Page 152 of Wife Number One

The party followed me down the path. The music. The voices. The footsteps. It should have got quieter the farther I got into the woods, but it was all just a mess of noise and confusion. My steps became faster, until I was running, desperate to leave it all behind, to find some quiet, so I could just think.

Tears fell as I reached the cabin and shouldered my way inside.

I needed to pack a bag.

I needed to leave.

I wasn’t safe here.

Through sobs that spoke of the way Hawk had betrayed me, I pulled clothes from the closet and underwear from the chest of drawers. I threw them into the bag Hawk had brought me groceries in and then sat heavily on the edge of the bed.

He’d bought me clothes. Food. Made a place for me in this club, even after I’d broken his nose.

He’d taken care of me.

Taken care of my daughter. How could I just leave?

But once upon a time, Hayden had done all those things for me too.

I curled up on the mattress, paralyzed with fear and indecision.

I’d spent most of my life following the rules made by men. Every time I’d tried to make one of my own, it had ended in tragedy.

I didn’t want to make another bad choice.

I didn’t want to take Hayley Jade away from the home we’d started building here.

I didn’t want to be out there in the world, all alone with no money, no job, no support.

I didn’t want to leave Hawk.

I didn’t want to leave Hayden.

I closed my eyes, clutching my knees to my chest.

I’d decide when the room stopped spinning.

The veil covered my face.

For weeks, I’d gone without it, breathing easily without the heavy fabric covering that kept me from being seen by Josiah’s followers.

I hated the veil. I didn’t want it back.

I tried to lift my arm to pull it away so I could breathe better but I couldn’t find the edge. I shifted and squirmed, but something clamped around my arms.

“She’s waking up,” a muffled voice said.

“Put the fucking cloth back over her face then!”

The veil clamped down over my nose and mouth, an oddly sweet smell permeating through.

I slipped back into sleep before I could tell them I didn’t wear the veil anymore. That I was no longer wife number one. That I’d left.

That I was free.

The darkness said otherwise. The darkness whispered taunts. Teased out fears I’d tried so hard to bury. Chuckled darkly as black consumed me.

Pain through my back woke me. Dull, thudding pain that radiated from my neck, along my spine and ribs, and into my hips. It wasn’t sharp, or intermittent, more like a fresh bruise that covered most of my body.

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