Page 128 of Stone

Adele told me about her dad, who took off, leaving her, two brothers, and a mom who’d passed the year before. She smiled a lot, even when something wasn’t funny. It seemed that she just took joy in everything, and it was appealing to me. She had spiritand talked about kooky stuff like past lives, reincarnation, and karma.

I’d never met anyone like her before. Adele was a breath of fresh air and a salve to my cracked heart. Somewhere along the way, I found myself telling her about Elise and everything that happened, and can you believe it? She cried for me. This pretty, sweet, nutty, cute girl, who’d known me mere hours, joined me in my heartbreak, and suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so alone.

Things came out of my mouth that I hadn’t even told Abe and my dad. Details of my torture and how I was beaten, burned, and almost drowned as they tried to break me for information I didn’t have. Then I told her about the club, what happened before I left, and how I’d put Seth in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

“You were broken, John,” she whispered. “And that life can be savage. This Seth knew the first time what he did was wrong, so to do even worse to Elise when she was pregnant and scared, well, he must’ve known you’d lose your shit.”

“He’ll never walk again,” I croaked. “By my hand.”

“So, learn from it,” she implored. “Treat this as a lesson. Get help for all that anger.” She smiled. “My oldest brother has just got back from deployment in Kuwait. You could speak to him. Thankfully, he was safe and didn’t go through half of what you did, but he may understand more than you think.”

Covering her hand with mine, I rasped, “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” she replied softly.

I studied her bright eyes and fantastic hair. My gaze dropped to her tits and waist, which was slightly thicker than I was used to, but no less appealing. She was pretty, not beautiful like Leesy, but she had something about her like Elise, something pure.

Her presence gave me a kind of comfort that I hadn’t experienced since my mom last held me, and I knew I wanted more of it, if only for one night. It was wrong to wanna be withher in that way when I still loved Elise, but I needed to find comfort in something. I needed to hold a pretty, cute girl close and make her feel good while she did the same to me, or else, what did I go away and fight for?

And Elise didn’t want me.

I cleared my throat. “Can’t offer you much, Adele. I’ve got a heart in tatters and a dead soul. Got a fucked-up biker club and anger issues that make me see red. I’m not in a place where I can stick around and court you, so I can’t even offer you tomorrow, but I can offer you tonight, if you’ll have me.”

Her eyebrows drew together, and her stare searched mine for something. She must’ve found what she was looking for, because, after a few seconds, her pretty smile lit up her face, and she gave me one decisive nod.

“Let’s go.”

The Next Morning

I awoke to the blinding light of the New Mexico sunshine pouring through the hotel window. Laying there, I waited for the ache to hit my heart, and it did, but I realized it wasn’t as sharp as usual.

Turning onto my back, I flung my arms across my eyes and groaned, thinking back to how much I drank the night before.

Then I remembered.

Gut aching, I slowly turned my head to the pillow next to me to see nothing but a note lying there. I must’ve stared at it for a full five minutes, going over everything from the night before, or what I could recall, anyway.

Memories hit me, and it was when it began to hurt.

Fuck!

Jackknifing to a sitting position, I held my head in my hands and let out a groan. My chest filled with anguish, and my heart drummed against my ribs.

I’d fucked someone else, three damned times.

My head screamed at me to grow the fuck up. It wasn’t like Elise hadn’t done worse, except it didn’t matter. Two wrongs didn’t make a right, and not only that, I’d taken a sweet girl and used her as a rebound fuck in place of the woman I really wanted.

What I did wasn’t right. Adele deserved better than a man whose heart belonged to another. Jesus, she knew I’d been honest and told her everything, so what made her say yes?

That was when something hit me, and my cheeks flared with heat and embarrassment.

It was a pity fuck.

Jesus.

My eyes slid to the note, silently calling to me from the damned pillow. With another groan, I reached out and tagged it, then, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I squinted in the morning sunshine and began to read.

Dear John,

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