Page 120 of Shadow's Surrender
Chapter Twenty-Five
It was thepain that woke him—that and the chirping birds. Shadow opened his eyes and saw the first beams of sunlight piercing through the blinds. He pushed up with his right hand and sat on the edge of the bed, blinking and wiping the sleep from the corners of his eyes. Spotting the bottle of water on the nightstand, Shadow grabbed it and took a long drink. The events of the last week played in his mind, as they always did when he was awake.
Pamela Mansfield, charged with two counts of first-degree murder and a slew of other charges, sat in a jail cell. The police department determined Shadow had acted in self-defense, thus declining to charge him with assault. ThePinewood Springs Tribuneran a front-page story on the cold case murder, and the scandal was a major topic of discussion at the Pinewood Country Club.
Since his mother’s death, Shadow had been so convinced it was the rich man in his mom’s life who had murdered her that he’d never once entertained the possibility that a scorned woman could have been responsible for committing such a heinous act.
And that woman was Scarlett’s mother.
Scarlett. Fuck.Shadow knew that she was in a world of hurt, and he wasn’t helping by distancing himself from her, but he needed to make sense of everything that had happened before they could go back to where they were.Maybe we never can. Maybe everything is too damn broken.He scrubbed his face with his hand then rose to his feet and headed to the bathroom.
An hour later, Shadow sat in front of the wrought-iron gates at Scarlett’s parents’ house. When she’d texted him the day before, Scarlett had told him she was staying with her father for a while. He hadn’t seen her since the day after the revelation when he’d told Scarlett what had happened. The extent of their relationship after that had consisted of texts and a few phone calls. Scarlett had told him she wanted to give him the space and time he needed, but Shadow knew his distance was breaking her heart—he heard it in her voice.
He picked up his cell and opened the photo app, then scrolled down to a bunch of pictures that captured every aspect of Scarlett: sexy, silly, and happy, as well as few of them together. Shadow stared at the photos for a long time before tapping in her number. On the second ring, Scarlett picked up.
“How are you?” she asked.
“All right.”
“How’s your wrist doing?”
“It’s getting better. I hate having to drive a cage, but it’s only for a few more weeks.” He picked up the thermos of coffee and took a sip.
“That’s not too bad, but it probably seems like years to you. I know how much you love riding.”
There was an exaggerated cheerfulness in her voice, and it was obvious she was trying way too damn hard to act like everything was normal when it just wasn’t.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Taking it day by day.” A small sigh. “Are we ever going to see each other again?” Her words were laced with apprehension.
Sucking in a deep breath, Shadow slowly let it out. “I’m in front of your gate.”
“You are?” Her tone was guarded but happy.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want me to open it?”
“Not really.”
“Oh. Then what?” The anxiety and fear had crept back in.
“Nothing. I’m just here, that’s all.”
A second of quiet.
“I really miss you …us. I know everything has been thrown off kilter. I can’t even make sense of it, so I can only imagine how devastating and surreal this is for you.” The slight hitch in her voice made his chest tighten. “But I want to see you.” Another pause. “Don’t you want to see me too?” she whispered.
Want to see her?Hell, he wanted to hold her in his arms again, have his mouth on hers, tell her he loved her, then apologize for his coldness—but Shadow didn’t respond.
A few sniffles. “I better get going.”
“Is your dad there?”
“Yes. He really wants to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say to him.” Shadow reached over to the glove box and pulled out a baggie. He took out a rolling paper, filled it with weed, and shaped the joint with his fingers as the phone sat in the console on the speaker.
