Page 54 of Between Dusk and Dawn

That was so far from the truth. My heart was once so cold—it had frozen over the moment I saw my mother dead and father gagged and bound in a chair—then I saw her fiery red hair in that small ass apartment, and it warmed. I felt something in my chest no one had ever been able to give me.

And I was fucking addicted.

Chapter Nineteen

He tried getting into my apartment. I watched through the window as he sulked out of the main door of the barn and headed back to the house.

For a moment, I thought about letting him in. When he hesitated at the top of the stairs, I thought about opening the door and yelling and kicking him, but I refused to give him that satisfaction.

No.

This was war.

Chapter Twenty

The next morning, I woke up with vengeance in my heart. My main mission was to figure out where the fuck my car was and how I could get back to Isles. The second goal was to email my professors and let them know I was going virtual for the second semester. The third goal was to figure out what the annulment laws were, because there had to be something written about being drunk and getting married. That seemed very...illegal.

Yes, Walsh confessed his family was part of the Mafia, but that didn’t mean I was since I was married to him. There still had to be rules for him to abide by, and he couldn’t keep me here forever. Plus, I hated feeling trapped. It was one of my worst fears, a remnant from my childhood.

But if I had a car, I had my escape, and I needed to keep that. My car had been with me through all my hard times when I’d had to sleep at parks and in Walmart parking lots between summers.

It was a comfort item for me and gave me a way to leave. It was the one thing that gave me freedom. After what happened with my parents, when I learned to drive, it healed a little part of me. Without my car, I was stuck.

God, no. I’d never choose to sleep inside a fucking barn, regardless of him making an effort to clean it up and personalize it.

Plus, I noticed one box was missing and figured he left them all in my guesthouse in Isles, and I wanted my sex toys back. If I wasn’t going to be getting it here anytime soon, I wanted to at least have the company of my toys.

I sighed as I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, feeling tempted by the hot tub. Part of me wondered what he did after he tried to come into my place last night. I wasn’t naive enough to think he didn’t have an extra key, but a part of me appreciated that he respected my boundaries.

A very small part of me.

Staring at the pool, about to spit the excess toothpaste from my mouth, I couldn’t help but glance toward the front yard. There was a car coming up the gravel driveway.

"Hmmm…" I cocked my head to the side, and an older man I’d recognized from a while ago parked the car and made his way to the front of the house.

Walsh, dressed in all black again, ran from the front door, his hands raised, and from here, it looked like he was screaming.

The window didn’t open, otherwise I would have tried to listen to what they were saying, but Walsh looked pissed. This was who Walsh must have been hiding me from.

Then it dawned on me. I recognized that man from the day Ember moved into our apartment. Her father.

I was too far away from them to see the resemblance right away, but how Walsh was upset and not shoving the man was a clue they were related. Plus, they shared the same tired stance, their shoulders slumping forward.

Walsh’s arms flailed, then he glanced up toward my window.

He didn’t want his father to know I was here. Mr. Solis couldn’t see in from where he was standing, but I flipped himthe bird anyway, then walked over to the sink, spat out my toothpaste, and looked at myself in the mirror.

"Game on." Fuck all the plans I had for the day. I was about to crush my sweet husband. If he wanted to hide me away, he should’ve thought harder about it.

I went into my closet, trying to find my swimsuits, but found only the one-pieces I would wear when teaching water aerobics at the gym.

"Motherfucker." That little piece of shit purposefully left all my two-pieces behind.

Fine, two could play that game. Guess I’d have to find a simple black thong to slip into. It would be very annoying when it was wet, but whatever, I’d deal with it later.

I added a black plunge bra with small floral details on the side. If he wanted to hide me in his house, then I wouldn’t make it easy on him.

I slipped over an oversized University of Isles hoodie I’d gotten from one of my ex-fuck-buddies.

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