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But I also couldn’t trust myself around her. Every time I saw her, my control slipped a little more. I knew I couldn’t let my feelings for her get in the way of my duty to protect her, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up abruptly, causing the other men to pause in their conversation.
“I’m calling it a night,” I said, my voice gruff. “I have lunch with Storee tomorrow, and—”
Merrick smirked. “We get it. See ya.”
Without waiting for a response from the others, I marched out of the sex-infused room and made my way down the hallway to the back exit. As I pushed open the door, the cool night air hit me like a slap in the face. It did little to ease the fire that had been burning inside me all night.
Leaning against the brick wall of the building, I tried to calm myself down.
I needed to see her.
Needed to make sure she got home safe.
I needed to watch her from afar.
She didn’t need to know. Just like I did every night.
I needed to watch.
From the shadows, I needed to keep her safe.
Chapter 4
Storee
The moon hung low in the Pacific Northwest sky, casting an eerie glow over Heathens Hollow. The island had always been unsettling, but now it felt as if the air itself was charged with a restless energy that whispered secrets to those who dared to listen. Shadows danced across the cobblestone paths and the damp, salty breeze carried the faint scent of decay.
The moonlight made me feel as if someone was always watching me. Lurking. I never felt alone when the moon rose.
As I walked through the streets, my mind buzzed from my conversation with Locke. Which often happened with that man. I knew he was angry to see me working the event, and he’d be even angrier if he knew I was still working the docks, but it’s not like there were a lot of employment opportunities in Heathens Hollow. And unless I wanted to move to Seattle, as many islanders felt they had no choice but to do, my blue-collar fate was sealed.
Yes, I had access to money. Dirty money. Guilt money.
Blood money.
Money I refused to touch.
My father had worked for the Godwins. He had done shady, criminal acts for that family. He was so hungry for money,for power, and for respect. He also liked the limelight and the attention he got. He liked to party, drink, do drugs, and sleep with all the ladies who coveted a man in a suit and a big wad of cash in his pocket.
I may have been young, but I wasn’t blind to how my father put food on our table. And though they ruled my father’s death a cold case… I wasn’t stupid either. The Godwins held supreme power over Heathens Hollow and beyond with an iron fist, and those who dared to cross them often met with unfortunateaccidents. There were no cold cases in their world. They knew everything. They were Gods Among Men.
They had known what my father was up to. Just how greedy he’d become.
As I walked toward my small bungalow on Cottage Row that sat on the edge of the harbor, I could see the lighthouse in the distance, its solitary white beam shining like a beacon against the darkening night.
My path wound its way through an array of quaint cottages with weathered green roofs, each glowing in its own unique color. Home to fishermen, dockworkers, and merchants, the small dwellings lined the edge of the harbor in a straight path leading up to the thick woods nearby. The sounds of waves crashing against the shore, seagulls squawking, and the creaks of boats in the harbor were soothing yet haunting at the same time.
Heathens Hollow—beauty and darkness woven as one.
The sun never shines. It’s afraid of this island. Fearful of our ghosts.
As I got closer to home, my thoughts returned to Locke. He was a man of many secrets, and I knew that he had guilt over my father’s death, though he never told me why. He had once been my father’s best friend and they’d worked closely together, but something had gone wrong between them shortly before myfather’s death. I remembered hearing Locke warn my father that he was flying too close to the sun.
That image stayed with me always.
Clearly, my father didn’t listen to him because my father most certainly got burned, leaving me an orphan.
