Page 72 of Heart Sick

Tears leak from my eyes because I’ll miss her so much.

With my final breath, a single star comes into view, and I reach up with bloody fingers, making a wish—I wish that she’ll be all right.

“Dutch!”

I’m sucked back into my body, and I lurch up, gulping in mouthfuls of air.

“That’s it. Breathe.” Luna is at my back, rubbing it gently, and her touch makes me feel better. But I still feel so fucking…empty inside.

“They fucking killed him,” I gasp, his heart thrashing wildly. “It wasn’t an accident. They killed him…shekilled him.”

I don’t know how I know it’s a woman, but I see it through his eyes.

“Did you know her?” I ask aloud, and Luna soon realizes I’m not talking to her.

Jack isn’t talking right now, and I wonder why that is. A blanket of…shame suddenly shrouds me. He knew her and when I peer into Luna’s eyes, I gasp for air because it’shereyes I see behind the wheel. But that’s not possible.

She isn’t the one who killed him. Well, I don’t think that she is. I don’t know a lot about Luna, but I do know that she isn’t a murderer. There’s no way she’d hurt another person that way. But the heaviness in the pit of my stomach won’t subside.

“What’s the matter?” she asks, placing her hand to my cheek. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m okay.” I play off my concerns and come to a stand.

Luna senses my detachment once again.

We make our way toward the car in silence, and I don’t fail to notice that inside our prison walls, we couldn’t seem to stay away from one another. But now that we’re out, I can’t help but wonder just who Luna really is.

I thought going to Woodland Waterfalls would help somehow. I suppose in some ways it did because I now know the driver who killed Jack was female, and that female could quite possibly be Luna.

I open the window, needing fresh air. It’s raining, as per usual, but I don’t care. The air allows me to breathe because I suddenly feel claustrophobic. There’s no way this is possible. But Jack has gone quiet and I don’t know if that’s because the mystery is solved and now I’m expected to deal with this revelation how I deem fit.

Or maybe he’s just as confused as I am.

The tension can be hacked with a chainsaw and I hate it. I don’t understand how we went from being drawn to one another to now me side-eying her in case she’s about to grab the wheel and steer us into oncoming traffic.

When I hear growling and realize it’s Luna’s stomach, I curse myself for not pulling over sooner because of course she’s fucking hungry, but too polite to say otherwise. There’s no way this woman is responsible for anyone’s death.

I refuse to believe it.

I’ve been driving around aimlessly because I don’t know what to do or where to go. We need money. I could hit up a couple friends, but I don’t want anyone involved in my bullshit. And going back home is definitely not an option.

Luna has no idea who she is, so seeking out any of her friends is not in the cards either.

I pull into a parking space when I see a small grocery store. Luna notices me examining it closely. We don’t have any money, but we need to eat and I’ll be damned if Luna goes hungry.

“You distract the security guard,” I order, peering at the middle-aged man inside the doorway. “I’ll grab what we need. In and out, okay?”

She works her bottom lip nervously.

“We’re going to be fine,” I assure her, reaching across and gently stroking her leg.

The ever-present chemistry sparks to life, but we both ignore it this time. Luna reaches for the large sunglasses she found in the middle console and slips them on in hopes to conceal her injuries. She’s not complained once about the pain she’s no doubt in.

She exits the car before I do, as it seems she wants to be as far away from me as possible.

With a sigh, I shut my door, and we walk toward the store calmly. When the guard sees us, he immediately hooks his thumbs into his leather belt, drawing attention to his gun. This has probably worked on other women before, but Luna isn’t just any woman.

“Oh, darling, what happened to that pretty face?” he says and has the nerve to wink at me like we’re in some secret boys’ club where it’s okay to beat on women.

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