around me. The ground seems to vanish from beneath my feet. Everything else disappears until it’s just me and the image I’m grasping in my hand.
“Oh, fuck!” I say before I can get a hold of myself.
Fuck, fuck, fuck…
What the hell am I going to do now? Sure, this is a slightly younger version of the guy, but there’s absolutely no mistaking that I know who he is. I’ve met him before.
God-fucking-damn it!
There’s no way that Cherie is going to believe anything I say now. She’ll think I somehow planned all of this.
My knuckles are white, and I’m clutching onto the photograph so tightly that I might tear it at any moment. Each breath I take is labored and panicked. For a man that’s always in control, I have absolutely no fucking idea what to do right now.
It only gets worse when I hear a clunking sound coming from the direction of the bedroom. Shit, Cherie is coming, and I need a goddamned plan to get through this, right fucking now.
But how the hell do I tell her that I knew Hunter…and that I supposedly murdered him?
God…I’m fucked. Totally and utterly fucked.
16
Cherie
I walk down the stairs feeling more than a little dejected. I scanned through all of Bridgette’s drawers. I hunted under the bed, and I even dug around at the back of her wardrobe…all to find nothing. Nothing of interest and nothing to give me a clue about what’s been going on during the time that I’ve missed.
I should have done all of this much, much sooner, and a wave of guilt washes over me.
I didn’t do it sooner because I was too afraid. I was messed up after Hunter’s violation of me, and I was too damn scared to do anything about it. I knew that I should and I really wanted to, but instead I succumbed to cowardice.
Well, never again.
At least I know my sister is alive now. If she wasn’t, I would be torn to pieces inside, and I would never be able to recover, not in a million years.
I silently make a vow to myself that I will never let fear control me again, and I intend to keep it. I’m afraid. But determination is there as well, and that’s what I’ll focus on instead of the fear.
I expect to find Axel searching in the front room, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I glance around, unable to figure out if he’s even looked in here yet. Not a single thing is out of place. Remembering where everything was is something I should have thought more about. It’s going to be obvious I’ve been in my sister’s bedroom, invading her privacy. I didn’t even think about that.
I am definitely not cut out for a life of crime.
As I wander into the kitchen, I see Axel shadowed in the corner. He has his back to me, but yet again I can see the tension flowing through him.
Oh, god. What the hell has he found?
I start to feel the fluttery sensation of panic flooding through my body. “Are…are you okay?” I ask, the tremor obvious in my voice. “Did you find something?”
When he doesn’t turn around to face me and quash my fears, my anxiety flares into full-blown terror. My stomach twists itself up into tight, coiled knots and my chest becomes icy, frozen with fear. I can barely feel my feet touching the floor anymore. It’s as if I’m floating off into unknown territories.
No, no, no.
I think these words over and over in my head as I wrap my arms tightly around myself, trying to hold myself together. It’s too late, though. I’m already falling apart; I can just feel it.
“Is this…?” Axel’s voice comes out hoarse, as if it hasn’t been used in a really long time. “Is this Hunter?”
I can hear a small break in the back of his throat as he speaks.
Hunter? Why the hell is he asking about Hunter?
I rush to his side, simultaneously not wanting to find out what he’s discovered and desperate to all at once. I snatch the picture from his hand, spotting a photograph that was taken around the time I got together with Ben. We’d been friends for a long time and we sort of fell into
“Oh, fuck!” I say before I can get a hold of myself.
Fuck, fuck, fuck…
What the hell am I going to do now? Sure, this is a slightly younger version of the guy, but there’s absolutely no mistaking that I know who he is. I’ve met him before.
God-fucking-damn it!
There’s no way that Cherie is going to believe anything I say now. She’ll think I somehow planned all of this.
My knuckles are white, and I’m clutching onto the photograph so tightly that I might tear it at any moment. Each breath I take is labored and panicked. For a man that’s always in control, I have absolutely no fucking idea what to do right now.
It only gets worse when I hear a clunking sound coming from the direction of the bedroom. Shit, Cherie is coming, and I need a goddamned plan to get through this, right fucking now.
But how the hell do I tell her that I knew Hunter…and that I supposedly murdered him?
God…I’m fucked. Totally and utterly fucked.
16
Cherie
I walk down the stairs feeling more than a little dejected. I scanned through all of Bridgette’s drawers. I hunted under the bed, and I even dug around at the back of her wardrobe…all to find nothing. Nothing of interest and nothing to give me a clue about what’s been going on during the time that I’ve missed.
I should have done all of this much, much sooner, and a wave of guilt washes over me.
I didn’t do it sooner because I was too afraid. I was messed up after Hunter’s violation of me, and I was too damn scared to do anything about it. I knew that I should and I really wanted to, but instead I succumbed to cowardice.
Well, never again.
At least I know my sister is alive now. If she wasn’t, I would be torn to pieces inside, and I would never be able to recover, not in a million years.
I silently make a vow to myself that I will never let fear control me again, and I intend to keep it. I’m afraid. But determination is there as well, and that’s what I’ll focus on instead of the fear.
I expect to find Axel searching in the front room, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I glance around, unable to figure out if he’s even looked in here yet. Not a single thing is out of place. Remembering where everything was is something I should have thought more about. It’s going to be obvious I’ve been in my sister’s bedroom, invading her privacy. I didn’t even think about that.
I am definitely not cut out for a life of crime.
As I wander into the kitchen, I see Axel shadowed in the corner. He has his back to me, but yet again I can see the tension flowing through him.
Oh, god. What the hell has he found?
I start to feel the fluttery sensation of panic flooding through my body. “Are…are you okay?” I ask, the tremor obvious in my voice. “Did you find something?”
When he doesn’t turn around to face me and quash my fears, my anxiety flares into full-blown terror. My stomach twists itself up into tight, coiled knots and my chest becomes icy, frozen with fear. I can barely feel my feet touching the floor anymore. It’s as if I’m floating off into unknown territories.
No, no, no.
I think these words over and over in my head as I wrap my arms tightly around myself, trying to hold myself together. It’s too late, though. I’m already falling apart; I can just feel it.
“Is this…?” Axel’s voice comes out hoarse, as if it hasn’t been used in a really long time. “Is this Hunter?”
I can hear a small break in the back of his throat as he speaks.
Hunter? Why the hell is he asking about Hunter?
I rush to his side, simultaneously not wanting to find out what he’s discovered and desperate to all at once. I snatch the picture from his hand, spotting a photograph that was taken around the time I got together with Ben. We’d been friends for a long time and we sort of fell into
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