Page 54 of Embracing Hope

Just as fast, the men loaded Billy into the back of the truck and took off through the pasture.

“Here. I thought you might want this.” Hope handed him his shirt.

Billy’s blood was starting to dry on Isaac’s hands as he dragged on his shirt. His adrenaline was rushing so fast through his veins that he couldn’t seem to get his fingers to work to push the buttons through the holes. “Damn,” he muttered.

“I’ll do that for you.” Hope stepped forward and buttoned his shirt. “You saved his life.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but the blood…” He shook his head. He’d always hated the sight of blood.

Hope did something then that lifted the hairs on his neck. She stood on tiptoes and hugged him. He exhaled a long breath and buried his face into her shoulder, soaking in the amazing feeling of her arms wrapped around him. He didn’t want to get her bloody, but having her concern made him nearly shed a tear. He might be as tough and rough as a rusty nail, but it was humbling to know that he had it in him to feel this type of emotion. It was liberating. He felt like a lock had been freed from within him.

Chapter Twelve

Dex paced the floor.

“I had to do it. I had no choice,” he whispered to himself. “He deserved it.”

He sunk his fingers into his hair, rubbing the constant throbbing in his temples. Agitation pulverized his insides.

He lowered his hands and stared at them. Although he’d scrubbed them a dozen times, he could still see the smeared blood on his skin. If he closed his eyes, all he could hear were the slippery sounds of the knife sliding into the man and his painful moan. Dex never wanted to hurt anyone, but he couldn’t have risked the hand revealing Dex’s identity.

This was all Hope’s fault.

If she hadn’t butted her nose in where it didn’t belong, he wouldn’t have disabled the cameras and broken into the farmhouse looking for something to use against Sam. And he wouldn’t have been found in the woods by the nosy hand that caught him watching her.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

His eyes blurred as he stopped his pacing. The sharp wailing seemed to drill a hole into his forehead, and the hairs on his neck erected. What if he was found out?

He had been careful to stay out of the cameras' range at Sagebrush Rose. No one had seen him, not even the hand, since Dex was wearing his mask.

He’d only wanted to spy on Hope.

She’d become his obsession. He’d conjured up ways inside his head to make her pay.

He wavered between wanting to cause her the same pain she’d caused him and wanting a deserved apology. He wanted his wife and kid back, and maybe if he coerced her into speaking to Courtney, she’d take him back. They could be the family they always were before shit hit the fan.

The sirens grew louder. The red and blue lights feathered the windows.

Relief sped through him as the sirens faded through town.

Dex dropped into the chair and buried his face into his palms. What had he done? He was becoming a monster. What would his daughter think of him now?

A knock came on the door and he stilled. Fear climbed his spine. What could he do?

Quietly, he crept across the room and peered through the peephole. His body quivered.

Another pounding came on the door. “I know you’re in there. Open up.”

Dex wanted to pretend that he wasn’t home, but it was no use.

He unlocked the door, opened it wide, and stared at Sheriff Dussan. “Have you come to arrest me?”

“Would I arrest my brother?”

Taking a step back, Dex gave his stepbrother space to pass. “What are you doing here, Jace?” The two had grown up in the same household after Dex's mom married Jace’s dad. The two boys had hated each other something awful, and pretty much ever since. Jace would always pick fights with Dex and steal his candy, money, and, later, even women.

Jace looked around the small room and even peeked inside the bathroom. “Courtney called me and said you’ve been sneaking around on her property again,” he said when he swiveled on his work boots. He laid his hand on his gun in the holster as if to intimidate Dex. It jetted him back to his childhood when Jace made it an everyday event to bully Dex.

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