Pieces We Keep

PIECES WE KEEP BIJOU HUNTER & NOELLE ZANE Copyright © 2023 Bijou Hunter & Noelle Zane –––––––– No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. –––––––– Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmosphere purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental. –––––––– Cover Source: DepositPhotos Cover Copyright © 2023 Bijou Hunter & Noelle Zane –––––––– Dedication To SaMiJaMaLu My lovely betas—Carina, Cynthia, Sarah, and Sheri & Judy’s Proofreading TABLE OF CONTENTS CHARACTERS IRINA VICKERS RHETT “EAGLE” FINCH IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT IRINA RHETT’S EPILOGUE IRINA’S EPILOGUE “PIECES OF HEAVEN” SNEAK PEEK BIJOU READING ORDER ABOUT BIJOU CHARACTERS This is a list of mentioned characters from previous books: –––––––– Rhett “Eagle” Finch – SBMC sergeant at arms Irina Vickers – Fiona Rogers’s caretaker Fiona Rogers – Todd Rogers’s daughter Hoyt “Ruin” Macready – SBMC president Wade “Armor” Palmer – SBMC vice president Selene Norris - Hoyt’s assistant and wife Yazmin Norris – Wade’s wife, Selene’s younger sister, and Hoyt’s assistant Silas “Nomad” Bennings – SBMC enforcer Landry Copper – Silas’s wife Wynonna Macready Nauls – Hoyt’s younger sister Nash “Tomcat” Childs – SBMC treasurer and Hoyt’s cousin Martin “Walla Walla” Carter – SBMC secretary Tommy “Hobo” Clark – SBMC road captain Lisa “Goose” Palmer – SBMC founding member and Wade’s older sister Ed and Callie Macready – Hoyt’s father and stepmother Glenn Childs – Nash’s father and Hoyt’s uncle Kourtney Clark – SBMC’s lawyer and Tommy’s younger sister Joie Macready – Hoyt’s daughter Blair, Beau, Brooklyn, Beckett, and Brigitte – Silas and Landry’s kids Gavin – Wade and Yazmin’s son Tracey – Hoyt’s house manager Patrice Fuchs – Selene and Yazmin’s grandmother Cheryl – Patrice’s wife Dice – club member Yagger – club member Smokey – club member Woodrow and Rosemary – caretakers at Silas’s property IRINA VICKERS I feel as if I’m losing my mind. I need to breathe and regain control of myself. I’ve become a junkie dying for her next fix. This behavior can’t continue. My life doesn’t completely belong to me. I have responsibilities. If my obsession consumes me, where does that leave Fiona? The broken woman can’t survive in McMurdo Valley without a guide. Everything is new. She’s relying on me. I need to get my addiction under control. How did I get this far gone? “Are you pacing?” Fiona Rogers asks from the cream chair-and-a-half located in her new family room. “I feel a breeze like you’re moving quickly back and forth.” No longer pacing, I study the lissome blonde who changed my life. Her eyes are closed as usual, even though the room is dimly lit. Her battered brain can’t handle certain stimuli. She lives in the dark to avoid seizures and debilitating headaches. Fiona is why I remain sane. She’s also why I’ve found myself in McMurdo Valley where my obsession has me going mad. Nearly a dozen years ago, we wrapped our lives together. Fiona was the emotional lifejacket I needed to survive. I was her literal savior. We’ve changed in many ways over the years, yet our lives remain intertwined. That’s why I’m in McMurdo Valley, living in this remodeled Tudor-style “guesthouse,” which is bigger than most people’s regular homes. I can’t deny I prefer this house to the three story, Victorian monstrosity in Vermont. When I’m inside this large home with its casement windows, built-ins, dark wood floors, trim, and ceiling beams, I can pretend we’ve moved to paradise. It’s only when I step outside and face off with our “neighbors,” do I recall our precarious situation. Todd Rogers is a name I’ve heard for a dozen years. He paid my salary as Fiona’s caregiver, yet I didn’t meet him until last September. He never visited his daughter, and the agoraphobic and fragile woman certainly couldn’t travel to see him. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived in McMurdo Valley. Everything happened so quickly. After the death of Fiona’s vile mother, I assumed we would continue living in the Victorian in the cozy town. Instead, a lawyer showed up to explain how Todd Rogers would no longer financially support Fiona from a distance. If she wanted her bills paid, she needed to move to his estate. “We should run away,” Fiona told me in a panic that night. “We should take what money we have and live on our own.” Her panic filled the room, while mine was like an icy breeze slowly chilling my heart. Where could we go? Fiona’s funds were controlled by others. My salary paid for my needs and then some. I could probably support us for a short while. However, sooner or later, I’d need to work elsewhere, leaving Fiona alone for most of the day. My savings wouldn’t allow us a large home with the space for her to move around easily. I certainly couldn’t afford all her therapists—physical, occupational, and psychotherapy—and the many doctors. “We can’t run,” I finally admitted a day later. “We can’t survive in the way you need.” “I’ll get a job,” Fiona insisted, steadying her five-foot frame. Her panic hit a fevered pitch when she said those silly words. Fiona’s only ever lived a bizarre life—twisted and torn apart by her evil mother and a disinterested father. She cannot live in the world. With her agoraphobia, she can’t even leave the house without heavy medication. “If we move to your father’s estate, we