Did he just imply he’d wear a collar for me? Sexually? Sans clothing? What am I supposed to say to that?
Griffin keeps his smirk perfectly in place and says, “Don’t worry about those. I’ll take care of them.”
“Are you sure? We finished up everything else in there.” We silently worked in tandem, sweeping and mopping the floors, cleaning up the bar, wiping down the tables, putting all the billiards back in order, and restocking the bar.
“Yeah, I got this.” He hits me with a wink, effectively incinerating my panties.
I’m going to have to start a stockpile if I’m going to spend much more time around these Montgomery men, and seeing as how I work for them…
I’m fucked.
Blowing a breath through loose lips, I hang my head. I’m tapping into my energy reserves and bleeding them dry. I’ve had it worse several times before. This is nothing. But God, I’d givejust about anything to be magically transported to my bed right about now.
“If you’re sure, then I’m going to head out.” My sneakers slap against the tile as I put one foot in front of the other.
“Hey! And have Benny walk you out to your car,” Griffin instructs as he easily loads his thick arms with the bags of trash.
Hot damn. I’m a sucker for a man with big arms.
“Sure thing,” I confirm half-heartedly.
“I mean it. Don’t be a brat, Sunshine,” Griffin emphasizes.
“I said I would, didn’t I?” I reply with an ounce of sass.
When I step through the kitchen door, I notice right away that Benny is no longer in sight.
It’s fine. This is the twenty-first century. I can walk myself to my damn car. I’m an independent woman. Atiredindependent woman, but independent, nonetheless.
I snag my purse from where I left it behind the bar and trudge across the hardwood and out into the open air. The temperature hasn’t dropped much since night took away the sun, but the sky is blanketed in bright stars. I let the heat fill my lungs as I revel in the clarity in the air. I missed this about Texas.
A few steps into the gravel parking lot, and all the oxygen is stolen from my lungs. I pause, frozen in place. A cold sweat coats my skin, and every part of my body begins to shake.
A small figure waits for me by my car. He’s what I imagine my son will look like in a few years, except he’s missing the scar, and his eyes are an exact copy of my own. I hold in a whimper as he steps into the moonlight.
Noah Kelly.
The crown of his Kingdom Hearts shirt reflects in the moonlight. Noah raises his arm toward me, revealing the belladonna in his hand. He opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. Everything goes quiet, then his young, innocent voice crashes into me.
“I needed you, Raven. You weren’t there.”
Tears stream down my face, and my lips tremble. “I’m—I’m so sorry,” I somehow manage to choke out.
“Why weren’t you there?” His head tilts to the side as he asks his question, only it doesn’t stop. As his cheek gets closer and closer to his shoulder, blood trickles out from his nose, eyes, and ears.
“You weren’t there,” his voice cascades over and over, the words never ending.
“No!” I shout as his head continues to turn like the hands on a clock.
My legs finally begin to work of their own accord. “No! No! I’m sorry!” My knees slam into the tiny rocks on the ground, slicing into my skin. I reach for his face to correct the contortion, but all I grasp is empty space. He’s gone.
It’s as if he never existed. As if he never lived. As if he never loved.
My voice is hollow. “No, no, no, no, no. Please. I’ll make it right. I tried to make it right.”
“Raven! Raven!”
I failed. I didn’t protect him like I promised I would. I thought I had made it right. I need to make it right.
