Page 24 of Cruel Alpha Daddy

“I’ve been on the run, moving around for as long as I can remember. I was born in jail. I don’t even remember my mother. I was sent out to a home with my twin brother.”

“Jesus!” she curses. “I had no idea.”

“It’s not a fun topic,” I mutter. “So, it’s not like I’d just bring it up.”

“I understand that. But it would have helped me to know this, Rider.”

Another sigh eases out of me. “Well, I’m not done. I was in a home with my brother Pete for a couple of years. Then he got adopted, but I didn’t. We vowed to find each other… but we never did.”

“Oh, Rider,” she whispers. The rising sun has brought enough light to the sky that her hair is alight with flickering gold. Her eyes look warm and gentle.

“I just started running away. All the time. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. They kept finding me and putting me in homes, but it didn’t matter. I could get out of any jam, and I was happier on the streets. I was free.”

I look back at the horizon, watching the light creep towards us. The sun is about to burst across the mountaintops and bathe us in its incandescent light.

I want to open my soul to her in exactly the same way—banish every shadow.

“When I met you in Delta, I felt something I’d never felt before. At first, I just let myself fall. It felt so good, I couldn’t stop. I didn’t even think about it. I knew it was temporary, and that might be the only reason I was able to let myself feel anything.”

When I look up at her again, I can see the intensity in her eyes.

She wants to know. All this time, she’s been wondering why I did it. Desperate to find out.

“When you asked me to come back to Silver Meadows, I could see that little life unfolding before me, and it looked like hell. Like a trap. It scared the fuck out of me. And as for you…”

“What? What about me, Rider?”

“It can’t be real,” I answer, the words coming out of me in a painful rush. “And even if the love between us is real, you’ll leave me. Everyone always leaves me. The only way to stay safe is to love nothing and no one.”

My voice has risen, and I don’t even care. Peter and Kyle are both on my mind now, open wounds on my heart.

Whenever I let myself care for someone, they went away. That is the only truth I know.

“Rider,” she says softly. As she reaches over to take my hand, the sun finally breaks across the horizon, bathing the mountains in gold. Fiona glows in the light, radiating beauty and love.

Yes, it is love in her eyes. Even though I don’t deserve it.

I squeeze her hand, feeling horribly exposed, but somewhere deep inside, a sharp pain has eased. Opening myself up to her has healed some of the oldest wounds in my soul. For the first time in my life, I might actually be running in the right direction.

Chapter 10 - Fiona

I can’t believe I never knew this.

My eyes are locked on Rider as he watches the sunrise. The golden light tracing across his face illuminates his scars, not just the physical ones. The breaking dawn seems to coincide perfectly with the opening of his heart.

I squeeze his hand gently. He squeezes back but doesn’t look at me. He can’t seem to look away from the sun, and I understand. He’s just revealed himself to me completely, and he’s in pain.

I knew there had to be darkness in his past. It was obvious. Nobody becomes a homeless drifter because their life is going great.

I just never imagined it could be this bad.

Questions are crowding into my mind, but I don’t know if I should ask them. It seems nosy to try, and it could be painful for him to reveal even more.

But if I don’t ask, it seems as if I don’t want to know.

“Do you… ever hear from your mom?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I could find out her name if I really wanted to. But I don’t. She gave us up. And obviously, she was a bad person, or she never would have ended up in prison.”

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