by Sophie Stern
She reaches for my hand and squeezes, and I don’t know how I was so lucky to end up with a sweetheart like her.
“Thanks, cupcake,” I whisper.
“Come on,” she says. “I called the motel, and they have one room available.”
“Sounds like heaven,” I say.
We get in her car and as we drive, I can’t help but think that everything that’s happened up to now has been insane. A few days ago, I was released from prison and my only goal was finding out what happened.
Well, now I know.
I know exactly what happened to my friend that night, and I finally have answers to the questions that have been haunting me this entire time. I never really expected things to be cleaned up nice and tidy with a little bow on top, and they aren’t. Finley and I will both have to testify in court and give witness statements to a jury. We’ll have to say exactly what happened, and we’ll have to disclose the nature of our relationship.
I’m okay with that.
I like Finley more than I ever thought possible. In the years she’s been writing to me, I’ve slowly fallen in love with everything about her: her kindness, her bravery, her sweetness. Now I have the chance to show her just how good I can be to her, and I don’t intend to waste a single second.
“I’m ready,” I tell her, but I don’t just mean for tonight.
I mean for everything.
With Finley, I’m not going to be happy with just one night or just one weekend or just one month.
With her, I want everything.
It’s now and forever for me and Finley.
Now and forever.
Epilogue
Finley
Falling in love with a villain isn’t how I expected to spend my life, but here I am. Years of writing to Neil while he was locked away meant that when he came home, I was ready for him. I was ready for the adventure that falling in love with him brings, and I was ready to help him fight.
Our relationship didn’t exactly have an easy start.
Finding a killer?
That’s some real Nancy Drew stuff right there, and that’s not really something I ever saw myself doing. Yet somehow, between the two of us, we managed to find justice not only for Neil, but for Sammy.
I like to think that Sammy is resting peacefully now, and I like to think that he somehow knows what happened. Whether people believe in an afterlife or not, I like the idea that our loved ones who pass still have an idea of what’s going on around here.
Then again, maybe Sammy is happily enjoying his eternity and he’s too busy to care about what’s going on down here.
“Hey,” Neil says, rolling over. I look at him and smile. Then I reach for his hand.
“Hey,” I whisper.
What else do I need to say?
Waking up next to Neil is the most wonderful experience in the world. Every single day, I get to open my eyes and smile at the man who makes me happier than anything else in the world.
“What did you dream about?” He asks.
“Knights in shining armor,” I tell him, joking.
“Oh, did they rescue you from a tall tower?”
“Nope.”
“Did they promise you love and happiness?”
“Nope.”
“What did they do?”
“In my dream, you chased all the knights away and you rescued me yourself,” I tell him.
“I’m no prince, darling.”
“No, but you are my beautiful villain,” I whisper, and then I kiss him once more.
Now and forever, it’s me and Neil against the world.
THE END
Author
Sophie Stern loves cowboys, soldiers, and shifters. When she’s not busy writing, she’s got her nose buried in a book. Sophie lives with her husband and two little boys who are always keeping her on her toes.
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More shifters!
Need more dragons? Bears? Wolves? Check out one of my other shifter stories.
Dragon Isle
Stepdragon (Dragon Isle)
My Lord and Dragon (Dragon Isle Book 1)
The Dragon Fighter (Dragon Isle Book 2)
A Dragon's Bite (Dragon Isle Book 3)
Lost to the Dragon (Dragon Isle Book 4)
Beware of Dragons (Dragon Isle Book 5)
Catching the Dragon (Dragon Isle Book 6)
Cowboy Dragon (Dragon Isle Book 7)
Dark Heart of the Dragon (Dragon Isle Book 8)
Once Upon a Dragon (Dragon Isle Book 9)
Polar Bears of the Air Force
Staff Sergeant Polar Bear (Polar Bears of the Air Force Book 1)
Master Sergeant Polar Bear (Polar Bears of the Air Force Book 2)
Airman Polar Bear (Polar Bears of the Air Force Book 3)
Senior Airman Polar Bear (Polar Bears of the Air Force Book 4)
Red (Wolf-Shifter Romance)
Red: Into the Dark
Red: Through the Dark
Red: Beyond the Dark
Honeypot Darlings
The Bear's Virgin Darling (Honeypot Darlings Book 1)
The Bear's Virgin Mate (Honeypot Darlings Book 2)
The Bear's Virgin Bride (Honeypot Darlings Book 3)
Honeypot Babies
The Polar Bear's Baby (Honeypot Babies Book 1)
The Jaguar's Baby (Honeypot Babies Book 2)
The Tiger's Baby (Honeypot Babies Book 3)
The Wolfe City Pack
The Wolf's Darling (The Wolfe City Pack Book 1)
The Wolf's Mate (The Wolfe City Pack Book 2)
The Wolf's Bride (The Wolfe City Pack Book 3)
The Wolf’s Darling
Want more shifters? I have a series out called The Wolfe City Pack. Check out an excerpt from book one: The Wolf’s Darling! You can also visit Amazon to get your copy!
