AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Delaney took the bras, and the hand was gone again. She ran her fingers over the lace and satin and hung them on a hook secured over the curtain rod. She slipped the first one over her cotton bra but felt silly, contorting herself to remove her regular bra and then adjusting the cups and straps.
It was beautiful, with delicate embroidered detailing around the cups and a tiny satin bow between her breasts. The deep sapphire reminded her of James’s eyes when he first woke up, and that reason alone made her want to buy it. She checked the price tag and winced a bit. Not as bad as she was expecting, but more than she’d spent on a bra in a long time.
She had the money, though. Living with James had allowed her to save up quite a bit, and with her mind straying toward sticking around Philadelphia for a while instead of running again, she could afford a little splurge.
Slipping off the blue satin, she traded it for red lace, and her eyes went wide. This one brought out the golden undertones in her skin, and she absolutely glowed. A must buy. She didn’t even care about the price.
After trying on each one, she decided to buy the blue, the red, and a hot pink number with plunging cups and an adjustable strap. That one was both sexy and surprisingly comfortable.
Stepping out of the changing stall, she saw Clara and Addy talking at the mouth of the booth. When they spotted her, they smiled. Addy gave a wiggling cheer when Delaney pointed at the bras she was buying.
“You are a bad influence,” Delaney said when she joined them, her purchases wrapped in baby pink tissue paper and tucked inside a paper bag.
“You love it,” Addy said. “Besides, tell me the bra doesn’t feel like a cloud is holding your tits.”
Delaney laughed. “You got me there. It was so soft! And the fit was great too. What’s next?”
“I was just telling Addy about a jewelry stall back that way.” Clara pointed over her shoulder. “There’s this pendant I need someone to talk me either into or out of. Then after that, I think I’m ready to go home.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Delaney trailed after them, content to people watch while their heads were bent close together in conversation. Quickly sidestepping a vendor spraying unsuspecting people with an acrid-smelling essential oil, she bumped into a man with blond hair and a neatly pressed white button-down.
For a split second, her heart lodged itself in her throat, and with every sense on high alert, she braced to run. Then he turned, his frown melting into a smile before a woman tugged his hand and led him in the opposite direction. Not who she thought it was. Why would it be?
If it had been him, though, she was prepared to run as fast as she could and never look back. She would never let herself get sucked back into his world again. She’d rather be dead.
Delaney took deep, steadying breaths, scanning the crowd for Addy and Clara. Spotting Addy’s bright blue hair, she jogged to catch up with them, rubbing her sweaty palms on the thighs of her jeans while she fought to control her breathing.
“Okay.” Clara picked up a velvet bust and held it up for both of them to inspect the pendant hanging around the neck. “What do we think?”
It was big, probably about the size of a quail’s egg. Diamond shaped rather than the oval Delaney had been expecting. It was pretty, but it didn’t really seem like Clara’s style.
She was trying to figure out how to let her friend down gently when Addy blurted, “You’ll hate that after five minutes of wearing it.”
Clara sighed and set the bust down on the table again. “The more I stare at it, the more I know you’re right. But I want something shiny. I need shiny so I feel better about being alone on Valentine’s Day.”
Addy rolled her eyes. “Who the hell cares about Valentine’s Day? Be your own valentine, for fuck’s sake.”
Clara pouted. “I care about being alone on Valentine’s Day.” She picked up a pair of earrings and held them up to her ear while she studied herself in a little stand mirror. “What about these?”
“Now those I like,” Addy agreed. “You should get those. But not because of Valentine’s Day.”
Delaney’s eyes scanned the crowd while they squabbled about the commercialism of a made-up holiday commemorating the horrific death of a martyr. She’d find it funny if her heart wasn’t still pounding.
It could have been him. But it wasn’t. And she was tired of living like this, always looking over her shoulder, wondering if he might have put all the pieces together and be on his way to claim her, to drag her back to hell disguised as a million-dollar mansion.
For the first time in a long time, she felt normal, like she didn’t have to constantly gauge every threat. She wanted to be free. Really free. Not the kind of freedom she bought herself when she ran. That freedom was filled with never staying in one place for more than a few months and constantly worrying he’d show up out of nowhere and kill her this time. That freedom felt more and more like its own kind of prison.
But getting out felt impossible, insurmountable. In some ways, running had trapped her. It had been worth it then, when she couldn’t imagine ever wanting someone else.
She tried to imagine a life where she could stop waiting for the other shoe to drop, where she could have love and commitment and tomorrows. It felt like too big a reach. Especially when the man she wanted that with had his own skeletons.
Whatever she might want, she knew enough to know that you couldn’t build any kind of real life on secrets.
ChapterTwenty-Five
With an exasperated huff, James shoved the last piece of paperwork into a file drawer and slammed it shut with his foot. He had finally tamed the mountains that had been towering on his desk for weeks.
