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“I want my baby in your belly. I want you pregnant. I want—”
“What do you want?” Her voice is raspy.
I grin. “I want little yous and mes running around. We’d get a bigger house, of course. Outside of the city, where we can have a yard. Fresh air. A space for a family. A dog.”
“A dog.”
“Yeah, songbird, I want a dog.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” She shifts. “And if I don’t… if I can’t get pregnant?”
Well… I don’t know what to say to that.
She hops off the counter and hikes her leggings back up. She picks up the curling iron and resumes doing her hair, leaving me to squint at her in confusion.
55
MELODY
Why Denver?
And for that matter—why New York?
It’s a question I hadn’t asked myself before. It didn’t really seem relevant, especially when Thomas—Henry—mentioned I went to school in the city. But why Beacon Hill Hospital? Why was I so far outside of the city, unless I was feeling nostalgic?
Did I return home?
But my mother is dead and gone, and I don’t know of any other family I’d be willing to visit. I can’t think of any. My father in prison… well, he’d be the closest one. Stone Ridge State Prison is only a town over from it. But when he said I hadn’t visited him before, I believed him.
A wonder. It seems like some of my memory has returned, and the little details like geography seem to be surfacing for my use easily. Like how Lion’s Head, my high school, was in Beacon Hill.
So… familiar territory, in a way.
I doubt I’d be visiting my father.
And the time between Crown Point and the hospital is still too murky to decipher. It’s not really there at all. Just flashes of fear and adrenaline. Being caught like a bug in Henry’s web, pointlessly struggling. It’s enough to make me scared of remembering more.
Meanwhile, Henry went to Denver. To stake outJacob. Because he’s the last person I fucked? Because… because he’s a threat to Henry? Because he hoped to catch me there?
A chill sweeps down my back.
If Henry was in Denver, if he thought I was going to show up there, then he probably didn’t find me in New York.
The other night is proof, even. He denied hurting me, said he only found out when his Thomas identity was contacted. He was going to shoot me in the leg, if at all. He tried to kidnap me. And sure, torture is probably on the list of activities he enjoys.
Not murder.
I touch my throat again. The white scar that’s more proof that someonedidwant me dead. But if not Henry, then who?
Caleb: Restraining order is valid for another year. You had a video hearing with a judge who granted it four years ago. I let the LA police know.
I got that text before we headed to the game. I updated him about the situation, and the run-in, yesterday. While he offered to fly out, I didn’t even want to think about how much that bill would be.
Because lawyers rarely do things for free. Even lawyers who are best friends with my best friend’s husband.
Now, I sit with Violet, Aspen, and Willow. The guys are hovering on the edges. Knox keeps glancing at me like he wants to say something, but he’s so far kept his distance. He’s favoring his injured arm, keeping it close to his body. Besides the bandage under his sweatshirt, there’s no outward signs of damage. To either of us.
We have very clear instructions:stay put. Our seats are at the glass. Jacob, skating past, winks at me, and my heart skips.
