Page 21 of Dark Knight

If I move, if I leave the spot where I last saw him, where he last touched me, where he made me promises he clearly didn’t have any business making, I’ll forget.

And I can’t afford to forget.

Nolan. Nolan. Nolan.

“Bea?” I inhale sharply at his mother’s voice. Ariel, she’s every bit as beautiful as the mermaid and just as kind. “Please, won’t you come inside, dear?” I hear the worry in her voice. I hate that I’m the one to put it there because she should be more concerned over her son than me.

“You should hate me,” I whisper, the breeze from the wind carrying my words away.

“Why on earth would I hate you?” Coming to stand in front of me, her hands reach out for mine, but I can’t bring myself to move.

“Because Nolan was arrested thanks to me. It’s my fault.”It’s always my fault.Everything bad that’s happened in anyone’s life that I’ve known since birth has been my fault. “I never should have gone to him. I never should have let him bring me here.”

“Oh, darling, no. Nolan is a man of many mysteries and just as many skills. He has a plan, and we need to trust in that plan.”

How I wish I had her confidence. I figured the other shoe would drop. I felt it yesterday. That sense of foreboding that always appeared whenever something good happened to me. It’s always there.

Nolan. Nolan. Nolan.

Shaking my head, I close my eyes and will away my presence in their lives. If only it were that easy. Maybe I should have left with my parents earlier. They tried to make me. The social worker and doctor from whatever facility they had enrolled me in insisted I join them.

Had Nolan’s family not been here, I’d have had no choice. I wouldn’t have been able to fight any of them off. I was glad, at first, that they weren't able to force me. I have no idea what Luther said to make them leave, but their faces were quite pale when they scurried off.

“I’m sorry, Nolan,” I whisper as the last of the sun dips in the sky, enveloping us in the comfy glow of light from inside the house and the cool breeze of the stormy night air.

I can sense the rain in the air. Sense the energy of the thunderstorm brewing in the dark clouds. Fitting, really, for how I feel.

Turbulent. Wild. Scared.

So terrified it hurts to breathe.

Nolan. Nolan. Nolan.

How I wish I hadn’t ruined your life.

Chapter9

Nolan

Idon’t know what’s up the sheriff’s ass, but he sure has a hard-on for me. I was left in a cold-ass interrogation room all night before being moved to holding and getting booked. Now, he’s making arrangements to have me sent straight to the Tri-County Correctional Facility with some hardcore bastards.

He thinks he’s scaring me. When in reality, all he’s doing is ensuring I come for him when I get out because his little game of cat and mouse is going to keep me from Bea even longer than I anticipated.

If not for the quick meeting with my lawyer this morning and his informing me that Bea is still at my house and doing fine, I’d be plotting a prison break. But that would get me some hard time, and I have no interest in being away from Bea for that long.

“You’re being moved within the hour,” Deputy Barnes, Holden’s contact in the department, informs me as he’s reading a report a few feet from where I’m locked up. “Holden has a request for you.”

“What?” I hiss, growing angrier by the minute. I guess good ol’ James wasn’t able to stop the transfer.

“The Deviant Sinners MC has a guy in TCCF, and he needs protection. He’s a young one and should be getting out any day now, but some guys are messing with him, and they don’t have anyone on the inside.” Our relationship with the Sinners is fairly new, but if they’re asking for favors this early in our association, I have to assume he’s important to them.

“Who?” I only need a name.

“Griffin Webster. He’s the younger brother of one of their girls, only seventeen.”

My gaze whips around to glare at Barnes. “What the fuck is he doing in there, then?” No way in hell a kid should be locked up there.

“The girl wouldn’t service the arresting officer. The kid's her punishment.” Poor Barnes looks a little sick. We’ve asked him to do a lot of things over the years; never once would he pull this kind of shit on us or vice versa.

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