Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
He angled down to make sure he was meeting my eye. “But maybe this is your opportunity to make a change. Maybe she is here for something bigger than the temporary. Maybe it’s time you forgave yourself.”
Grief clutched my conscience, and the old anger pulsed around it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I grated out, needing to cut the conversation off before it devolved any further.
I turned on my heel and stormed down the sidewalk to Theo shouting behind me, “It’s time to join the living, brother.”
I just put my head down and didn’t respond as I weaved through the crush of people browsing along Ninth Street.
Theo should know better than feeding me that bullshit. There was no forgiving myself. No way to make amends.
It was already done.
Signed on my spirit and scarred on my flesh.
And still, I was digging out my phone as I strode around the side of the building so I could get to where I left my bike parked in the alley, my heart beating wild as I tapped out a message.
Me
You good?
It didn’t take but a second for her to respond. Still, waiting for it felt like an eternity.
Wallflower
We’re great but your rug has seen better days. Eva spilled milk on it. I told her to stay at the table while I took a shower. I guess it’s a good indication of what you’re in for.
I could feel the self-deprecation woven in the words. Her typical lightness, all while the undertone of graveness underscored her statement.
She kept nudging her request in my direction, the threat of it lingering in the air.
Another text blipped in behind it.
Wallflower
I’m really sorry, Cash.
Me
I don’t care about a fucking rug, Daisy.
Possessions could be replaced. People could not.
Wallflower
I’m sorry for all of it. For coming here. For asking something of you that you don’t want to give. I’m sorry that we’re in your way and so obviously making life hard on you. I’m just…sorry.
Heaviness pulled at my consciousness. A war waged in the middle of it.
I wanted to give her everything, but how the fuck could I give her this? She didn’t know what she was asking or who she was really asking it of. There was no love left inside me.
I had nothing to give those kids other than my pain and anger.
My rage and my sorrow.
My heart was a cold, vacant place.
Stone.
A bath of brittle violence the only thing that kept me moving. The blood that sustained the life that tore through my veins.
If she knew a fraction of the things I’d done, she would have packed their belongings back into their car and run.
Fled from who I was.
But if she knew my ultimate sin?
I tried to stand beneath the shame that crushed down on my shoulders, and I forced myself to tap out a message.
Me
I’m going to fix this, Daisy. I’m going to find him and end the threat so you and those kids can live the life you deserve. Together.
Then she wouldn’t have to entertain this nonsense she was suggesting.
Wallflower
Is it wrong if I want you in it?
I was unprepared for her question. For her to give voice to the thing that had simmered between us for the last two weeks. An intensity that sucked the air from the room every time she stepped into it. An old feeling that should have been long dead but had reared its ugly head.
Me
You already had one bad man in your life, Daisy. You don’t need another.
Wallflower
I don’t believe there’s a single thing bad about you, Cash Cunningham.
Me
That’s because there’s only goodness in you, and you can only see the best of those around you.
And I had no good left.
SEVENTEEN
CASH
I slowed my motorcycle as I made a right onto the dirt lane, unable to outrun the thoughts about that little family that was locked up tight within the walls of my home.
The forest hugged me on all sides, overgrown and overhanging what was little more than a trail that led to my cabin secluded in the deepest recesses of my land.
My nerves ticked and buzzed as I pulled up next to Daisy’s SUV parked out front.
One of Silas’s men pushed from the wall of the garage, only giving me a jut of his chin that all was clear before he swung onto his bike and disappeared back down the lane.
An understanding between us that didn’t require words.
I had Silas’s back and he had mine.
He hadn’t heard a peep out of Kent Ellison, but there was something in the air.
A quiet threat that built in the distance.
Knew it wasn’t going to be ignored or forgotten, and I still didn’t know if Kent knew that my crew and I had been involved.
I planted my boots on the ground and killed my bike’s engine.
My gaze took in the area, guts tightening as I searched to make sure no one was loitering.