Lucky Penny (34 page)

I was beginning to realize there was more than meets the eye with the Weston’s, and while I still didn’t trust Anthony’s actions or judgment, I had warmed to Blake’s aunt in a way I never thought possible.

“Penny, are you okay?” Blake’s gravelly voice reverberated through me and a sense of contentment washed over me. As long as we stuck together, we could survive anything.

I knew that now.

It had always been that way.

“Miss Wilson, I believe I owe you an apology.” Anthony Weston came into the kitchen and sat in the chair next to his wife. “Blake and I have reached an understanding. Blake is an adult, and while I do not wholly agree with his decisions, they are his decisions to make. You have my blessing, and you do not have worry about Miss Arnold any longer. I’ll see to it that she doesn’t bother you again.”

Miranda beamed as she took her husband’s rigid hand in hers, and I glanced back at Blake as he leaned against the doorjamb. He nodded confirming truth to his uncle’s word, and although I didn’t understand or care for the man’s tone, I knew it was as good as an apology and it was the best I was getting today.

“Thank you, Mr. Weston. I appreciate the sentiment, but please know that I love your nephew with or without your blessing.”

Anthony Weston shocked us all—he laughed. It wasn’t belly busting or even a proper hearty laugh, but it was a laugh nonetheless.

Blake moved behind me, and his hands came down on my shoulders. It was the first time I’d said the words, and I was saying them in front of his family. But it felt right. I wanted them to know that I was standing by him no matter what. I loved Blake long before he fell in his life with the Weston’s, and I would still love him even if his uncle decided to cut him off.

“We should probably get going.”

“So soon?” Miranda said.

“If we’re welcome, we’ll visit again soon.”

We will?

“You and Penny are always welcome. You know that, Blake. Right, Ant?” Miranda jabbed her husband in the ribs, and he spluttered. “Yes, yes. Was that really necessary?”

Miranda launched into giving her husband a verbal beating. Blake leaned down and whispered into my hair, “Ready to get out of here?”

I nodded my cheek brushing his. Yes, leaving seemed like the perfect plan.

Miranda and Anthony were still engaged in a war of words when we left the Weston house and made our way back to Blake’s Prius. As soon as we climbed in the car, Blake’s hands were on me, pulling me closer as his tongue dived into my mouth and swirled with my own.

As Blake’s lips moved against my own, I still had questions. There were still things that I needed to know, to understand, but this—the kiss—was everything. It was a dedication to our past, an acknowledgment of our present, and a promise to our future.

Our future.

When I was a teenager, I laid out in No Man’s Land under the sky and fell in love with a messy-haired boy wearing ripped jeans and unlaced chucks.

Seven years later, things were different.
We
were different.

But one thing had survived our story—the thing that defined it.

Our love.

Age 24

“H
ow are you feeling?” I glanced over at Penny from my seat and smiled.

“Okay, I think. I mean, it’s all happening fast, and I’m a little scared about going there again, especially in court. But it’s time he was brought to justice.” Penny turned her head and pressed it to the cool glass as my stomach knotted.

So much had happened in seven months. Penny and I had moved in together. A nice little apartment in Grandview Heights. Of course, Uncle Anthony wasn’t pleased about it, but I wasn’t going to let him dictate everything in my life, including where we lived. If he wanted to keep me in his life, he had to accept that I wanted to live by my own rules.

Part of me was pissed that it had taken revealing the true extent of what we suffered at the hands of Derek and Marie to make him understand why our relationship wasn’t just the first love crush he took it for, but I couldn’t knock everything he’d done since.

“Why?” I waited until my aunt’s and Penny’s voices were far enough away. I didn’t want Penny to hear any of this conversation. This was between the man standing in front of me and me.

My Uncle resumed his spot by the window looking out over the yard. “You’re engaged, Blake. The wedding is planned. Brittany lov-”

“Don’t. Don’t you dare use her feelings for me as an excuse for the stunt you pulled,” I snapped and started pacing back and forth. “Love has no place in business arrangements, isn’t that what you’ve been telling me for the last four years? Love is a fool’s game?”

“Blak-” Anthony turned to face me, but I cut him dead. “No. I am done listening to you. I have sacrificed my soul to keep you happy. Played my role as dutiful nephew for too long. I told you I didn’t want to marry Brittany. I told you I didn’t love her. You promised me she knew it was a business arrangement. Was that all a lie too? Were you secretly hoping I would finally fall in love with her? She threatened Penny. Twice. Did you know that? Did you put her up to that?” I stared at the man who had searched for my mother most of my life. He had never stopped looking for his sister, and I didn’t doubt that in a different time, love had guided Anthony Weston. Family. But losing Mom to a criminal like Jason Bellmont had changed him.

It was ironic, really, that although Mom ran away to be with my dad, she had, in some ways, clung to her past. To her family. It was the reason I had my uncle’s name, and not my fathers. I think it was her attempt at giving me a chance in life; hoping that, one day, Anthony might find us. Me.

Or, at least, that was what I told myself when I agreed to start dating Brittany.

Uncle Anthony moved toward me, his tailored suit hugged his frame. “What is it about the Wilson girl, Blake? You were just children.”

