Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 33765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Yours,
Eden
I hold the note and think about the sixteen-year-old girl I held in my arms. She asked me if she was mine that day, and I never answered her. She was too young to understand what that meant, so I let her go with her family. I never thought I’d get something like this in the mail, and though I probably should write her back and tell her that I’m unable to attend, I know I’ll be there. Just to simply lay my eyes on her again.
Leaning back in my chair, I picture the girl I saved. I’ve wondered enough over the years to look in on her family. I never bothered Eden, because I thought she’d been through enough and deserved her privacy. But I checked on her parents to make sure they were still doing okay. Eden’s stepfather, John Bolton, is very well off. He exports manufactured goods throughout the southeast, and he’s made a name for himself. We determined it was most likely the cause of the kidnapping. Their family was known to have money, and even before we located Eden, he was willing to pay whatever ransom they asked. It struck me as odd afterwards that they seemed happy, but not very affectionate with their daughter. I just pushed it off, however, thinking that they weren’t that kind of family. Everything that I’ve found on him and Mrs. Bolton has been fine. They continue to do well. Last year he ran for the Senate and won. From the outside it all looks perfect, but yet I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I need to see Eden. I always go with my gut, and I know I have to see her again. It’s almost like I’ve been waiting and the time has finally come. Why now, I don’t know.
There’s a reason it’s there, but I just can’t nail it down. This graduation invitation is an opportunity for me to put my fears to rest. I can finally see that Eden is happy and healthy and in no danger. I’m sure she’s got a plan to go to college and live her life to the fullest. I’ll go, and then I’ll feel much better about everything.
I tell myself this, but the whole time I’ve got that feeling that something is coming.
Chapter Two
Coen
I stand in the back of the auditorium as the students cross the stage one at a time. I’ve been searching her out in the crowd, but all the blue gowns just seem to blur together, and the hats don’t freaking help. It’s driving me fucking nuts that I haven’t seen her yet. Those feelings I’d felt that day she was missing start to crush in on me, even though I know they’re ridiculous and make absolutely no sense at all. But that doesn’t stop them. Those feelings are still there. Those hours of looking for her and not finding her. I take a deep breath to calm myself.
Something has been clawing at me. It has been two years, but now it’s digging in deep. I feel like it’s ripping at me. This need to just see her. To know I’m in the same room with her. To place my eyes on her. To see if those blue eyes of hers still shine like I remember them, or if I’d built them up in my mind to be more than they were.
The older man at the podium calls out the names in no particular order, so I can’t even try to gauge when she might be coming. What the hell happened to alphabetical? I grab the back of my neck, giving myself a squeeze and trying to pull some of the mounting tension out of my body. It’s been building since I got the invitation in the mail. You’d think I was on the job with how I’m feeling at this moment. A high risk job, where I’m just waiting for something big to happen at any moment.
“Eden Mathews,” the man finally says, making my head snap up just as she walks up the stairs to the stage. She looks like everything I remember. I curse myself for not getting a seat closer. I’d wanted to stand in the back. I’d only needed to get a glance, hoping it would be enough to kick whatever this pounding need I’ve been having to see her again, but now it’s going into overdrive. I kept telling myself it’s because a part of me feels protective of her. Proud, even, that she’s graduating. That what happened to her didn’t hold her back in life. That she’s moving forward.
But this need is turning into an obsession, taking on a life of its own. I want to get closer. The look clearly isn’t enough. As if she senses I’m here, her eyes come straight to me, even through the crowd of people. She focuses right in on me, her whole face lighting up in recognition, those dimples showing. I can see them from all the way back here. They make her look so fucking innocent it takes my breath away for a second.