Page 6 of Unleashed By Eden

I breathe out through my nose. “Yeah. It’s literally my dream job.”

“But it’s ten months . . .” He trails off. “With Carter.”

I can tell it pains him to say it, to even acknowledge our unspoken rule.

“I know, Liam. It’s fine. I’ve got this. I’m not passing up the opportunity of a lifetime.”

He sighs, long and heavy. “Alright. Well, I’m here in Sydney, but I’m not doing the whole tour. Got enough stuff going on with Anne and the baby. I’ll probably drop in and out. Depends on how things go.”

“You don’t need to babysit me,” I say. “Anne and your kid come first. I’ll be fine.”

“We’ll see.”

I rub my tired eyes. “Seriously, I’m good.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Dick.”

He chuckles. “I promise to stay out of your way, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

“Fine. Byeee.”

I hang up, kill the lights, and head to my room, grabbing my Kindle before stretching out across the bed.

Despite his overprotectiveness driving me fucking crazy, Liam’s proof that it’s possible to outrun your past—to build something better, to stare down your demons and flip them the bird. And yet here I am, twenty-seven years old, still haunted by my demon. About to spend ten months with him, in fact. Shadowing him. Photographing him. Documenting his every move.

I try to read, but my eyes refuse to cooperate, the same sentence sliding past again and again. My mind drifts backward, to Carter, and the way he used to dismantle my bad moods with a single, perfectly timed line.

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

He’s lodged in the wrong chapter of my life, written in a place he doesn’t belong. He’s someone I should have moved on from. He should be irrelevant by now, but here he is, living rent-free in my head, carrying an opinion I never got to correct.

I press my palms over my eyes, breathing into the dark.

Distance has never been enough. Time hasn’t helped either. No matter how far I run, some people don’t stay in the past.

They follow you.

Chapter three

Violet

Fifteen years ago

The copper tang of blood lingers on my tongue.

“Get off me!” My voice comes out shaky and angry tears burn my eyes. I blink those traitors back, because Cindy Winters doesn’t get to see me cry; it would only make her go harder. She’s a shark in a frenzy at the scent of blood.

My lip throbs when I lick it. The taste of iron mingles with the rainwater running over my face as I pry her fingers off my jacket. My nails dig into her skin, pulling each finger back, one by one.

“Ouch, you little bitch!” She yanks me forward by my leather jacket, then shoves me away with a force that sends me tumbling. My ankle twists beneath me, and pain shoots up my calf. I bite back a yelp, determined to stay silent. Icy water soaks through my jeans, pooling around me in the gutter.

Cindy loves pushing me around. She’s fourteen, just two years older than me, yet twice my size. And she never lets me forget it. Ever.

“Ugh, Grunty!” Cindy sneers, wrinkling her nose. She wipes her hands down her coat as if she’s touched something toxic. “What are you, an animal? Those hands are like baby claws.”

Her best friend Jase laughs, watching on.