Page 31 of Forsaken Oath

I clear my throat, the weight of his words pressing into me. “Nate . . .”

The rumble of an engine cuts through the silence, stopping in front of my house—or maybe his. The low growl makes my stomach tighten.

“You expecting anyone?” I ask, my pulse kicking up a notch.

Nate shakes his head slowly. “No. Anyone who’d come over would just walk.”

The pounding on a door is sudden and sharp, followed by a voice I’d hoped not to hear. Recognition prickles over my skin, and my stomach drops. I know that voice. I still have nightmares about that voice.

“Fucking Darla,” I hiss, the name tasting bitter in my mouth.

Nate’s eyes narrow, and we both stand, moving toward the front yard as the shouts grow louder.

“Eloise! Get out here! You owe me, damn it!” Darla’s voice slurs through the night, rough and jagged.

Nate’s hand brushes my arm, a silent question. I shake my head. “I’ve got this,” I say, my voice steady. It’s not for his benefit, it’s for mine.

Darla stands in the yellow glow of my porch light, her hair a tangled mess and her eyes glassy. A half-rusted car idles at thecurb, a man lounging behind the wheel, cigarette ember glowing like a warning. Her newest boyfriend, I’m sure.

“Eloise!” she shouts again, staggering toward me, anger twisting her features. “Where’s my baby, huh? Where’s my Vivienne?”

I step forward before she can get any louder, keeping my voice low. My chest tightens at her words, and I step forward, cutting her off before she can start yelling loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood. I ignore everything else she said. I’m not falling for her shit again. “What do you want?”

She scowls, her eyes glassy, unfocused. “I’m your mother, damn it. Treat me with a little respect.”

Every nerve in my body screams at me to keep my composure. “What do you want, Darla?” I annunciate my words, gritting them out between clenched teeth.

Her eyes flicker with something mean, a smirk breaking across her face. “Money. I need money, Eloise.”

I shake my head, the denial already out of my mouth. “Nah, no way. I just gave you money last week. Like I have been for fucking years,Mom. I’m not giving you shit right now.”

Her sneer deepens, her voice cutting. “You think you’re better than me, don’t you? Living here, raising my kids. You’re nothing, you hear me? Nothing but?—”

“Go home, Darla,” I say, my voice tight, unyielding.

“Fine,” she snaps, but there’s a gleam in her eye that says this isn’t over. “But don’t think this is the end, Eloise. You can’t escape who you are. We’re the same, you and me.”

The words echo in my mind as she stumbles back to the car, the engine roaring as it speeds off. Nate’s hand settles on my shoulder, grounding me.

“You okay?” he asks softly.

I nod, though it’s a hollow gesture. “Yeah,” I murmur, though my voice sounds strange to my own ears. Faded and distant, likesomeone else is speaking. I feel Nate’s hand on my shoulder, grounding me, but my thoughts are miles away, tangled up in memories and a knot of emotions that I can’t quite sort out.

We stand there in silence for a moment, the night settling around us, heavy with the echoes of my mother’s parting words. The air feels colder somehow, the warmth from earlier fading into something sharp and hollow.

“I think I’m going to head in. But thanks for having my back.”

“Always, Thorne.”

I step into the house, the echoes of Darla’s parting words still slicing through me like a serrated edge. The door swings shut behind me, the finality of it making the air feel thicker, heavier. It’s quiet now, but the silence is deceptive, masking the turmoil that roils beneath my skin.

Darla is a collection of habits, most of them bad. She’s unpredictable and fucking mean.

But she’s never shown up at my house like this before. Not once in all these years. I didn’t even know she knew where we lived. But I should have. I’ve become complacent here, foolishly assuming she’d stay placated by the money I scrape together for her, content with her self-inflicted absence from our lives.

I shouldn’t have let myself forget the one thing Darla Hawthorne is above all else: gluttonous. She takes and takes and takes. If I give her an inch, she’ll pick my bones clean.

The only way to escape her is to get the fuck out of Avalon Falls.

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