Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 133855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
It blipped back.
Eden: Please.
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Jud spat as he sped around the winding curves.
My head hit the back of the headrest. “Love her, Jud.”
And some things you loved enough to know you had to let them go.
Silence fell over us as he raced back toward the small city that had been our home for the last five years.
Anxiety and apprehension held tight in the dense air of the cab.
Jud’s breath harsh and hard.
Almost as jagged as mine.
When he made it to the outskirts of the city, I looked over at him. “Want you and Logan to go with me…just temporarily. I’m not asking you to give up the life you built, but I am asking you to stand at my side until we can end this. Until we find out who wants me dead.”
They did.
Knew it to my soul.
And I was going to have to do the one thing I’d promised myself I’d never do again.
Nothing but the fool who’d thought he could outrun who he was.
Ghost.
“Then you two are free to do whatever you want. I won’t ask you to follow me. But I can’t lose either of you to this bullshit.”
Jud’s nod was tight. “I know, brother, I know. Just can’t stand to watch you give up on your joy.”
I looked back out the windshield. “Never really was mine to begin with.”
Because Eden was light.
Goodness and grace.
And a demon like me didn’t get that kind of beauty.
Because there was no redemption for a man like me.
“I’m going to grab a few things that Gage will want. I’ll meet you at Logan’s in ten.”
Jud hesitated at the front door. “You sure this is what you want to do?”
“Don’t have another choice.”
It didn’t fucking help that Eden kept calling. Leaving me these messages that she believed in me. Other times weeping over her sister. Others pleading for us.
Warily, he nodded, then he slipped out into the late afternoon and clicked the door shut behind him.
Before I lost my fuckin’ nerve, broke down and did something stupid like go after the girl, I bounded upstairs, grabbed a duffle bag, and stuffed it full of Gage’s favorite toys, some clothes, his album of pictures, then I moved into my bedroom and grabbed anything of necessity.
Gage’s birth certificate and other documents. Some cash from the safe as well as two guns and ammo that I locked in their case.
Did my best not to look at my bed.
Bed where I’d lost this black heart to a fierce little kitten with the purest soul.
Before I cracked, changed my mind, went soft the way she’d been making me, I raced back downstairs, needing to get the fuck out of town.
Get my son where it was safe so we could put a stop to this threat.
End it.
Give Gage the best life that I could, even when every step I took felt like I was coming unglued. Surrendering another piece that no longer belonged to me.
One reason.
Needed to remember.
My phone rang from my pocket. I pulled it out as I opened the door that led into the garage.
Eden.
Sweet Eden.
My spirit thrashed. I stumbled a step and squeezed my eyes closed against the assault of need.
Go.
Fucking just go.
You can’t have her.
She never was yours.
In the darkness, I jammed at the button for the garage door. It slowly lifted, the burn of the day blinding. I jogged for my car, popped the trunk, and tossed in the duffle bag and plastic case.
I slammed it shut and started for the driver’s seat.
Only to freeze.
The hairs at my nape lifted in tiny spikes of dread.
In awareness.
In sickness.
Everything trembled.
My vicious hands and my sickened heart and the hatred that would never end.
Slowly, I turned around, very fucking aware that my guns were locked in the trunk as I squinted through the rays of glaring light at the silhouette that stepped forward.
He edged forward and came into view.
My father.
He cracked a menacing grin. “Good to see you, Ghost.”
Thirty-Nine
Eden
Do you remember…
My eyes blurred over as I held the piece of paper in my trembling hands.
What was I doing to myself?
I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. If I could even stand to read my sister’s words knowing she was gone. If I could spend one more minute thinking about Trent without breaking apart.
I’d had to get out of my father’s house. I’d been there for more than a day since Jud had followed me there yesterday morning.
Church had been cancelled this morning, and where my daddy normally supported and held up and cared for the congregation, they’d come to take care of us. There’d been a nonstop barrage of condolences and flowers and casseroles.
Yesterday, Tessa had immediately come running.
Refusing to leave my side.
Standing for me when I had no strength left.
She’d held me while I’d cried for what’d felt like an eternity. All day and all night.