Page 75 of Wife Number One

Hayley Jade stirred, clutching Queenie’s thick arms with her fingers.

Automatically, Queenie ran a hand up and down the little girl’s back, soothing her back into sleep.

I didn’t know how to answer her question. I had no home to go to. But I had to leave and it had to be now. I bypassed my sister’s frightened eyes and landed on Fang. “Can you take me and Hayley Jade to the bus station, please?”

“What?” Rebel yelped. “No!”

“Rebel,” I said calmly, needing her to understand. “I have to. They know where we are. We aren’t safe here. I should have never come in the first place. If I hadn’t, none of this would have happened.”

“They would have come for you no matter where you went and they’re going to do the same thing now. You think they’re just going to give up because you leave Saint View? They killed Alice, Kara! You’re Josiah’s wife! At least her death was quick. If he’s willing to kill Alice just to make a point, what do you think he’ll do to you? It won’t be quick. He’ll make it slow and painful.”

I stared at her wide-eyed, fear splintering through me, knowing that everything she was saying wasn’t stemming from knowing Josiah personally, but from the traumas she had suffered from a man just like him.

She’d had five years of healing. Five years of men loving her and helping her mend the hurt that man had caused her. Five years of holding children in her arms and doting on them until her own scars throbbed a little less.

I’d never left. I was still stuck in the same old merry-go-round of abuse, with no way of getting out. Staying here and dragging her back into all of this wasn’t an option.

I pulled her tight and kissed her cheek. “I have to go. I won’t endanger you or your family anymore.”

She grabbed my hand. “Don’t. Don’t let him hurt you. Don’t let him push you away from people who love you. People who can keep you safe.”

But Josiah’s favorite way to torture me was by taking away the people I loved.

And now he was doing it again.

Forcing me out onto the road, away from the one sister I had left on this side of the fence and the only people outside the commune I knew.

A sob rose in my chest, and I reached for my daughter. “Fang, please. If you won’t drive me to the bus station, I’ll walk.”

Queenie had tears in her eyes, but she fit her fingers beneath Hayley Jade’s armpits and hefted her off her chest.

The little girl’s eyes flew open, panic taking hold in a frighteningly quick space of time.

“Come here,” I said awkwardly. “It’s time to go.”

She shook her head, and my heart plummeted, but I tried again. “We’re going on an adventure, okay? Just you and me this time. We’re going to go on a nice long drive on a bus, won’t that be fun? Have you ever been on a bus?” I reached out to take her, wrapping my fingers around the skinny tops of her arms. “Come on, sweetheart.”

Hayley Jade’s scream was ear-piercing. She shoved me away violently, throwing her arms around Queenie the same way she had with Shari.

Queenie soothed the screams out of her, until Hayley Jade was sobbing but no longer hysterical.

My heart shattered into a million pieces.

“You’ll stay here,” Hawk said quietly, but with a tone that dared anyone to argue.

Nobody did. Not Rebel. Not Fang. Not War.

Nobody but me.

I glared at him. “I don’t want to be here.”

Hawk pulled his jacket off, tossing it onto a couch. His hoodie followed a moment later, leaving him bare-chested, a gun handle sticking out the top of his waistband. He leaned down, bracing his hands either side of me on the back of the couch. “I don’t care, Little Mouse. I really don’t fucking care. I just want to go to bed because this has been the longest day in the history of for-fucking-ever, and we all know the only safe place for you is right here, surrounded by fences and men who can protect you.” He flicked his head toward Hayley Jade. “Don’t want to listen to me? Then listen to your own fucking kid. She feels it. She feels the safety. You gonna take that away from her?”

Queenie gave me a helpless look, one that held pity and an unspoken apology, like she felt guilty because it was her Hayley Jade clung to her like a life raft.

Hawk eased off a fraction, blowing out a slow breath that misted across my lips smelling vaguely of mint and tobacco.

“Nod your head, Little Mouse.”

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