truth.

She swallowed hard, her chin rising. “Home.”  Before she could add anything to that whisper, she swayed on her feet and I reached out to steady her, cursing.

“You need to see a doctor. Come on, Doc Henry should still be in his office. That man was pretty much here when the Cages up and built the town all those years ago.”

“I didn’t know this was your town, Weston,” she said after a moment, her eyes pleading. “Just…just let me go.”

Like you did once before.

At least that was the subtext I let myself hear.

“The way I hear it, it’s your town too.” I could have kicked myself for mentioning it. For letting her know that I knew about her connection to the Cages. But now there was no going back. Not when I was the fucking idiot who’d put us here.

She took a step back and I reached out without thinking to steady her. “Don’t touch me.”

I didn’t let my hand fall. “For fuck’s sake, Bella. You’re three steps from falling off the damn cliff again. So no, I’m not going to let you keep going because this is awkward. Now let’s get you to the damn doctor so I can make sure you’re okay.”

She pulled away from me in that moment and I only let her because I realized my mistake.

Bella.

I’d called her Bella.

Fuck.

“I’m here visiting my friend. I needed a damn moment to breathe and I didn’t realize that this town is cursed just like everything else around me. I don’t need a doctor. I just need to go home. To my city. Away from…” She shook her head. “Thank you for saving my life. I know that sounds trite. But thank you. However, I didn’t know this was your town. That you’d be here. And frankly…I can’t care anymore. I can’t look at you. I don’t have time in my life for more blasts from the past. I’ve had enough of that lately with dear old Dad and my brand-new family.”

“I’m sorry.” I cursed. “About your dad. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your concern. Though the news seems to think it’s everyone’s concern. I’m going to go now. Maybe you should tell whoever is in charge of this town that it’s a death trap.”

“I can do that,” I said after a moment, an odd chuckle escaping my lips. That was Isabella. The woman who always had something to say when people were doing something wrong. Not because she judged, but because she wanted to help—to make sure no one got hurt.

And yet I was the one who hurt her…just like her father apparently.

“Okay then.” A pause. “Weston, I—” But she cut herself off as tears filled her eyes. Then she practically ran toward the small parking area off to the side of my truck. I hadn’t seen what must be her SUV there when I’d pulled in thanks to the angle, but now I saw what I’d missed before.

Like always—a little too late.

Without a word, she drove off and I watched her go, hoping to hell her friend in town—whoever that was—kept her safe.

Because once again, I sure hadn’t. The only woman I’d ever loved drove away, leaving me dirty and covered in cuts and blood. And I had no words for that since this time it wasn’t metaphorical.

My phone buzzed and I looked down at the read out, answering when I saw it was Sam. “Little sister. I thought you were studying.”

“I am. But I was wondering when you were coming home. It’s your turn to cook, you know.”

I cursed and I heard her and her twin’s laughter. “I’ll be there soon. But it might be takeout night.”

“You know our favorites. Be safe, big brother.”

And with that, she hung up, leaving me staring at the place Bella had been, letting the memories of what once was wash over me. After all, that phone call was my reality. The reason for so many things.

And Isabella Cage Dixon was not the woman for me or this town. I would do well to remember that, even when the boundaries of the town itself closed in.

A reminder of what was lost.

And the dreams I’d crushed along the way.