Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Up against the law.
It felt like that danger was coming to fruition when headlights blinked through the foliage, and an SUV slowly rounded the corner and came to a stop behind Raven’s car.
I could make out the long row of lights on the top.
A sheriff.
“Theo.” Panic gushed out with his name.
Fear for him manifesting in a beat.
Theo grabbed my trembling arms to steady me. It sent a bolt of lightning streaking below the surface of my flesh.
His words were low as he rushed, “That’s Colt Astersen. Town Sheriff. He knows who we are and what we do. We normally leave him out of our dealings, but this one might be messy.”
The sheriff climbed out of his SUV and ambled for River who loitered at the end of the patio.
Theo warred, his gaze sliding between me and the hurried, secreted frenzy that emanated from across the way.
Everyone working to quickly cover what had happened.
Theo sighed, and both his hands lightly curled around my forearms, intensity rolling off him as he gazed into the distance. “Need you to go inside, Piper. I need to help clean this up.”
He swiveled his attention back to me. “We can talk more about it once I’m finished.”
My entire being flailed.
It felt like everything I’d feared was right there, catching up to me, but multiplied by a thousand.
All while my spirit thrashed inside me. Reaching out and begging for him to hold the weight of my traumas.
Could I trust him?
Would he face my demons?
Would he hold my pain and my shame?
What would happen if I allowed him to see?
Would I have to go into hiding? Not the kind of hiding that I’d been doing, which was more running than anything. But would Finn, Nelly, and I have to become someone else?
Dread compressed my chest.
He reached for my face, and I didn’t realize I was crying until he let his thumb slide up my cheek to gather a tear.
I swallowed around the barbed wire in my throat. “I don’t know if I can do this, Theo. I don’t know if I can…”
“Piper.”
I gulped around the pain that lashed through his expression. The giving that we both came up to earlier this evening crushed with this truth.
“I…I need some time.” The words croaked out of me.
“Don’t run from me, Piper. Please don’t fuckin’ run from me.”
My eyes squeezed closed. “I’m not sure I know how to stay.”
He didn’t try to stop me when I turned and fumbled for the door. My hands would barely cooperate as I dug into my pocket to get my keycard.
I pressed it to the reader. It beeped and the lock disengaged, and I gasped out in pain and relief when it gave.
I slipped in through the crack, my breaths heaving as I rested my back against the door when it snapped shut behind me.
Only there was no peace in the barrier it created.
Nothing that shielded me from the power of Theo’s presence.
I could feel him through the wood.
Tendrils weaving through the cracks.
I forced myself to move, and I staggered up the stairs.
Lightheadedness rushed me as I stood in the middle of the open doorway.
Puffs of Finn’s little breaths filled the room.
His soul at rest while I’d never been so distraught.
My feet itched with the urge to run.
To just go.
I guess I’d never been so good at facing my problems.
But these were the kind of problems that were insurmountable.
And the only battle tactic I knew was running from them.
I stumbled forward and dropped to my knees so I could drag the suitcase out from where I had it stored underneath, frantic as I tossed it open in the middle of the floor.
On my knees beside it, I stared at the emptiness inside. A reflection of me.
I tried to force myself back up to standing.
To move.
To pack our things so we could leave at first light.
Instead, I reached back under the bed and pulled out the duffel.
Through bleary eyes, I stared at it before I finally worked the code into the lock and peeled back the zipper.
I pulled out the sweaters and set them on the floor, dug through the money and the locked case with the jewelry, then I pulled out my sketchbook.
With my vision blurred, I flipped through the pages like it might take me back to that time.
Like I might be given the chance to make a different choice.
“Go. Try to save your life. Just like I’m going to try to save mine.”
Grief and guilt clutched me.
And I was sure it would always be the fear and shame and loneliness that would be my constant partner.
THIRTY-NINE
PIPER
NINETEEN YEARS OLD
“Mmmm…looks like there’s a bit of trouble waiting for you out at the curb.” Nelly hummed as she peered out the front window of the house.
Piper could see the red sports car parked on the street.
Butterflies tumbled in Piper’s stomach. Excitement scattering through her, though she attempted to play it off as she walked through the living room and grabbed her bag from where she had it ready on the table.