Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“What kind of skeletons am I going to find in my mom and dad’s closet?” I ask, more to myself than to my cousins.
“You’ll have to ask them,” Brock says.
“My God, you sound like a fucking broken record.”
“We need to go,” Donny says.
He and Brock rise, now standing next to me.
“No. You absolutely cannot drop a big bomb on me like this and then just leave.” I haven’t even told them about the new message yet.
“All right,” Brock says. “I totally understand. Let me stay here with you tonight. I’ll sleep on the couch. I just need to text Rory so she’s not waiting up.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I’m perfectly safe here.”
Though a shiver racks through me as I say the words.
Is anyone really safe? Ever? My new security hasn’t been installed yet…
Little Donny and Dale probably thought they were safe in their house. I’ve heard the stories of latchkey kids. My God, I never thought…
“How do these things happen?” I ask. “How do things like this happen in Snow Creek?”
“They happen everywhere, cuz,” Donny says. “Unfortunately, Snow Creek isn’t immune. The trafficking ring that took Dale and me took some kids from Snow Creek a few decades before.”
I go numb again, and shivers pass through me. “Please. No.”
“My father was a victim,” Donny says. “Dale and I didn’t know this until a short time ago.”
“Uncle Talon?” I plunk back down on the couch, my head in my hands.
I’m angry. So angry and sad and full of questions. How could any of this happen? My cousins? My uncle? Big strong Dale. Big strong Donny. Big strong Uncle Talon.
But they weren’t big and strong when they were children.
So many secrets.
What do my mother and father have to do with all of this? What do they know that Donny and Brock can’t tell me?
I need Brendan.
Brock is sweet to offer to stay here, but he’s not who I need right now.
I need Brendan Murphy.
Secrets.
So many secrets.
The hierophant.
It’s the hierophant.
A chill ripples through me, and I know…
I know something dark and ominous is coming.
CHAPTER THIRTY
BRENDAN
I’ve just turned out my light when my phone rings. My heart skips when I see the name across my screen.
“Ava?” I say into the phone.
“I’m downstairs in the bar, Brendan. I need to see you. Please.”
“Sure, of course. Go up the steps. I’ll let you in.”
I stumble out of bed and scramble into a pair of jeans.
Ava’s face is red and swollen when I answer the door. “My God, have you been crying?”
“No.” She falls into my arms. “Yes, I have. But don’t hold it against me, okay?”
I kiss the top of her pink head. “I would never. What’s wrong, baby? What can I do for you?”
“Right now?” she says. “Take me to bed. Fuck me. Fuck me hard and fast, Brendan. I need an escape.”
I’m not one to offer sex as a means of escape, but something in Ava’s voice propels me to do as she requests. I like this woman. I think I’m falling in love with her. The last thing I want her to think of when it comes to sex with me is that it’s an escape, but right now? I just want to make her feel better.
I want to comfort her.
If a hard fuck is what she needs, I will do it.
After all, I’ll enjoy the hell out of it.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk first?”
She shakes her head. “No. I’ve had enough talking tonight, trust me. No more talking. No more thinking. Please.”
I scoop her into my arms, kick the door shut and lock it, and then take her to my bed.
I’m only wearing jeans and nothing else, so I undress her quickly, throwing her clothes in a heap next to the bed.
When she’s naked, her blue eyes on fire, her pink hair settled around her shoulders, I peel off my own jeans.
She holds her arms out to me, spreads her legs. In the dim light of my bedroom, her pussy glistens.
She’s been thinking about this.
She’s wet.
My cock is ready—thick and hard and ready—so I climb on top of her and plunge into her without so much as a kiss to her lips first.
This is what she wants, and this is what I’ll give her.
But afterward?
We will have a long talk.
Damn, though… Talking is overrated when she’s clasping me so completely.
Again I feel like I want to stay inside her forever, but soon the urge overwhelms me, and I pull out and thrust back in.
It doesn’t take long for either of us. Surprisingly, she climaxes at the same time I do, and we join together, both shattering, both feeling the sweet edge of release.
I turn to my side then so that I lie facing her. I stroke her silky hair and smooth it off her forehead. She turns toward me, and I take a long look at her beautiful blue eyes, swollen and bloodshot.