Page 147 of Corpse Roads

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“The Michaels. Why me?”

He takes a sip of hot chocolate. “Well… I don’t know, sweetheart. He has a pattern, but the victims are randomly selected.”

“They could’ve chosen anyone.” I fiddle with the Velcro on my arm brace. “I’m not wishing what I went through on someone else; I just need to know if there was a reason for it all.”

“Does it matter?”

“I think… it does. I’m not sure why.”

Licking cream from his lips, Hunter looks thoughtful. “Have you spoken to Doctor Richards about this?”

“Every week. He always says I need to focus on the future instead of trying to make sense of it all. That’s what drives people crazy, looking for order in the madness.”

“Well, he knows what he’s talking about.”

Hunter’s studying me again in the way that I hate. I don’t think he even realises he’s doing it. I’m not an exhibit for his portfolio, another chip on Sabre’s long record of successes.

“I always thought that everything happens for a reason,” I try to explain. “I have to know why this happened to me before I can move on. That’s what is holding me back.”

Hunter shrugs. “Sometimes there isn’t a reason for these things. I’ve seen a lot of shit. Good people that have suffered. I stopped looking for any sense of order in it all a long time ago.”

“But… it isn’t fair.”

“Life never is. Why did Alyssa die? Why did Leighton go off the rails? Why did I lose my hearing? Why isn’t the world fair and equal?”

Anger brews within me. I was looking for an answer, but I’m realising that nobody truly knows how the world works. It’s an unknown force that washes our lives to shore, some harder than others.

I spent years praying to a God that didn’t listen, being beaten to the rhythm of his sermon while countless twisted Bible stories were etched into my skin with blood and sweat.

“Why?” he repeats sadly. “There isn’t an answer.”

“Maybe we have to make our own answer in this life,” I say slowly. “I don’t need to make sense of the madness. Living in it… I think that’s enough for me.”

His eyes meet mine. “Then I’ll hold your hand in the madness. Fuck God and his stupid why. This is our path to forge.”

“You will?”

Smiling again, Hunter reaches out to clasp my fingers. “Yeah, I fucking will. I meant what I said about us.”

I shuffle closer to press my lips to his. Initiating the kiss feels like a bold move, but he reciprocates without hesitating. This powerful, foreboding man is ready to bow before me.

Somehow, I have to tell him that I have feelings. Strong, complicated ones. And not just for him. All of them mean so much to me. I know it’s not normal to feel like this for more than one person.

If I tell Hunter, will he make me leave? Will I lose them all? Because I can’t fathom a world where I’m not surrounded by all four of these guys—the people that saved my life before they even knew who I was.

I can’t give them up.

I don’t want to.

I want… to be theirs.

CHAPTER 28

HARLOW

SUNNY SIDE DOWN - SAD HEROES

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