Page 42 of Shadow

I didn’t know where he was taking me and part of me didn’t care. For the first time in my life, I felt utterly free and safe. It was a heady combination for a girl who spent most of her life looking over her shoulder. Too afraid to put myself out there in fear of my father finding out. My whole life, every time I tried to have something good, something tangible, something long lasting, it always ended the same way. With my father destroying it.

After a while, I gave up. Resigned to live my life alone.

Even after the police hauled him off to prison, I never tried again.

Holding him as he weaved us in and out of traffic, I closed my eyes and just felt the motion of the bike. Like a wave on the ocean, the sway soothed a fear I didn’t know I held onto. The wind blew all around as if cocooning me, protecting me from outside forces.

It was then that I finally relaxed and just enjoyed the ride.

I felt the bike slow when I opened my eyes just in time to see Shadow turn onto a dirt road. Looking around, I did not know where I was. As the bike slowed further, I saw a large barn-likehouse up ahead. Parking the bike, he cut the engine and just sat there.

Taking off the helmet I handed it back to him when he said, “This is my sister’s place. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have a home of my own.”

“It’s alright.”

“No, it’s not, but it’s all I can offer you right now.”

“Zeke?” a pretty young girl walked over with a big man next to her dressed in overalls. The young girl smiled at me, asking “Who’s this?”

“Charity, this is Angel. She’s gonna stay with us for a while.”

Charity smiled brightly. “Welcome to the Natural Herbology Farm.”

“I buy your soaps at the market. They are wonderful.”

Charity giggled. “Faith makes all the soaps. I make the lotions and Hope makes…well, she tries to make the baked goods.”

Shadow chuckled.

“Um. How do I get off this thing?”

“Here,” the big man next to Charity said, offering me his hand. “I’m Nevil. Let me help you.”

Taking his hand, I made it off the bike and watched as Shadow seamlessly dismounted. Taking a really good look at him, it shocked me to see he was taller than I originally thought and bulkier. His dark hair was long, hanging to his shoulders. His beard was neat and trimmed. But it was his eyes I couldn’t stop looking at.

Taking my hand, he led me inside the house where another pretty woman smiled, walking out of the kitchen.

“Hope, Angel. Angel, Hope.”

“Hello,” I muttered, as he kept pulling me deeper into the house when another woman appeared in his path.

“Zeke.”

“Faith.”

“Who’s your guest?”

“Angel.”

Faith looked from Shadow to me, then lightly grinned before stepping to the side to let him pass. Looking over my shoulder as he pulled me down a long hallway, I saw the woman named Faith shake her head as she walked away.

Pulling me into a bedroom, he closed the door behind him, leaning against it, sighing. He seemed frazzled, which confused me because I could have sworn he said he lived with his sisters. I would have thought he would be comfortable around his own family.

“If you’ve changed your mind, I can stay at a motel until the police finish with my apartment. You didn’t have to bring me here.”

He shook his head. “No. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

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