Page 109 of The Moment Promised

I look up at the sky, I’ve never been a religious person, but I close my eyes and thank whatever God is up there.

27

Why do bad things happen to good people?” I trail my fingertips along the dips of Finn’s abs. Jason’s murderous face flashes across my vision until Finn brings his thumb over my bottom lip, looking up to me as I sit beside him on my bed, leaning against the headboard.

He brings me out of the vivid memory from a week ago. A part of me is thankful for what happened, because if it didn’t, I would’ve never gathered the evidence I needed. But another part of me wishes it never happened. It’s tainted my last bit of time with Finn.

The flashbacks and the post-traumatic stress have put a damper on the mood. We haven’t talked about the future, not once.

“I don’t know, love.” His face contorts from the relaxed expression it was a moment ago, to a pitiful one.

“Don’t pity me,” I wince.

He sits up straighter on the bed, pulling me onto his lap. I adjust myself so I straddle him.

“Bad things happen to good people because they are the ones who make good of a bad situation,” he whispers, brushing my hair away from my face and tucking it neatly behind my ear.

I grin at him. “Since when did you become a walking fortune cookie?” I smile against his lips, that somehow ended up so closely to mine. They reflect my smile. His hands slowly inch up my thighs.

I want him to wrap me up in bliss and whisk me away from what happened.

I let him kiss and make love to me until I’m dizzy, until I forget about everything.

My bedroom is painfully quiet, except for the low hum of Finn’s snore. The quiet is tooloud, it’s as if my ear drums are seconds from bursting inside my head.

I should be happy.

We have a court case soon, but my lawyer is doing everything she can so my mom and I don’t have to attend. There’s so much evidence in that five-hour video, there should be no need for me to relive the horrors of that day. No need for my mother to tell a room full of strangers about the most traumatic moments of her life.

Not only are we going to win, finally get the justice we deserve and rid the world of Jason’s abuse while he’s locked away for good, my mom isokay. I confronted her about my suspicions today, about her using again. She told me she remembered something that bothered her, that’s why she was so quiet leaving Pete’s.She didn’t relapse.

I should feel relieved by that.

What memory could possibly have my mom so distraught, that she wasn’t comfortable enough sharing it with me? What other demons has she lived through?

If I had been a better daughter, she wouldn’t have succumbed to pills and alcohol in the first place.

No, Adeline. Addiction is an illness, just like any other disease.

I know I did the right thing when I made the decision to stop helping her, to stop enabling her. It eventually got her where she needed to go—rehab.

But my worries torment me on a repeated loop until exhaustion puts me to sleep.

But I can’t even escape them in my dreams…

Ping.

I open my eyes at the sound of a text notification and take in the scene of my bedroom. Memories of Finn’s lips along my skin in an erotic haze come rushing back to me. I squint my eyes, my clothes are still thrown across my room, only Finn’s aren’t beside them.

Ping.

I feel around my bed until I find my phone. I turn it on and see I have a text from Finn.

He’s sent me a file namedThe Edge of the World, so I open it.

Adeline,

I don’t know why I’m writing this, or what it’s even for, but I feel compelled to put my thoughts into words…if that makes sense.

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