She puts her hands up in resignation. “Fine, I’ll stop for now. I just don’t like leaving you here, and I don’t think you should give up on you and him just yet. Your story isn’t over yet. I see a happily ever after in your future.” Her eyes are glazed over and she smiles, lost in her own fantasy world.
I give her a minute and then nudge her. “You need to stop with those damn romance novels. Not every love story is all hearts and flowers and happy!” I laugh, the sound bubbly like the wine.
“Not hearts and flowers, but they all need a happy ending!” she exclaims. “Plus,” she smiles, “the babies you two would make…” her voice trails off as she clutches her chest.
I feel my heart clench inside my chest at the thought of babies. My mind goes straight to Trent and the paternity test that I didn’t tell her about.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, her face falling. “You look like you just saw a ghost or something.”
I drink some more wine, preparing myself for the rest of this conversation.
“Not a ghost,” I tell her quietly. “I forgot about the paternity test.”
I look up at her, and she’s silently staring at me. “They took one, and I sent it out. I forgot all about it, and it could come back any day now. I put the return address as Griffin’s house instead of here, and now I’m not going to get the results, and they’re just going to be there, unopened, because I’m the one who nee–.”
“Slow the fuck down,” Cara cuts me off, mid-ramble. “Griffin can open them, not look at them, and send you a picture. Or I can open them. Or we’ll mail them, or you can fly home and get them yourself and take them straight to Ryder’s house.”
I start nodding quickly. “Right. You’re right. We’ll figure it out some way.”
Cara starts to smile. “Let’s just leave it for now.”
“Let’s. We have plenty more to talk about,” I return her smile and push the thoughts from my mind.
“Exactly,” she pauses to drain her bottle of wine. She stands up, walking out of the room into the kitchen. “Plus,” she adds, “you don’t need a paternity test to know that boy is his. Anyone who can’t see that must be blind as a bat.”
I mull over her words, thinking back over the years. I’ve always had a feeling that he was Ryder’s, but I never knew for sure, so it wasn’t something I was fully able to see.
Have I really spent the last two years of my life walking around with my eyes closed?
chapter twenty-nine
RYDER
HE BARKS OUT A LAUGH as the corners of his mouth reach towards his eyes. His teeth are bright red with blood, and his face lights up with amusement.
“You can’t kill me,” he chuckles to himself. “If you kill me, you’ll never find her.”
Griffin rears his arm backwards and forces it forward, driving the butt of his gun into Jared’s head. He collapses onto his side, still breathing, but not moving.
“Motherfucker,” Griffin growls.
Realization hits me. “He was anticipating this. He has us right where he wants us.” The fucker was in control of the situation the whole time. He played us right into the palm of his hand, and we didn’t even see it coming. “What the fuck do we do now?”
“Give me a minute to fucking think! And tie his ass up before he comes back around,” he tells me. “He’s not that smart. Fucked up, yeah. But he’s been sloppy.” Griffin surveys our surroundings, looking for any clues. We’re the ones who weren’t anticipating this. We had a plan. And it was completely out the window at this point. There was no plan B. Just one simple plan: find where he has been hiding, let him lead us there, and then end this, once and for all. But it didn’t go down that way.
“Griffin,” I bark, getting his attention. “What the hell do we do?”
He stares back at me, his eyes dark and cold. He roughly runs his hands through his hair and begins pacing. His actions speak for him. He has no idea. And he knows we’re running out of time.
“He’s obviously had her locked away in here for quite some time. Somehow, he knew we’d come, so he moved her.” He pauses. “But where?” Griffin walks out the front door and onto the porch. The day had turned to night, and with the darkness of the woods, it was almost impossible to see anything outside.
I see movement from the corner of my eye as Jared starts to regain consciousness. He coughs loudly and slowly wiggles around, his eyes scanning the room. They find mine and he flashes his blood stained teeth at me. Dried blood covers his forehead, matting down his hair.