He wanted to understand? Now? After everything?

I dropped my head and thrust a hand into my hair, dragging it over my scalp, frustration boiling under the surface. “You wouldn’t understand what Penny and I have.”

“Explain it to me. Miss Wil- Penny, she said some things when I visited her.”

My head whipped up. “What things?”

“You never talked much about what it was like in the Freeman house.”

“You never asked.” I moved over to one of the chairs and my uncle took the seat opposite me. He inhaled deeply as if undecided about what to say next. The three words that rolled off his tongue were not the ones I ever expected to hear.

“I’m asking now.”

The words were on the tip of my tongue. It wasn’t my story to tell, but I was desperate for him to understand how deeply Penny’s life was entwined with mine. Maybe if we’d spoke up sooner—when we were just kids—we wouldn’t be here now. Maybe things would have been different.

Before I could stop myself, I rushed out, “Derek was a sick bastard.”

Something flashed in my uncle’s eyes, and he loosened his tie. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. That sick fuck had a thing for young girls. Penny, in particular.”

The color drained from Anthony’s face. A man who rarely lost his cool looked ready to hurl onto the floor. “Did he- did he...” The words almost choked him. I’d felt the same when Penny had revealed to me what Derek tried to do to her.

“Rape her?” I said. “No, but he tried. He abused her. Abused his position. They neglected us, hated us. You were right.” I looked him straight in the eye. “You did save me. You saved me from hell, but you also left the only person I’d ever cared about in there.”

“I-” he stuttered. “Blake, I didn’t know. You didn’t say anything.”

“I tried, but you didn’t hear me. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be in foster care? A strange home with strange adults and strange kids? That was my life for four years before Penny arrived at the Freeman’s. And then things were better. She was a ray of light in the darkness.” I stopped overcome with emotion.

Uncle Anthony had a point. I hadn’t opened up since he took me away from Lancaster. I rebelled at first, sure, but after the fake card from Penny, I stopped fighting. If she had set me free, what else did I have left to fight for? I became compliant. Weak. And I had to carry that with me for the rest of my life. But I wasn’t about to make the same mistakes twice.

“I love Penny. I have always loved Penny, and I will not lose her again. Even if it means walking away. I left her once, but it will never happen again.”

Anthony rose from his chair and moved back to the window as if the view held the answers to the universe. I knew that look etched on his face. He was considering my argument, weighing up all sides of the case preparing to give his verdict. Only this time, it made little difference to me. I finally knew where my home was—and she was sitting down the hallway in the kitchen with my aunt.

“This is your final decision?” his strained voice asked.

“There was never a decision to make. Not this time,” I replied.

My uncle turned to me and smiled sadly. It changed his whole face, and for the first time, I felt sure I was seeing a glimpse of the man my aunt talked of so fondly. “You have my blessing. I will handle Brittany. We have lots to discuss, but that can wait, for now.”

Just like that, it was back to business, and I knew my uncle was referring to my revelations about Derek Freeman.

“Thank you,” I said rising, the burdens I’d carried for the last four years melting away. “In a strange way, I understand why you did it. You were trying to protect me. Protect your family. I get it, I do. But I’m not Mom and history is not repeating itself.”

With that, I turned and left the room, laying rest to my past and moving into my future.

In less than five months, his legal team at West Lake and Associates had collected enough evidence and tracked down enough witness testimonials that they were confident Derek Freeman would be locked away behind bars for a very long time. Surprisingly, my uncle also managed to talk Penny into giving a statement. She had been adamant that she didn’t want to dredge up the past—not since everything in her life was finally on the upswing—but Anthony Weston didn’t work in shades of gray. To him, Derek Freeman had committed a crime—exploiting and abusing the young people in his care—and he needed to be brought to justice. They had eight cases of sexual misconduct with a minor against Freeman, including Amy, the girl who had lived with us. It was going to be harder to prosecute Marie with neglect, but the team was working their asses off to make it happen.

I reached over the stick shift and brushed Penny’s hand with my fingers, coaxing her back to me. The looming pressure of the court date weighed heavy on her. I saw it in her eyes, the way she’d started wrapping her arms around her waist again as if she might fall apart. “Hey, Penny, come back to me.”

She settled back into the leather seat and sighed. That one sound could bring me to my knees every damn time. I hated that the past still had such a hold on her—that even with things between us better and stronger than ever, she still had demons preventing her from moving forward.

“I’m okay, really.”

“You don’t need to put on a brave face for me. You can crumple and breakdown and I will always be here to catch you.”

Always.

She had to know that I would walk to the ends of the earth for her.

Penny intertwined her fingers with mine. “I know.”

The trees lining the road grew familiar, and before long, the dense green walls thinned out. Camp Chance’s freshly painted sign welcomed us, and I couldn’t help the grin tugging at my mouth. I loved this place. For so long, it was the only place I felt free. Since moving in with Penny, waking up next to her every morning had earned my top spot, but driving through the gates of camp still came in at a close second.

“You love it, don’t you?” Penny asked, and I turned to her; it wasn’t as if I didn’t have the road into camp memorized. “Almost as much as I do you.”