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Chapter 1
Amy
The rattling sound my engine is making can’t be good, but I ignore it. I’m excellent at ignoring problems. If you ignore something long enough, it goes away. Isn’t that right? Yeah, I think that’s right. I ignore the sound and keep on driving, keep on moving. It’s not something that I can do anything about right now, so I’ll just keep going.
That’s what you do when you’re having trouble.
You don’t quit. You don’t give up. You don’t stop. You just move. You have to move or you’ll die. You have to move or everything will fall apart. You have to move or nothing will make sense anymore. You have to move.
Tears slide down my face as I try to focus on the road. I shouldn’t be running away from my problems, but I am. I totally am. I know that, and I know it’s a bad idea, but I’m doing it anyway because I’m nothing but a big, fat coward who can’t tough it out when things get hard.
I’m nothing but a loser.
A failure.
A huge disappointment.
I put on one of my favorite songs from my angst-driven teenage years. Down by Something Corporate starts blaring through the speakers and I lose myself in the tunes for just a little bit. For just a little while, I lose myself in the song. I lose myself in the music. For just a little while, I forget what I’m running away from and think about what I’m running toward.
Freedom.
Hope.
Something new.
I peek at the GPS on my phone to see how much further I have to go. It’s just another hour to Honeypot, Colorado. My cousin Hope is graciously allowing me to stay with her and her family for a little while until I get back on my feet, unt
il I figure out what I’m going to do with my life. She knows what it’s like to lose everything and have to start over.
She knows what it’s like to have nothing but yourself and your car and a couple of boxes of junk from your childhood.
I think about the fact that I reached out to Hope when my world fell apart and I think about what she said.
“Just come to Honeypot,” she told me. “Everything is different here. You’ll see. You need a fresh start, Amy. You need something new.”
Maybe it will be a fresh start. Maybe it will be exactly what I need, exactly what I hope for. Maybe it will give me everything I long for, but I doubt it. A city is a city and a town is a town. They’re all the same, in the end. Everyone is looking out for number one, and heaven help the person who gets in their way.
Nobody has time for other people.
Nobody has time to go out of their way and help.
Nobody has time for patience.
Nobody has time to forgive.
I start crying again as I drive. I wipe my eyes because it’s getting hard to see out the front window, but then I realize that’s not because of my tears. It’s because the engine has now started to smoke.
As the clouds billow from the front of the car, my heart sinks. This is it, then. This is the end of my wonderful, grand adventure. This is the part of my story where everything stops, where the heroine realizes she never really had a chance. The whole world was against her. What was she going to do?
Fight it?
I pull over to the side of the road and shut off the car. Then I just sit there. It’s dark, and I’m tired, and I’m on the side of a road I’m pretty sure shouldn’t even exist anymore. It’s not even a highway. It’s just some side road I thought would be faster and have less traffic.
Lucky me.
Always making the smart choices.
A quick glance at my cell phone confirms what I already suspected: that I have no towers. I can’t call for a tow. I can’t do anything right now but sleep in my car or walk to the next exit. Something tells me it’s not safe to sleep on the side of an empty road in the middle of nowhere, though, so my choice is easy.
Walking it is.
Finally, I get out of the car and open the hood. More smoke billows around me, but I try to ignore it as I prop the hood of the car open. I’m going to be making a journey on foot, and I’m hoping that if I make it obvious the car broke down, the cops won’t give me a ticket for illegal parking before I can get a tow.
I take my backpack and pull it on. I also grab my wallet, keys, and phone. Then I lock up my car and start walking. There’s other stuff in my car, of course. There are plenty of things people can take and resell, but I don’t really care about any of that. Right now I just care about moving forward, about reaching my destination, wherever that might be.
I’m going to need to call Hope as soon as I can to let her know I won’t be making it in to see her, but I think she’ll understand, and I think everything will be okay. I hope everything will be okay. I need everything to be okay.
I start walking.
As I move through the darkness, I realize I should feel afraid, but I just feel annoyed. Why can’t a single thing go right for me this week? Hell, why can’t a single thing go right for me in my entire life? Do I really deserve this? Have I really been such a terrible person that I deserve to have a million and nine things go wrong for me?
I want to say I’m not.
I want to say I’m not that bad and I don’t deserve it, but you never know.
Maybe I was a really terrible child or something and this is Karma’s way of getting back at me.
As I trudge along the side of the highway, I wonder how long it’s going to take to actually get my car fixed. Realistically, Honeypot is an hour away by car. I can’t afford to have my car towed there and fixed in Honeypot. I’m sure Hope would spot me the money, but I don’t want to be a burden. Asking for help is already hard for me. Asking her to pay for a tow? I won’t do that.
