Page 84 of Where We Ended

I was still crying when the bathroom door opened, and Sasha appeared. Her eyes were wide, watery and red.

“I watched…I couldn’t…he would have…” she stammered as fresh tears streamed unbidden down her face.

I nodded, stumbling out of the shower, pulling my towel around me. “I know.”

She couldn’t fight him anymore than I could, and she’d endured his abuse longer than I had.

“I have to get you out of here, Natty. Things are progressing…which means he’s getting more comfortable with claiming you. He offered you his patch…that’s not good.”

I swiped at my face as I tried to clear my throat. “Where am I supposed to go where he won’t be able to follow?”

I had my cottage plans, but Rose Ridge wasn’t far enough, and if Silas was going to remain with the Death Raiders, then Dirk would still have access to me.

Sasha looked frantic as she searched my face, her own eyes welling with tears.

“We’ve held him off as long as we can, honey. I fear the next time he comes, he’ll consume you whole. Wherever you go, it needs to be somewhere Dirk won’t be able to follow. Somewhere you’re protected…”

“But Silas will protect me…he’s always protected me, if I just tell him then he?—"

A flicker of unease sharpened her focus as she stepped back into the hall. It was a clear answer to my naïve notion and illusion of safety. Silas was her son, and I was merely the foster daughter she’d taken in and helped raise. She loved me in her own way and keeping me safe fell within that column, but it would never be at the sake of keeping her own son safe.

“Silas can’t know, can he?” I followed her into the darkened house. The lingering fear in the room still clung to the shadows, creeping up along my spine. The burn on my ass ached, and the smear of darkness on my soul felt permanent. I couldn’t keep doing this…I would break entirely and inevitably; Silas would find out and that war would come.

Sasha gave me a pleading look, her eyes welling with tears. “He will die, Natty. Silas loves you with a consuming sort of love…the kind that would burn and burn and burn until nothing but ash was left. Even if it meant he himself perished.”

I nodded while a lump continued to form and burn in my throat.

“Get dressed, I have a phone call to make…” Sasha gave my arm a gentle squeeze before turning to leave.

My feet carried me to the room I’d shared with Silas since we were kids. The dark walls holding in years of secrets and a love story that spanned along the expanse of the sky. The string of fairy lights I had hung so many years ago were dim as I flicked the switch. Our modest, queen-sized mattress now filling the floor space I once had as a bed. The soles of my feet touched the rug I’d found on a swap site for cheap; it was soft and looked new.

I remember when Silas had unrolled it, and how he’d looked up at me that day all smiles and happiness.

“When we get our own place, we’ll take this with us.”

I had beamed with excitement, so much so that it was the first time I had considered looking for a new place for us. It’s what had led me to my cottage.

Sorrow burrowed into my sternum, but I pushed past it by getting dressed. I found the old duffle Silas had used when going to his father’s house all those years and began stuffing it with my clothes.

I didn’t know when he’d be back. I didn’t want him to think I was leaving him.

God, he had to know I’d never leave him.

As quickly as I could, I began to write to him explaining what I could without creating a mess for Sasha, who would remain with the Death Raiders.

“Natty, come with me. We’re going to stay in a hotel for a few days while he gets the deal set up.”

I bustled out of the room, my heart in my throat as I followed Sasha. I gave our room one last glance and trailed her out of the house.

“Your car will have to stay here.”

I wanted to tell her about my plan to rent the cottage, and see if that would be possible, but Sasha kept darting her eyes around as if she were worried.

“Duck down in the back, Natty. Dirk can’t know that you’re leaving.”

I did as she said and continued to do as she said for the following two days, hiding out in a shitty motel in a town I wasn’t familiar with.

Finally, she told me what was happening, and I had no choice but to accept my new fate.

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