Page 65 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
He wheeled the vehicle out onto the main paved road and looked around but didn’t see anything suspicious. Grabbing the phone from his pocket, he hit the speed dial on the screen.
“Hello?” His Dad’s groggy voice came through the line.
“Hey, Dad, it’s me. Sorry it’s so early, but I just wanted you to know that I’m heading out of town for a few days. Don’t mind the mess at the house. I’ll clean it up when I get home.”
The line was silent for a long time, but he could hear his Dad moving around.
“What’s going on, Waya?” he whispered into the phone.
Wolf wanted to tell him, but he wasn’t sure if his Dad’s phone was being tapped.
“What the hell?” his Dad suddenly said. “Waya, your…your house is on fire!”
Wolf rubbed his eyes and then balled his hand into a fist. Of course, they would want to eliminate all evidence that they were ever there. His home and all his things going up in smoke hurt.
“Dad, call the fire department. I’ll contact you when I’m back from out of town. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more. I love you and Mom.”
Wolf hung up, put the window down, and threw the phone out. He looked over at Maeve. “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”
She turned her eyes to his, and her gaze made him want to reach out and touch her. Not giving it a second thought, he cupped her cheek.
“It’s going to be okay.” Maeve laid her cheek into his hand.
“I’m good. I’m…” She sighed, and as he went to pull his hand away, she snatched and held it tight, linking their fingers together. “Please don’t pull away,” she said in a quiet tone.
Nodding, he didn’t fight it as the battle of right and wrong waged war in his mind.
“I’m sorry I ran. I’m sorry I took your truck. I’m sorry I hit you, and I’m sorry for the wild outburst, and I’m sorry if it’s my fault they found us and burnt your house down.” She covered her mouth to stifle a sob as she shook her head back and forth. “No, I’m not going to cry. I need to hold it together.”
“It’s not your fault Maeve. I promise you they were already on their way to come to get you. I’d just hoped we had a bit more time after everything.” He tightened his hold on her hand and wanted to bring it to his mouth to kiss. “I’m sorry too, I just… I need to keep you safe. That’s what is most important.”
“Why? Regardless of what you say, I could be the reason why your house is on fire. I didn’t cover my face at that gas station, and they had a camera, Wolf. I was screaming like I’d lost my mind. God, what have I done?”
“Breathe, Maeve. Trust me that you didn’t cause this, okay?”
“Tell me why you’re helping me? You barely know me, and you’re putting your neck out for me. Helping me could get you killed. They could take everything from you.”
He didn’t want to answer that question. It screamed a little too loudly that he cared more than he should. If he voiced his feelings, he didn’t know if he’d be able to walk back from them.
“I feel like this is partly my fault. I was the one that tracked you down. Maybe if I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have found you.” It was a lie, these men would’ve found her since she hadn’t been staying off the grid, but the other reason stayed locked in his throat.
“It’s definitely not your fault, Wolf, but I can honestly say I’ve never been locked in a horse stall before. That was a new experience.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, but you needed time to cool off and a safe place without anything to hurt yourself.”
“Is that what you thought I might do? Hurt myself?”
He looked at Maeve’s arms.
“You’ve done it before, and I didn’t want to keep chasing you down or hurt me.”
She followed his line of sight and shook her head.
“If you’d bothered to ask me how old those are, you’d know that I haven’t cut myself for three years. Haven’t even thought about it in two, and the last year I cut, I hated the fact that I did this to myself at all. I no longer got what I needed out of it.”
She looked away from his face and then back again.
“I killed the man that used to rape me as a child,” she said as if it were a normal follow-up sentence to this conversation. “I mean there was more than one, he’d invite his friends over, but I only killed him.”
