What do you know, miracles did happen.
“No,” I told him on the phone. I’d walked over to my apartment to grab the things my mom had made and to check on Sis. It felt like an eternity since I’d been home. “Get off your ass, and come and see her.”
“Coop…she doesn’t want to see me.”
“You don’t know that,” I told him. Swallowing back the urge to yell, I headed in to our kitchen. There were two trays of lasagna. Mom had cooked them that morning and left them out to cool. “Seriously, you don’t. You were there, you actually got that ass off of her, and you put him on the ground. You say you care, I know you care. She needs to see it.”
His sigh echoed over the phone.
“Bubba…you want to be here, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Fervent. No hesitation. “I love her.”
Yeah. I knew that.
“Then I’m not the person you need to be telling. She needs to see you. She needs to see all of us. That’s our job right now. We’re the rocks. She’s always been there for us, now we’re there for her.”
The sigh he let out resonated with me. “I wanted to kill him. I still want to kill him.”
That, I understood perfectly. “Then channel that into being there for her. Jake’s managed to make her laugh once. Archie’s doing a great job of distraction. Come be her teddy bear.”
His snort made me smile. “That sounds sexy.”
“It’s not, but we’re all in boyfriend territory. You may not like it, but being her friend right now might be the best thing for her. She needs to know we don’t see her any differently, and that starts with you.”
Quiet. Then. “How do you know all this?”
“Turns out studying psych is useful,” I told him. I’d also been doing a lot of reading on my phone, and I had a long conversation with Denitra. She’d given me her number and some other resources. “Frankie’s gonna need to talk to people, right now it’s us, eventually, she’s going to need others. Real help. Real therapy.”
“You sound like my dad.”
“Well, your dad wasn’t all wrong.” I stared at the ceiling. “And while I want to sound like I know what I’m doing…I really don’t. I just don’t want to screw this up. We can’t afford to—she really can’t afford it. Her mother’s a no show useless bitch. That means it’s us. We’re the family. So get in or get out. But choose, Bubba.”
Then I hung up.
Harsh? Maybe. The guy wanted to do the right thing, but he wasn’t sure what the right thing was. When push came to shove, he’d absolutely been there, and he was fighting to be her friend.
Now he just needed to fight for her.
“Coop?”
I cut a look to the doorway where Sis stood. She looked painfully young to me. Younger than the last time I saw her. Or maybe it was me, maybe I’d gotten older. My eighteenth birthday already felt far in the past.
“Hey, Sis,” I gave her a smile as I straightened. “Just came to grab the lasagnas. Mom said your asthma was acting up and you didn’t want to go to school today.”
She folded her arms. “Is Frankie going to be okay?”
“Yep,” I told her, not missing a beat. “She’s going to be fine. Give her a couple of days, and I bet she’ll even want to hang out.”
They hadn’t in a while. Something that Sis noticed over the summer. Not that Frankie had ever been mean to her. Far from it. While she’d distanced herself from us, she’d made time for Sis when Sis needed her.
“Come here,” I said, and she hurried over to me for a hug.
“I was really worried. One of my friends texted me that her older sister said Frankie got hurt at the dance.”
Yeah. I’d seen the rumors flying around. At least the one thing they’d gotten right—Frankie had been hurt. The assholes kept their mouths shut. Probably good, ‘cause Jake just needed one person to say the wrong thing and he’d probably explode.
Fuck. Maybe we all needed therapy.
“She’s gonna be fine,” I told Sis again, and rubbed her back. She’d always been an affectionate pain in the ass. Always wanting hugs or to snuggle. I put up with it, even grumbled about it, but I didn’t mind. The last year or so, she’d been more reticent about it. Growing up, Mom had called it. Teenagers suck, she used to tease me. But they’re worth it.
“Cool. You staying over there tonight?”
“Probably, as long as she needs me.”
“Is Frankie really your girlfriend now?”
I kissed the top of Sis’s head and eased back to look at her. “What do you think?”
A sly grin crossed her face. “That you finally got the balls up to ask her ‘cause you’ve had a crush on her forever.”
“Wow, don’t let Mom hear you say that.”
Sis laughed. “Mom’s the one who said it.”
I chuckled. Fair enough. “Yeah,” I said, then tapped her nose. “She’s my girlfriend. That does not mean you get to tease her.”
“I won’t. I like Frankie.” Then she gave me another impish look. “More than I like you, and leave one of the lasagnas!” She backed off. “Mom made one for us, too.”
“Cool. How’s the asthma, for real?”
“It’s fine,” she said, waving her hand. “It bugged me yesterday. Probably allergies. I just…I wanted to be here when you got home.”
I got that. “I’ll be down at her place. Text if you need me.”
“I will…you know, unless you ignore me cause you’re kissing her.”
I snorted, but she’d already escaped back to her room and seemed in a much better mood.
Yeah, kissing might be a while.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I grabbed one of the lasagnas and headed for the door. “I’m going.”
“K-I-S-S…”
“Ignoring you,” I added, and her laughter followed me out the door.
Brat.
The sunshine and breeze were almost as nice as it had been on Saturday. It seemed weird to be such great weather. At the same time, we needed the sunshine. Maybe I could take her for a walk later. Even if it was just down to the park…or a drive.
The lake would be nice, especially if she didn’t want to see people.
One step at a time.
Back at her apartment, she was curled up with Jake, her feet in Archie’s lap, and they’d switched to superhero movies. When she looked up at me and smiled, relief worked through me. “We were just gonna start an X-Men marathon.”
I made a face. “All of them?”
“Yep,” Archie said. “All of them.”
“Hey,” Frankie said, nudging Archie with a toe. “Some of them are so bad, they’re good.” Then she smiled.
Yeah, we were definitely watching all of them.
“Popcorn?” I offered, and a little light flickered in her eyes.
“Candy?” she and Jake said in unison, and I chuckled.
“On it. I’ll see what you have.”
That worked, too.
Ian
I wanted to see her. Badly. I wanted to take back every stupid damn word I said to her. Every dumbass mistake. I wanted to go back to when I was taking her to Homecoming and before Mitch got within a mile of her. I wanted to make it all better.
While I couldn’t do that. I could be there, just like I said I would. Jake’s text gave me something to do, so I swung by the store and stocked up on all her favorites.
When I got there, Coop let me in, and he nodded. The guys and Frankie were in the living room. Surprise flickered across her face when I came in, and the bruises she had rekindled my rage. Jake paused whatever they were watching.
I wanted to break that asshole’s jaw all over again.
Holding up the candy, I said, “I come bearing gifts.”
Then she gave me a real, if tentative, smile. “My favorites.”
“I thought you might need them.” Need me. But it wasn’t about me.
“Are you staying?” The question hung there, and the guys were all quiet.
I met her gaze evenly and said what I should have said all along. “Nowhere else I want to be. No one else I want to be with.”
No matter what it took, I wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t know how long it would take or what I would have to do, but I would to fix this.
I wanted her back.
I just had to earn it.
* * *
Frankie and the boys return in Whispers and Wishes.
To keep up with Heather and all her series join her reader’s group:
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Afterword
What happened to Frankie, to Maria, and the other girls mentioned but not named should never happen to anyone. It happens more often than people like to address. I struggled with that chapter, even knowing what was coming and I struggled, again, when I wrote the aftermath.
I struggled with whether to put a warning on the story, though I fought to address it with as much sensitivity as possible. As a rape survivor, I understand that it’s a topic that makes even people who have never experienced it uncomfortable and for those who have, I hear you.
Thank you for trusting me. Frankie and the boys will be back in Whispers and Wishes.
About Heather Long
USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.
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