Page 79 of Like a Hurricane

Torin Avery

Death marked.

Maya Avery

Death marked.

My sob comes out on a whimper as I read Harper’s name, and then Ruthie’s and then Vanessa’s. And so, it goes. Over and over. Naming every person I have had contact with, every person I care about.

Someone had got into the house without anyone knowing, had planted this here. They had easy access to us, and this threat just proved it.

The phone buzzes in my hand and a new message appears on the screen.

And I know how to make all of this end.

And it means returning to the mainland, returning to my hotel and my sister.

This isn’t going away, there is no escape, not without tragic consequences and my life is not worth all of theirs.

Chapter Thirty-nine

My hand aches with how hard I am clenching it, my heart thumping wildly inside my chest. The house is quiet, dark, the night clear outside the window.

I can hear Everett in the bathroom, he’d been in there for ten minutes and I’d used the free time to get prepared. I hated that I was doing this, that what I was about to do to him was going to be the last thing he remembered of me.

I place the letter I wrote in the envelope and slide it under my pillow just in time for him to come out of the bathroom, a towel around his trim hips, water sluicing down his hard muscles. He grins at me, completely unaware and sits on the side of the bed.

Crawling over to him, the item in my hand hidden, I wrap my arms around his neck. He smiles even wider when I climb onto his lap, letting my lips find his. I kiss him deeply, expressing everything I haven’t been able to say. I kiss him like the world is ending because while it won’t for him, it will for me.

And he kisses me back just as vehemently, his tongue sliding against mine, his hands in my hair, tangling up the strands in his strong fingers. And then I pop the cap, holding him close as I lift and stab it into his neck.

He goes still beneath me as I compress the plunger and the sedative disappears into his system.

“Arryn,” he rasps, his words slurring.

“I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry, Everett,” I whisper, tears slipping down my cheeks as I help to lay him down on the mattress, “I didn’t have a choice and you wouldn’t have let me go.”

“Pr – pr – princess,” My heart is breaking, cracking into thousands of little pieces as a single tear slips out of the side of Rett’s eye, disappearing into the thick hair at the side of his head.

“I love you, Everett Avery.” I declare, “Thank you for being the one to show me it was real.”

“Don’t,” his words are coming slower, quieter, weakening as the sedative takes hold fully, “Go. Don’t go.”

“Goodbye Everett.”

His eyes close and his body goes limp.

I didn’t know how long the sedative would keep him out for, long enough I suspected for me to get to the boat that was waiting for me on the docks. I take the envelope out from under the pillow and place it on top so he’ll see it when he wakes and can understand why I did this. I didn’t want him to hate me. I needed him to know that he owns my heart.

Glancing at the time on the phone that was delivered earlier, I notice I still have ten minutes before I needed to be at the docks.

The text earlier had given me instructions on how to end the threats against everyone I cared about. I was told to leave here, alone. Failure to do that would result in one person dying, likely Olivia since she’s the one he had in reach. They explained there would be a boat waiting at half past midnight and the man would then take me to my sister and Malakai.

I knew I wasn’t going to see another sunrise and I wished I’d spent more time watching it, with Rett and Harper, and Maya and Torin. I wished I’d had that girl’s night Vanessa was trying to arrange with me, wished I’d helped Ruthie bake those cookies. I wished I had longer to say goodbye to my little sister, I doubted I’d even be able to hold her one last time.

I hadn’t thought about my own death but now, as I place my feet into the boots Rett bought me and slide my arms into the jacket, I realize I am fucking terrified to die.

My hands are shaking as I creep through the dark and quiet house, everyone sleeping and dreaming while I was living a nightmare.

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