Walker follows Mama out. “Ridge, take Loretta home. Now.”
Nobody notices me move, or maybe they do. I don't know. I can't hear anything anymore.
Not Walker. Not Levi. Not Santiago.
The office door opens beneath my hand, and the hallway blurs. Someone says my name. Then again louder.
I keep walking.
Jo looks up from the front desk.
I don't stop.
The front door swings open, and winter air slams into me hard enough to steal my breath.
Good.
“Blake!” Walker’s voice.
I don't turn around. If I look back, if I let one of them touch me, I'll fall apart.
So I run.
The snow crunches beneath my boots as I sprint across Main Street, not caring where I'm going.
Only that it's somewhere.
Anywhere that isn't here.
CHAPTER 37
BLAKE
Every inch of my body is numb, and it’s not from the freezing temperature tonight. I can’t feel or hear a thing. My consciousness is too full, flashing between the past and the present.
Problem. Burden. Whore.
After Mama said her piece, I ran. I don’t even remember consciously making the choice. All I remember is thinking, “I need to leave. I can’t be here.” I didn’t realize where I was until the cold metal of the bridge railing was biting into my palms.
I know my overprotective men aren’t going to be happy about it, but there isn’t much I can do about that now.
The heels of my boots are the only thing keeping me from falling into the raging Snake River below.
The moonlight shines across the rippling water, crafting a shattered reflection of its source. The water, painted the deepest blue, surges downstream, devouring everything in its path.
A little manipulative bitch.
My shoulders droop, resignation and denigration etching their way across my body and filling every limb.
I didn’t plan this, but now that I’m here, I’m wondering if this is always where I was going to end up.
Maybe the reason I never wanted to come back to Evergreen Falls wasn’t that I didn’t want to be reminded of what Daddy did or remember Walker’s rejection.
Maybe the reason was that I knew I’d end up right where I am now, thinking over if I should jump—just like Daddy did.
Landon was so disgusted with himself.
“Blake!”
