other.
Truth was, it didn’t matter that I’d known him for little more than a week. Felt like it’d been his whole life. Like there was no time missing and we’d been destined.
Like he was carved out of a piece of me that I recognized as myself.
I killed the engine and climbed out, going right for the back to unbuckle him. I hoisted him up high on my shoulder, cradling him as I made my way up the five porch steps.
Then I stopped in my tracks.
Breath leaving me on a punch.
Fear and dread and terror taking me hostage.
FREAK.
It was painted in big white letters across the entire expanse of the floorboards of the porch.
I whirled around. Ready for a fight.
I held Everett tight.
Protectively.
A feeling unlike anything I’d felt before came over me.
Could almost feel the adrenaline get dumped into my veins.
Rage and fury.
I tried to breathe, to focus.
Everett’s tiny, chubby body was tucked close, the little pants coming from his nose hitting my cheek while the air stirred with an ominous silence that screamed through the late afternoon air.
A morbid kind of stillness echoed back.
A disordered calm.
I spun in a circle.
Looking for anything.
Anyone.
I stumbled a step when I noticed the note tacked to the front door.
Warily, I moved toward it and ripped it from where it was tapped to the wood.
Game’s up, you’re running out of time.
You and your perfect life.
I’m done standing aside and watching you win.
Fuck you, freak.
I’m taking back what is mine.
Ice slipped down my spine.
Frozen dread.
Spreading. Saturating. Seeping into every cell.
I slowly turned around and faced the echoing vacancy.
I clutched my child.
My son.
The cost and consequences didn’t matter.
I would do anything, give up everything, to make sure he was safe.
Darkness filled my childhood room. The lamp on the nightstand shed a muted, dingy glow that barely illuminated the space. The glow-in-the dark constellations Dad had put up all over my ceiling when I was ten twinkled from above like we were actually out laying under the stars.
Should lull me to sleep.
But there was no chance I could close my eyes.
I’d texted the number I’d had of Ashley’s from over two years ago at least a hundred times.
Dad had called it almost as many.
Nothing.
I needed to reach her.
Get an answer.
Find out what the fuck was happening.
How could she just . . . up and leave if she knew something was going down? If she knew Everett might be in danger?
Unease slithered across my flesh.
Worst part was this feeling that this was personal. That it didn’t have a damn thing to do with Ashley.
I mean, what the fuck did that message mean? And who would give it if they didn’t want something specific from me?
Apprehension blazing, I glanced down at where Everett was still lying at my side, sucking on the satin trim of the blankie, pointing at all those stars like he was as interested in them as the way I’d been.
I snuggled him closer. I should have put him down in his crib two hours ago, but I was having a hard time letting him get too far away.
He didn’t seem to mind.
My own personal night owl.
Softly, I murmured the names of the constellations he was staring at, pointing at each one. Figured it was a good enough distraction.
Orion and Aquila and Ursa Major.
Pegasus.
“See that one,” I murmured, pointing to the constellation that had always been ours. “I always liked to believe that one is about chasing your dreams. About allowing yourself to be free and believe. About being brave and tapping into the magical things you have inside of yourself. That one reminds me of Frankie Leigh.”
His head popped up in acute interest. “Fi-Fi?”
A light chuckle rumbled out, and I smoothed my hand over the top of his head. “You like Fi-Fi?”
He got to his knees, nodding one of his nods and getting in my face. “Ehvie, Fi-Fi? Go?” He pointed at my door.
I laughed.
“Yeah, buddy, I want her, too. But we can’t go right now. It’s nigh-night time.”
Everett leaned up higher on his knees, patting my chest, getting up close to my face with that grin that twisted me in two. His little lips moved erratically, his spirit speaking to me even though I wasn’t sure exactly what he said.
Nothing except for, “Da.”
Then he slobbered a kiss against my chin.
God.
I never thought I could feel like this.
So goddamn in love and terrified at the same time.
All of this bullshit dangling in the periphery.
Danger on the fringes.
If things around here weren’t stressful enough, those fucking results