Page 69 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
Wolf stepped inside, and she turned to stare out at the small parking area. There was a shed tucked into the trees that she could barely make out with all the weird vines and tall weeds covering it. Walking to the edge of the porch, she peeked around the corner and spotted another small shed that seemed to be built over the water but attached to the shore. That must be where the boat was kept.
“It’s all clear,” Wolf said, and she made her way inside the cabin that was clearly built for one person.
The kitchen had all the essentials, but the space was very tiny. It even had a small two-person table with wooden chairs to match. There was a couch and an old boxy television with a metal thing sticking out of the top. A layer of dust coated everything, and she felt comforted and sad as she took in the small space. Duke was curled up in a dog bed in the corner of the living room, his nose tucked under his tail, making him look like a black and tan fox.
“So, is that all you’re going to say, that he was your best friend?” She didn’t want to press, but she craved to know everything about him.
Wolf sighed as he set the bags down.
“I’m not sure what else to say. He’d been my friend since we were about six. He had a huge personality and wanted to help the world in a way other people couldn’t understand.”
Wolf lifted his shoulder and let it drop.
“He loved the wilderness and video games. He was a ‘happily ever after,’ fairy tale ending kind of guy. Jimmy was my brother in every way that mattered. He didn’t come home from overseas, and losing him….” Wolf looked away from her eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest.
She cleared her throat as he paused, looking like he was on the verge of crying.
“How about you tell me what I can do,” she said.
He pointed to a stick with a rope handle by the door. “Can you take the cushions out and give them a good beating to get the dust off them? I’ll see what I can scare up for food once the place is liveable. The freezer is still humming, so maybe we’ll get lucky, and not everything in here will be freezer burnt.”
Grabbing the stick, she made her way outside with the first cushion in hand. She hit the cushion, and a cloud of dust rose into the air making her cough. Taking another tentative whack, she pictured a spider, a snake, and then the guys chasing her, but as she picked up the pace, all she could see was the man she’d called Daddy. The cushion thumped as she hit it harder, and the sounds seemed loud in the surrounding area that was dead quiet.
Sweat dripped down her back and off her arms with the exertion in the heat. She pictured his face coming into her room. She could remember it all so vividly now. Anyone who walked in would think it was a perfectly happy place with its soft pink walls and frilly curtains. Or how she was spoiled with the large bed, stuffed animals covering every surface, and a doll house as tall as she was in the corner. To any other little girl, the place would look magical, like an escape into a world of imagination. It did have a magic to it, one that was dark, one that made it look pretty while something vile slithered under the surface.
She imagined what she would do to Daddy now if he wasn’t dead. She’d want him to suffer. Death was too quick, too easy for him. Not that she’d meant to kill him when she pushed him. She’d only wanted to hurt him. She wanted to strike back, but killing hadn’t been a consequence of her actions that she’d seen coming.
Hot, angry tears rolled down her cheeks like miniature streams. Thethwatsound of the wood smacking against the cushion was loud in her ears. She stumbled back from the cushion, her arms shaking from the exertion. She was breathing hard, but she felt better. Like every single hit had not only beat the dust off the cushion but also chased off some of the ghosts in her mind.
She grabbed the cushion and marched into the cabin to put it back into place and grab the next one. The hits turned into a cathartic rhythm in her mind, like drums were playing, and she was playing along with them. She felt like breaking into song but didn’t have the words to describe her feelings as she swung hard.
Another speck of her past floated away with the particles of grey dust.
From somewhere in her mind, the sound of Wolf’s voice singing came to her, filling her with energy rather than making her want to curl in a ball and cry. When she finished beating all three cushions, she smiled wide.
“You save any energy to eat?”
Maeve wiped the damp strands of hair out of her face as she looked over her shoulder at Wolf. He looked like a ‘tall drink of fucking sex on legs’ as he leaned against the door frame. He had his arms crossed in front of his shirtless chest. She forced her eyes off the tight abs and looked him in the eyes.
Wolf’s eyes went wide as she walked toward him. Reaching up, she grabbed his face and was surprised when he let her pull his head down to her lips. She kissed him hard and wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the heat of his body even though she felt like she was already melting.
He groaned into her mouth as she kissed him and didn’t hold anything back. There was no guilt, no ulterior motive other than she was falling for this man, and she wanted him to know. He could fight her on it. He could try and tell her that they were no good together, but that was a lie, and she’d find a way to make him see that.
Breaking the kiss, she stared into his eyes, which looked darker than normal in the shadows.
“We will be together, Wolf, you can fight it all you want, but you know that whatever this is between us is powerful.”
She loosened her hold around his neck, gave his chest a soft kiss, and loved that he shivered under her touch.
“You can try and run, but I intend on making you mine,” she said to the shocked expression he was giving her. His mouth hung open as she walked past him into the cabin and searched for the bathroom to clean up.
A small mirror was hanging over the sink, and she looked at the thick layer of dirt that coated her skin as she turned on the tap. It sputtered and complained, but the water did run clear, and she scrubbed away the dirt as best she could. She focused on her reflection and felt powerful for the first time.
All these years, she’d still been that same scared little girl exactly as she’d been when she was sexually assaulted. Eleven years had passed, and yet, Daddy still controlled her. He’d done more damage to her mind than her body. He’d reached in and gripped the tendrils of fear from the beginning, so he’d still been controlling her body from the grave. Morry had pushed her to stand on the edge of a cliff of her own control and had encouraged her to jump and soar, but she’d been too terrified of what she’d find if she stepped off and let herself drop.
Wolf had given her the final push she’d needed and what she found was that she was a fuck load stronger than she’d thought. She’d allowed the world to hurt her for too long, but not anymore. She was going to take back what had been stolen from her, and she wasn’t going to let a dead man scare her. More importantly, she wouldn’t let her anxiety control her. There were going to be battles ahead. She was no fool. She knew she wasn’t suddenly cured of the scars, but she wasn’t afraid to face them either.
She was a new animal stepping out of the cage she’d confined herself to for too long, and the world was about to find out what that meant.