“No luck so far?” he asks, grinning at me. “Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Time’s running out.”
“Where the fuck is she?” I seethe through clenched teeth, walking closer to him.
“Now, now. What fun would that be if I gave away the answer?” He pauses for a moment. “Speaking of fun, how’s the little bitch doing? Didn’t think I’d see her around here. Cute kid she’s got too.”
Anger courses through my veins and I feel the adrenaline kick in. My breathing picks up and my heart starts pounding. I forcefully drive my foot into his ribs, again and again. He curls up into a ball as he takes blow after blow, unable to defend himself.
“Ryder!” Griffin raises his voice. I turn to where he stands by the door. “Enough.” He comes up behind me, leaning close to my ear. “I think I know where she is.”
Jared breaks into a coughing fit on the ground, ending it with a groan. He spits out a mouthful of blood. “Little brother,” he coughs again. “The genius of the family. You should be smart enough to figure this one out.”
Griffin stares down at him and then walks over to the dining room table. He drags a chair over, sitting down on it backwards. He rests his arms on the back of the chair and continues to stare at Jared. He slowly narrows his eyes.
“When we were little, we used to play this game. Well, Jared used to play a game.” He looks around the cabin. “I remember now. This place. Robert brought us here a few times with our mom. Somewhere in the woods, there’s a huge rock formation with caves throughout it. Jared used to lead me in there and leave me to find my way out.”
I glance down at Jared, who is watching Griffin eagerly. “Go on, little brother.”
“One day, Jared didn’t leave me. Not right away. We walked deep through the caves until we found a chamber. It was an empty space, but it was closed off with bars and a door. He locked me in there. I spent hours in there until he finally told our parents where I was.” Griffin gives me a look. One that I can’t decipher. “That’s where she is, isn’t it?” he asks Jared.
“See, I knew you weren’t stupid. I just didn’t think it would take you this long. You make me proud, though.” He smiles up at Griffin. “Run along now. Go get your girl.”
Griffin narrows his eyes. “Where’s the key?”
Jared lets out a harsh laugh. “Oh, yes! Who could forget about the key?”
Griffin stands up from the chair and crouches down next to Jared’s head. “Listen, you sick motherfucker. Tell me where the key is or I will rip you apart, limb by limb.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Jared laughs again. “We’re cut from the same cloth. It’s about time you start to show it.”
Griffin grabs him by the hair, lifting his head from the floor. He slams his head back onto the ground. “Tell me where the fucking key is.”
Jared chuckles to himself, choking on the blood pooling in his mouth. Griffin slams his head onto the floor again.
“Use your brain, little brother. If you were a key, where would big brother Jared hide you?”
Griffin quickly stands up. “There is no key.” He turns towards me. “There is no key.”
“What do you mean there’s no key?” I ask him, full of confusion.
“When they found me, Jared had already hid the key. They broke the lock on the door. There is no key because there isn’t a lock anymore.” Griffin rushes towards the door, grabbing a flashlight from the counter. “I have to go find her. He’s all your
s.” With that, he slips outside, slamming the door behind him.
“Looks like it’s just us now.” Jared struggles to his knees. With his hands tied behind his back, the amount of effort it takes for him to get up is written all over his face. I clutch the pistol in my hand, my grip tightening until my knuckles turn white.
“Get the fuck up,” I bark at him. He laughs as he slowly climbs to his feet. This whole thing has been a game to him. His whole life has been one huge fucked up joke.
“Walk outside,” I instruct him. He stumbles towards the door, and I pull it open and shove him onto the porch. He lands on his knees and face plants onto the porch. With his hands tied behind his back and his ass in the air, I shove him with my foot, pushing him off the porch. He rolls down the wooden steps, landing with a thud on the gravel. I follow him down to the ground, grabbing him by the arms and lifting him up to his feet.
“You nervous?” he sneers. “Bet you’ve never had any blood on your hands before. Feels good, doesn’t it?”