No, there’s got to be a town closer than that. I’m sure there are several rink-a-dink little places here and there that have mechanics. The biggest problem right now is that I didn’t take the highway. It’s at least half a mile to my left and right now, I’m just going straight. I’m just going to keep moving. I’m just going to keep walking until I find something, anything, anywhere.
I reach an intersection and I take note of the street names so that when I do find a mechanic, I can tell him exactly where the car is. It’s dark, but the stars are so bright I can see where I’m going.
“You don’t get views like this in the city,” I mutter, and keep walking. It’s strange to think how much my life has changed in the last week. It’s strange to think that a week ago, I was just a normal person living a normal life. I had a normal boyfriend and a normal job and a normal future.
And then Jeremy decided I wasn’t worth protecting.
He decided I wasn’t worth fighting for.
I wonder how people survive break-ups and still move on to find someone new. Isn’t it strange? I suppose it’s kind of like how women go through childbirth, but then continue on to have another child. It hurts, but it’s worth it. The pain is awful, but soon the memory fades, even just a little.
In a month, will I still feel so broken?
In a year, will I still feel so sad?
I’m still crying as I walk and now, strangely, I have the feeling I’m being watched. I wasn’t worried before, but now I’m starting to get a little nervous. This is Colorado, after all. It’s known for wild animals. Hope told me she saw a lot of wild creatures when she first arrived. Hell, she even saw a bear. Like, up close.
I shiver as I think about running into a bear out here alone. I’m not terribly out of shape, but I don’t think I’d be able to out-run a bear. Even if I wasn’t completely tired and worn out from my week, from the drive, I don’t know if I could face a bear. I’d probably faint from fear.
“There’s nothing out here,” I say aloud. I stop walking and turn in a circle, searching the darkness. There are fields on either side of the road. One of them has a lot of trees, but they’re spaced far enough apart that nothing is hiding. I would be able to see a bear.
I think.
There’s nothing.
“You’re overreacting,” I say to myself. “There’s nothing here, Amy. Just focus. What do you need to do?”
I start moving again as I run through a mental checklist and continue talking to myself. It’s a nervous habit. Ever since I was little, I’ve talked to myself when I’m scared or overwhelmed. It’s probably really silly, probably really dumb, but it’s always made me feel like I could handle things.
Somehow, hearing my voice out loud makes me feel a little stronger, a little braver. Maybe it’s because sometimes, having anyone tell you they believe in you can give you the strength you need to move forward. Even if that someone is just yourself, sometimes it’s nice to hear. It’s nice to hear you can do it.
It’s nice to have someone tell you you’re strong.
“First, find a mechanic,” I say. Then I realize it’s nearly midnight. I imagine all the mechanics have gone home for the night. “Scratch that. Find a motel. In the morning, talk to the clerk. The clerk can help me find someone to fix my car.”
That’s it.
That’s what I’ll do.
I’ll find a motel. I’ll find a clerk. I’ll find a mechanic.
They’ll fix my car and then I’ll be on my merry way. Then everything will be okay and I’ll only be a little late to Hope’s place and then I can really start my new life without Jeremy, without stress, without any problems.
I’ll be able to start my life.
My legs are aching and my throat is dry. I wish I’d thought to grab a water bottle. I’ve been walking for close to an hour and sleeping in the ditch is starting to seem like a viable option, but then I finally spot some lights.
There are only a couple of lights visible at first,
but soon there are more and more, and I reach the edge of a small town.
“Wolfe City,” I read the sign. “Cute name.” I mean, it’s the kind of name that makes me think this is going to be a ghost town overrun by wolves, but it’s cute. I pass a couple of houses before I find the main street. The street lights are bright and the town seems to be well-lit. It’s quiet, and I’m guessing everyone is asleep, but I should be able to find my way around.
There’s a small grocery store and a general merchandise store, along with a couple of fast food chains. I walk past them and finally find what I’m looking for: a little run-down building with the word MOTEL flashing in front.
I approach the building warily and push open the door. A little bell jingles and the scent of must and mold wafts to my nose. It’s an older building, but it’s just for one night.
Hopefully.
Oh, I really, really hope it’s only for one night.
“Hello,” the clerk says when I walk in. She looks me up and down and then, if I’m not mistaken, she sniffs the air. Oh damn, do I smell bad? I walked for a long time. I’m probably sweaty and gross by now. “Can I help you?” She cocks her head to the side, waiting for me to say something.
“Um, yes, do you have any rooms available?”
“You want a room?” She looks surprised, as if that was the last thing she was expecting me to say.
“Yeah, I mean, yeah. Isn’t this a motel? I mean, um,” I stumble over the words, completely flustered, until she smiles and laughs and waves her hand.
“Calm down, honey. It’s just that we don’t get too many out-of-towners here. I figured you were looking for directions. Of course we’ve got a room. Just one night?”
“Yeah,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief.
