Page 223 of Anger

For my entire life, I blamed my mother for being damaged. But in this moment, now that I know the truth and can recognize she’s not broken, I begin to see just how strong my mother needed to be to raise two children after everything that happened.

In a different way than Damon, her fractured pieces match up to mine perfectly, and we heal each other in this first long hug, our jagged lines finally locking together.

Damon

“Just put on the blindfold, Blue. We have a surprise for you.”

Blue eyes me warily, her stare jumping between me and the guys as we stand outside a white van parked in Tanner’s driveway.

“Let me get this straight. You have a plain white van sitting here with eight of your buddies, and you want me to not only blindfold myself but also put a hood over my head while all nine of you drive me away to some random place you won’t tell me.”

I nod my head.

She scowls.

It takes everything not to laugh.

“Seems a little suspicious, Damon. I’ve seen this horror movie and I’m not really interested in being part of it.”

A few of the guys snicker, but I wave the blindfold at her again. She’s going to love this.

“Just put it on. You trust me, don’t you?”

“I did,” she answers, “but now I’m starting to wonder just how far that trust goes.”

“Blue.”

“Champ,” she answers.

I sigh heavily and step up to her. “I’ll put the blindfold on you and make the promise that if we do anything to harm you, we’ll all sign over the ownership papers of Myth. You’ll own it fully.”

Her eyes round. “I’m more worried about if the cops will be able to find my body after this.”

The guys snicker more, and I turn to eye them.

They shut up immediately.

Pointing in their direction, Blue says, “That doesn’t make me feel any better. Why just me? Where are the rest of the girls? Why am I the special guest on your super secreet field trip?”

She has a point. But too damn bad.

“Your brother knows you’re with me, right?”

Blue nods.

“And you know he will hunt me and every guy here down, one by one, if something happens to you, right?”

“Fucking asshole probably would,” Tanner curses under his breath.

Blue smirks and looks Tanner’s direction. “That’s what I’ve always liked about Kane.”

Tanner scowls.

Gently touching Blue’s face, I drag her attention back to me.

“You know I’m right. So just put on the blindfold for now. In a little bit, we’ll have to put a hood over your head, but it will only be temporary. Once you see the surprise, you’ll understand.”

She hesitates, but finally blows out a steadying breath and turns around to let me tie the blindfold around her head.

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