Page 43 of Armor

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Then... not even a beat later, Storm lifted his chin.

“Welcome to the club... Ripper.”

Chapter 13

Creedence

Age 17

Seeing that name on my phone, I felt a piece of my soul wither away to dust.

He had seen his name in my phone, growled, and changed it to Ripper.

I still didn’t know what to think about that.

Ripper – Made it. Talk soon.

Made it? Talk soon?

Ex-fucking-cuse me?

Me – Talk soon?

No response.

Five minutes later... nothing.

Two hours later... nothing.

Five hours later... nothing.

Me – Good night. I love you.

Two-thirty in the morning.

Ripper – Yeah.

I should have seen the signs.

They were written in big letters. Big as fuck, red letters.

But I was in love.

He was my everything.

I just didn’t know about his demons.

Not until it was too late.

***

He wasn’t there when I graduated high school a month later.

He wasn’t there when I got my acceptance letter for college.

He didn’t return my numerous calls or texts.

Except for one.

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