I jerk him forward, dragging him deeper into the woods. “Shut the fuck up.” My tone has grown hard and cold, but not like his. After walking for a few minutes, I shove him back down onto the ground, pressing the end of the pistol against his temple.
“Come on,” he taunts, “you know you want to pull the trigger.”
I look down at him, directly into his emotionless, mocking eyes. “You know what? You’re right. The blood on my hands does feel good. Your blood on my hands feels fucking amazing.” I cock back the hammer. “But you see, unlike you, I still have my humanity. All of this is just a means to an end—an end to a piece of shit that deserves to die in such a horrific manner, even you couldn’t imagine.”
He looks up at me, slightly amused. “So let’s see this horrific shit you got. My dicks gettin’ hard, you got me so hyped up about this right now.”
Swiftly, I pull the gun away from his head and fire three shots into his pelvic area. He screams, curling up into the fetal position, unable to cover himself with his hands. His pants grow dark with blood as it flows from his body. “You shot my fucking dick!” he screams at me.
“Trust me when I say you won’t be needing that where you’re going. You’ll be the one getting fucked up the ass while you burn in hell, motherfucker,” I promise him in a low voice, every word cutting deeper and deeper. I tuck the gun into the back of my waistband and pull the tire iron out of my back pocket. Jared is so consumed by his pain, he doesn’t even see me coming.
I deliver blow after blow—first to his body, then working my way up to his head—until I’m covered in blood and brain matter. I long ago lost count of how many times I hit him and it didn’t take long for him to become unrecognizable. I give him one last good swift kick to the face, chunks of his brain falling out of his skull and splattering across the ground, before I calmly begin walking away from him and back to the cabin.
I’m still picking pieces of brain and skull from my shirt when I reach the little house. Griffin’s standing on the front porch, holding onto the railing, watching me walk up.
“Everything taken care of?” He asks, looking out into the woods.
I give him a curt nod.
“Good. With all the bears around here, he’ll be gone by sunrise,” he says, letting go of the railing and walking down the stairs towards me.
“What about you?” I ask him as he reaches me.
He nods towards the car. I see her through the windshield, sitting in the back, wrapped in a blanket with the moonlight reflecting off her almost white hair.
“We’re good to go.” He starts walking towards the car, and I follow behind him. He goes to his side and opens up the door while I do the same on the passenger side. “There’s clothes and a towel on the seat. Go back inside, wash up, and change into those. I’ll come back tomorrow to turn everything off and make sure he’s gone.”
I grab the small pile of clothes and walk back inside. I strip down and wash off the blood as quickly as possible before throwing the new clothes on. I know there’s still blood in my hair, but for right now, I want it there. I eliminated the threat, and now I can get my girl back.
I walk back to the car and climb in. Griffin gives me a not so pleased look. Then he shrugs, turning on the car. “I guess that will do.”
“I’m sorry, I forgot to bring my nicest three-piece suit to put on for the after party,” I glare at him.
Griffin just lets out a sigh, ignoring me. “I’m just glad that this is over.” He pauses and looks in the rearview mirror. “And that you’re safe now.”
I turn around to look at this mysterious Rowena in the backseat. Anyone would be a fool to not be entranced by her beauty. Her petite frame barely takes up any room in the back of the car. But her clear blue eyes, her translucent skin, and her white hair demand that her presence is known. Her eyes meet mine with an expression I didn’t intend on seeing. I expected fear, terror, or trauma—something that one would express during a time like this. But instead, she’s quiet and calm; her eyes are cold and emotionless, yet there’s a hint of relief. A moment passes, and her eyes grow a fraction warmer before she turns to look out the window. I look over at Griffin, watching as he gnaws on his bottom lip, expecting someone to say something.
