Every Chapter

Chapter Thirty-Three

Daisy cried the whole way to Ian's the next day.

She had been lucky as far as breaking a foot could go. She landed on her left foot when she threw herself to the ground to let Ian know she was there. She drove with her right foot, which was good because she needed to be alone. At least for this. Had it been her right foot Rina would have insisted on driving her. It wasn't that she didn't want Rina to see her break down, Rina had been there with her through the highest and lowest moments in her life.

That wasn't the issue at all, the issue was she needed to do this alone. She needed to face his home alone. This had been the place she found herself, this had been the place where she fell further in love with Ian. Her whole life changed in this house, and she needed to say goodbye.

She drove down the long road that secluded him away from the rest of the world. Taking it slow, she needed to take in every moment of this before she left it alone for good.

Rina had given her a crate to bring Mouse back to the shelter in. But she couldn't do it. She would never be what Ian was to Mouse, but she had grown on him enough for her to make do. Returning him to the shelter would break her, he didn't deserve that. He didn't understand why his dad was never coming home. But Quinn did, it had been her fault.

It was her fault Ian would never see Mouse again, never see his home and never read her another chapter.

As she pulled the car to a halt, in his secluded driveway she wondered about visiting him once he had been transferred to whatever prison they'd confine him to. She wondered if he was allowed visitation if that was something she'd be able to stomach. Or if the impending guilt would be too much for her to even look at the man who had finally freed her, trapped behind bullet proof glass. She wondered if he had begun to hate her if he would even pick up the receiving phone on the other end to hear her words.

How long would they even be able to keep that up if he still loved her? How long would it be before he began to hate her?

She unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her crutch from the passenger seat, pulling it out of the car with her and stabling herself on it. She looked from the house back to the car. There was a passing thought of leaving, of running away and returning to say goodbye another day, a stronger day. But she wasn't just here for a goodbye, she was here for Mouse. She grabbed the crate from the car and shut its door.

She limped her way to the door of the simple white home, coming up short as she eyed the locks and the iron clad door handle. "Maybe." She whispered and reached for the lever on the handle.

There was no resistance and the glorious sound of the mechanism cranking inside the handle sounded music to her ears. He had left the home unlocked when he fled in a rush. She was silently grateful he'd at least remembered to close the door, or else this would have been a search and rescue mission.

She pushed the door open and hopped her way up the step inside, there was a familiarity about the home. The light in the hall shined way to the rest of the dimly lit home, the faint smell of cedar filling the air and the quiet peacefulness of it. No one shouted, no one cussed, there was no shuffling of guard's feet, it was calm.

Ian's home felt like home and the thought of leaving it vacant broke her. She decided as she took in the comfort it brought her that this was not goodbye. When the bank or whatever distant relative he had seized this home. She would buy them out. She would give them every cent she had of the 500k for a home worth far less in dollars, purely because it was worth far more to her.

This was her home, she just needed to wait.

She walked into the living room, putting the crate to the ground, remembering why she was there.

"Mouse." She called out to him, expecting to have to crawl under furniture to find the grumpy cat. But she didn't.

A long meow sounded from the bedroom and the little grey cat came running out to her. The same way Toast greeted Rina. Her heart warmed as he ran to her, pressing his body into her legs and purring. This would work. If nothing else could be done for her, she knew Mouse would be alright.

But the sound of Mouse's cry was not the only sound in the home. The sound of a door creaking open in the bedroom caused her heart to miss a beat.

Someone was here. Someone was here and she was on crutches. She couldn't run.

Her hands trembled as she moved away from the cat to the table behind the long leather couch. Ever so carefully she pulled open the drawer so as to not make a sound. Her heart raced as she looked at the bedroom door, then the drawer, then back to the bedroom door. She could not run. But she would not be taken this time. She would defend herself against anyone who meant her harm.

Her hands found the cool black metal of one of Ian's guns and she grasped it tightly. She had watched Ian rack the pistol and place it into the drawer the third night she'd stayed here. He made sure she saw it in case she ever needed it. Back then she rolled her eyes to him because she had him. She didn't need a gun. But now, now Ian would save her life with just that knowledge.

She held the gun in her right hand, pointing it forward as she moved. She would not wait to be caught. No matter how hard she had to pull herself to move forward. No matter how much her hand trembled with the gun in it.

A board creaked beneath her as she rounded into the bedroom, one she was sure would be the death of her. Giving her away. She couldn't turn back now, she couldn't. They would know she was here now.

She moved faster, stepping past the door in the bedroom. Her actions halted as her temple was pressed by the cool metal of a gun. Fuck.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched the body holding the gun pull itself from behind the door. They realized who she was the moment she realized who they were and both guns dropped to their side.

Daisy moved a shaky hand to place the gun on the table beside her, she could not be trusted to hold that now.

He stepped further out in front of her.

She blinked rapidly, not understanding what she was seeing. Not understanding how he was here.

Their eyes bore into each other in silent breaths.

"Ian?" She breathed as she drank him in, not sure if her mind had been playing on her or if the man she loved was truly standing in front of her now.

His lips parted slowly as he took in the sound of his name from her mouth. "Quinn?" She shook her head lightly. "It's Daisy now."