Page 26 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Mom sucked in a sharp breath beside me, the sound cutting through the night.

I stared out into the dark, but I wasn’t seeing anything anymore.“I wanted to save her from it,” I said, voice breaking on the edge of the word.“I thought if I stayed close enough, if I—” I shook my head, once, hard.“I couldn’t save her.”

“Shedied?”Mom’s voice cracked, almost a shout.

“No.”The word came out hard and fast.I dragged a hand over my mouth.“She ran.Just disappeared on me.Cut me out like I was nothing.”I shook my head once.“That messed me up for a long time.I was a bastard to damn near everybody after that.”

The memory hit like a bruise pressed too hard.Back then, I hadn’t known if Gia was alive, dead, or safe.I knew nothing.After a while, I dealt with it the only way I could.I made myself believe she’d landed somewhere safe, somewhere nobody could hurt her anymore.Which apparently hadn’t been the case.

“It was so long ago that it shouldn’t matter anymore.”I looked up.“Now she’s back.”

Mom shifted beside me, posture going rigid.“Tell me you don’t mean—” She stopped, like she already knew and didn’t want to say it out loud.“Timothy Rylan Hurst, you tell me you didn’t fall in love with Regina McClary.”

“Gia.”I turned my head slowly and looked at her.There wasn’t anything left to hide.“I don’t know about love, but now...”

“Well, aren’t you in a pickle.”Mom whooshed out a long breath.

“He hurt her again.”I dropped my head.“She was all bruised up tonight and hiding it.She pretended she was fine, but she’s not.Not then.Not now.And I’m?—”

I didn’t know how to vocalize it.“I’m figuring out how to handle all of it.”

“I don’t know where that poor woman is in the middle of everything.I don’t know if you and her are something worth considering, but her family is on the other side of what threatens us.”Mom’s voice stayed soft, almost prayerful.“This land is our legacy.It’s our past and our future.Jimmy McClary wants to take it.”She clasped her hands, knuckles whitening like she was holding something back.“Timothy, honey, I need you to look at me.”

Something in her tone cut through me.I looked.

And stilled.

I’d seen my mother angry.I’d seen her disappointed.I’d seen her pray people into forgiveness they didn’t deserve.I had never seen this.

“I think it’s time,” she said carefully, like she was choosing each word before it could cut her, “for you to unlock that part of you that you’ve worked so hard to bury.”Her throat moved on a swallow.“That dangerous, ruthless part.”

A cold weight settled low in my gut.“No,” I started automatically.“That’s?—”

“You got it honest.”Her hand came up, pressing flat over her chest.“It lives right here in me too.”

The ground shifted under my feet.

All those Sundays.All those prayers.Every time she’d told me to turn the other cheek, to forgive, or to be better.

Now she was telling me to give in to the thing I’d spent years in therapy learning not to be.

“You’ve learned how to control it.That’s what’s important,” she went on, voice dropping, steady as a blade.“You can’t get yourself caught in a crime but help me protect what’s ours.I don’t know if you need to be ruthless against Gia, but it’s important you figure out what side of this mess she’s on.”

I dragged a hand over my mouth, breath catching halfway in.“Mom…”

She didn’t flinch.Didn’t soften.“We have to stop Jimmy from hurting our family.Perhaps from hurting her again too.”She held my gaze.“You’ve got cousins who make my hair want to turn gray and fall out, but they will help.”

I stared at the woman who used to wash my mouth out for sayingcrap.Something inside me cracked.Or maybe it finally stopped holding.

I exhaled slowly and let it slip its leash.That old, familiar darkness crept in, the one I’d caged.

It rose easy.Too easy.“I’ll get him.Somehow, we’ll stop all of it.”

The words tasted like something I shouldn’t want.

Mom smiled.Not kind.Not gentle but knowing.

It sent a chill racing down my spine.