Who is this girl and what has she done to Griffin?
chapter thirty
LYDIA
TIME STANDS STILL, yet the days are short and pass by quickly. We fall back into our familiar routine, except for some minor issues. Trent grew close to my family and everyone at home, and the fact that he’s missing them has started to show. He asks about Ryder, whom he’d grown so fond of so quickly. Maybe it was the unseen bond between them that kept the memory of him fresh in Trent’s mind. The fact that he asks about him constantly doesn’t help me anymore than the fact that I’m seeing more of Ryder in his face every time I look at him.
“Lydia?” Cara’s voice comes through the phone I forgot I was holding. “Are you still there?”
A vibrant white butterfly catches my son’s attention, and I watch as he darts across the yard in an attempt to catch it.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I say in distant voice; one that doesn’t even sound like my own. I’m too caught up in my own thoughts and feelings. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting outside, how long I’ve been on the phone, or even what has been said between us.
“Barely,” I hear Cara mutter into the phone. “Lydia, I’m gonna get real here for a minute, and I apologize in advance if it comes off cunty.” Her voice trails off and she pauses for a moment. “I get what you’re doing. I really do. We started to build a life there, one that was safe and was beginning to feel comfortable and stable for you. We came north, back home, and everything in life and what you thought completely changed. So you did what you do best and you ran. You ran away from your family, friends, and, most importantly, the man that loves you more than life itself. And not to mention, the father of your child. There, I fucking said it, because God knows someone had to. Fuck.” She lets out a harsh breath, and I can sense through the sound of her voice how worked up and pissed off she is getting. “Seriously, though, what are you doing? I get that you’re scared and shit, but that’s not your home. That’s not your little safe haven like you think it is and you fucking know it. I mean this in the nicest way possible when I say this,” she pauses. “You’ve done some dumb shit in life, but this takes the cake by far.”
I wait to see if she’s finished talking, but frankly, I’m at a loss for what to even say. There’s a pregnant pause. Like a 38 weeks pregnant, pregnant pause. I heard every word she said and each one seeps around me in the silence, slowly peeling away my layers. Everything seems to slow down and the sounds of Trent playing in the grass drown in the reality of her words.
I swallow hard, but my mouth is so dry, making it feel like I’ve swallowed sandpaper instead. “You’re right,” I quietly agree, being the first one to speak because, once Cara speaks her peace, she waits for you to come to her.
“I know I’m right,” she says matter-of-factly. “Would I waste either of our time with meaningless words like that?”
I shake my head to myself, my lips curling upward into a small smile. “To be honest,” I take a deep breath and sigh, “I have no idea what I’m doing down here, okay? I have no idea what I’m doing every single day. Do I question being here? Hell yeah. But I’m not ready to go back there…not yet. And I can’t come back until I know I’m honestly ready to and am able to give him 100%.”
“Wait, did you say you can’t come back until you can give him 100%? Him, as in Ryder Owens, the father of your child, the man that has you all sorts of fucked up?” Her voice is a mixture of wonder and excitement and, as always, has a twinge of sarcastic humor.
Viciously rubbing the palms of my hands into my eyes, I hear Trent giggling in the yard. My hands fall away from my face, landing onto the table, and my gaze travels to where he sits in the yard playing with dandelions. He looks up and his face shines brighter than the sun with his bright blue eyes seeing nothing but me. His smile is bright enough to light up an entire city. And everything I see right before me is the miniature version of the one my heart belongs to.
I smile back at him and throw him a wink before grabbing the phone I’d been balancing between my ear and shoulder. “Let’s make this quick. You know you’re right. He loves me, Trent is most likely his, and there’s no place for me here in Georgia.”
Cara lets out a deep breath on her side of the phone. “Thank fuck. It’s about time, and that was easy enough.” She pauses. “So when are you coming home?”
“Well,” I start, clearing my throat, “I’m not. Not yet, at least.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” She all but yells at me. “We just had the revelation of a fucking lifetime, and now you’re all ‘I’m not coming back yet’, blah, blah, blah.”
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