Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Rory pressed closer to him, her ear over his heart. She could only offer comfort. The layers had peeled away. He was laid bare, and his shame was there, that dark burden lying heavy in his soul for her to see.
“I came home from school to find Marietta dead. She’d hung herself in her bedroom. She’d left me a note, telling me that he’d been forcing her to perform for him, to learn technique so she’d be a decent whore and earn him good money. Our mother would beat her if she didn’t cooperate. She’d tell Marietta he had every right because he’d brought her into the world, so she was his to do whatever he wanted with her. Marietta didn’t tell me. She was too ashamed, and she knew I would have killed him. I left that night. Even then, I didn’t kill him. I just walked out and told the two of them never to look for me, that if they did, I would come looking for them. I think he saw it in my eyes that I would kill him. For the most part, he left me alone.”
Rory knew it wasn’t over. He’d mentioned Jaimie more than once. She waited. She didn’t ask about Javier. She didn’t need to know Javier’s story. She needed to know Gideon’s. Why the guilt? He couldn’t have prevented what happened to his twin if he didn’t know. He might not have been able to stop what she had done even had he known. More and more, she understood Gideon’s deep need to protect others.
16
Red,” Gideon whispered. All that dark cherry hair she had, thick and soft. Every time the sun or the moon or any light touched it, the color burst into flame. To him, she represented life. Being alive. His way back into the world again when he’d been dead inside for so long. “The story just gets uglier. Everything about me just gets uglier.”
Rory lifted her head and framed his face, for the first time looking directly at him. He felt the impact of her vivid green eyes. There was no judgment there. Rory’s gaze was filled with compassion. He wasn’t certain telling her anything more about his childhood was a good idea. He didn’t want the way she looked at him right at that moment to change, and he feared it would.
“Gideon, that’s not true. Nothing about you is ugly. Not one single thing. Not at all. Believe me, honey, I can see inside you where no one sees, where maybe even you can’t see, and there isn’t anything ugly.”
“You don’t know what happened, because I didn’t act when I should have.” That place inside him, dark and forever shadowed, stirred and spread, threatening to take him over.
“Then tell me.” Her voice was very quiet, her gaze steady.
Gideon couldn’t make the confession looking into her eyes. The back of her head fit into his palm, and he pressed her face against his chest and held her to him. Over his heart. He needed her there while he gave her this.
“Jaimie has one of those amazing brains you read about. She started high school at age eight. Physically, she was very small. Tiny. You can imagine what it could have been like for her being the brightest one in school and being a little kid. Mack and Kane took it on themselves to look out for her.”
He paused. “I didn’t go to school very often. Her mother was an elementary school teacher. Very sweet woman. She knew my circumstances, as did Mack’s mom. They helped me out when they could. Jaimie’s mom worked with me on schooling quite a bit when she had the time, although she was working two jobs.”
He drew in a deep breath. Tightened his arms around her. “I should have known my father was watching, and he wouldn’t leave things alone. He might not be able to get to me, but he got to Jaimie’s mom. He killed her. Stabbed her sixteen times. He made sure she felt every single stab wound and took a long time to die. Jaimie found her. She was such a little thing, even then in her teens. It was heartbreaking and my fault. Had I killed him, Jaimie would still have her mother. I just—didn’t.”
Rory shook her head, but she didn’t interrupt him. She waited for him to continue. Instinctively, she knew there was more.
“I told you I spent a lot of time studying the birds and connecting with them, learning about them. It wasn’t just that it was a hobby, something to pass the time, but I felt an affinity with them, especially the raptors. I didn’t want to think I’d inherited anything from my father, especially his ability to kill other human beings, but I always knew I was capable. When we were little kids, Marietta and I would talk about it, how we wanted him dead. She said she couldn’t do it. I knew I could.”