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“This is ridiculous,” Bones sighs.
I suddenly feel a blow on the back of my head, followed by a dull thud on the ground. I stare at the stone at my feet in surprise.
Someone actually threw a stone at me?
I whirl around angrily. “What the fu….”
I freeze in shock as my eyes come in contact with familiar faded blue eyes. I gape at the scraggly woman in front of me in disbelief. She’s much thinner, and her formally rich black hair now hangs around her face in pitiful thin strands, but there’s no mistaking those cold eyes filled to the brim with loathing and disgust. Even after all these years, she still looks at me the same. I feel like the ground has been yanked from beneath me, and I’m suddenly thrown back sixteen years in time, back to that little house with fading yellow paint and white picket fence….
“Prez?”
Bones’ voice cuts through the haze in my head, and I turn toward him in a daze. “Huh?”
“Are you alright?” he asks with a concerned voice. “It seems like you took quite a hit with that stone.”
I swallow hard and shake my head. “I’m…I’m alright.”
“Diable.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the word echoed so loudly in my head that it took everything I had not to cover my ears. The hate in her eyes rocked me to the core. How was it possible that nothing had changed even after all these years? It was exactly the same…her disgust and my cowardice.
She turned around and walked away, leaving me in a stupefied haze as I stared at her parting figure.
“What the fuck was that?” Bones says, shaking his head in disbelief. “I know this is a mental hospital, but that was weird as fuck.”
“Yeah…,” I muttered, forcing the word through the dryness in my throat.
Bones narrows his eyes at me suspiciously and shakes his head slightly. “You sure you alright, Prez? You don’t look too well.”
“I’m good,” I say curtly. “You know what? Go ahead and get Laura out of here as planned. You’ll have to do it without me.”
“What is this about, Prez?” Bones asks with a concerned frown.
“We’ll meet up at the clubhouse,” I reply, climbing on my motorcycle.
I ignite the engine and speed off the hospital grounds. Thirty minutes later, I’m riding down a long, lonely road at the highest speed possible. But no matter how hard I run, it seems like I can’t outrun the echoes in my head.
Diable!
Creep!
Be gone, you demon!
Go away! Leave!
It doesn’t matter where I turn; there’s always a shadow from my past waiting to torment me. First, it was Anderson Grey, and now my Aunt Celia? I can’t seem to outrun my past.
I bring my motorcycle to a screeching halt and yank my helmet off my head. I’m parked in the middle of a lonely road, breathing hard with sweat dripping down my face. I clutch at my chest and let out a throaty growl.
Why the fuck do I have to live like this?
How far do I have to run?
“I’m tired.” The words escape my lips in a tormented whisper. “I’m fucking exhausted.”
I drop my head into my gloved palms and let the tears flow freely.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
