This woman has been more of a mother to me than my mom and grandmother combined. Hell, she even knitted me a really ugly beanie under the guise that “sometimes the heater drops off at night.” She’s actually a crazy old bat—and her husband’s a dick—but I’ve already decided I’d die for her.
A knock at the door stirs me to my feet. It’s the same gentle knock I’ve heard every day around this time since I’ve arrived. I glance at the clock hanging on the wall, showing both arms pointing to six.Right on time.
Sighing, I open the door, ready to reject any insistence that I eat dinner with her. Except the concerned look on her face stops me short. Her fluffy, short white hair is lacking its usual bounce, and there’s a stain on the linen blouse she always seems to wear.
“Do you know a man named Emir?” Sue cuts right to the chase.
A tidal wave of emotions hits me all at once. My head moves upand down almost as fast as my accelerating pulse. “Yes. Why?” It’s Kohen’s alias, and I never once mentioned his name to her. “Is he here? Did he stop by? Where is he?”
I push out of the room and onto the gravel driveway. The motel is as deserted as it always is, with the only sign of life being the woman beside me.
The deep lines on her forehead crease with worry. “He left a message to say he’ll be here soon, and there’s been an issue on his end.”
My brows pull together. He… he called? After six days? Another line of thought has my lips parting; Kohen hasn’t left me. A little voice pipes up at the back of my mind, sayingI told you so.
“Anything else?” Specifically, what issue did he encounter? What the hell is taking six days? He said the trust was clear-cut so long as he got his high school diploma and accepted a college offer. Kohen made it sound like the transfer would be immediate.
She shakes her head. “Is this the boyfriend you mentioned?” she asks cautiously.
I nod uneasily, unsure of where this conversation is going.
She shifts her weight. “It isn’t my place to pry, so forgive me if I’m out of line. I once gave a man my whole world, and he left with it. I did it all over again with the next man. If it weren’t for my husband, I wouldn’t have survived it—life for a young woman such as yourself isn’t the same as it was for me back then. What I’m saying is that there are good ones out there. But just because one person isn’t as bad as the other doesn’t make them any good.”
I swallow, my heart sinking deeper. She would have been a great mom. It’s sad to think this is the type of life I could have had if I had family like her.
“He’s one of the good ones.” Despite my anger, I’ve never been more certain of anything.
Sue’s lips twist to the side. “Are you sure?”
I shrug, a ghost of a smile on my lips as I recall the past month with him and all the years before. “When he was seven, he tried gifting me a bat to fight off the other boys at school. To this day, he’s still handing me bats.”
She chuckles, shaking her head. “That’s a true man; the one who sits back and watches their woman raise hell.” She points at my face. “You make sure you keep him.”
I laugh softly. I don’t want to lose him; I know that to be truer than anything. I’ll survive without him, but he’s been helping me feel alive. Even though worry churns my gut, to put her at ease, I say, “Were you a hell-raiser, Sue?”
She winks. “Bats are child’s play, love. I’ve got a shotgun if you want to see what real power looks like. Dinner’s ready—say no again, and I might consider taking payment in the form of cleaning my bathroom.”
Biting the inside of my cheek, I try to ignore the way my skin warms.
“It’s shepherd’s pie,” she adds.
I suck in a sharp breath. I’ve never had anything homemade until this woman. “I’ll take a slice—only because you’re forcing me.”
I pace up and down the length of the room. Ninefuckingdays, and I’ve been going out of my mind. I haven’t heard a single peep from him since he contacted Sue, and the motherfucker turned his caller ID off, so I have no way ofcalling him back.
I squeeze my fingers around my bandaged hand, focusing on the feel of the coarse fabric beneath my skin instead of the throbbing in my knuckles. Sue keeps telling me I need an X-ray and a doctor. I keep telling her no because I can't afford either. So her husband prescribed me what he claims is the best medicine: a concrete pill.
With a frustrated sigh, I throw myself onto the bed, ignoring how the contact makes my body ache. I swing my legs for the sake of swinging them and avert my eyes back to the TV where the only working channel is one that only plays infomercials. After nine goddamn days in this place, I’m buying a goddamnShamWowas soon as I’m out of here and have the money.
The front door whips open, yanking me from my boredom. I jump to my feet and snatch the lamp off the nightstand even though my poor hand screams at the action. It takes a second for my brain to register the person standing at the door in a leather bomber jacket and black jeans, but as soon as I do, every cell in my body comes alive.
The second his eyes land on me, his shoulders relax. I almost don’t recognize Kohen with the scruff growing along his jaw, his skin ashen, and his hazel eyes seeming to have sunk deeper into their sockets. He looks like he’s been through Hell, Tartarus, the river Styx, and then whatever shit he had to face out here.
Seems like he’s about to have an even worse time. I drop the lamp back onto the table and round the bed like a fire is lighting my heels. “Where thefuckhave you been?” I growl, tears stinging my eyes. Whether in relief or frustration, I’m not sure.
“Hello to you too.” Exhaustion weighs heavy on his voice, and it turns to steel when his eyes land on the bandages wrapped around my fingers and palm. “What happened to your hand?”
“No, you don’t get to ask the fucking questions,” I snap, hiding myarm behind me. Out of sight, out of mind—and I have a shitload to say. “I busted my ass trying to get here. My ankle is fucked. My feet are covered in blisters. I have a bruise on my ribs.I broke my fucking hand. Killed someone—”
