Chapter 1
Chapter One
Cat
I miss the way he made me feel special. I may never feel that way again. -Cat
Five years later
I watch as my dad makes a deal with the devil. He shakes hands with the sheriff, gives him a pat on the back, and a murder is covered up in a good “ole boy” fashioned kind of way.
I knew Daddy hated Carl LeCroy, but I never thought he would kill him.
Call me na?ve, but I never thought he would kill anyone.
The building inspector was always in his way.
I’d heard him rant and rave more times than I could count about the stops he put on the construction of multiple projects for him.
And then I listen to him give me away. He talks about it lightly, like it won’t make a difference that he’s going to make me marry someone I don’t love.
I’m going to marry the Sheriff’s son, Jefferson, in a month.
I hate Jeff, to put it mildly. He slicks back his dark hair and walks with a swagger like he’s God’s gift to women.
He isn’t. He’s a dick. And he probably has a tiny one.
I hate the way he treats me like I have no brain, like I’m just there to be patted on the head occasionally like a good little pet.
If I marry him…I shudder. If I marry him, I’ll never have freedom. Never have a taste of it.
Just like that, my fate is decided. The two men shake hands on it like I have no say in the decision. They even discuss the plans for the wedding.
I feel sick to my stomach. So fuckin’ sick that I do my best not to throw up in that office closet where I hide. I can just see them through the small slit of the barely open door. I shrink back into the corner when I see them about to walk my way.
I heave a sigh of relief when the office door closes behind them.
I sit there for a long time, panic making my stomach roll repeatedly. I take deep breaths, hoping to quash this overwhelming feeling of anxiety.
“You’ve got this, Cat,” I say to myself. “They can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. They can’t.”
Oh, but they can. I know they can. I’ve seen the things that my dad can make people do with just a smirk upon his lips and a few words. He’s got power. More power than the law, obviously, and definitely more power than a Southern debutante with no college education.
I can see it all now. My Mama, in a fancy gown, oohing and aahing over me in some princess wedding gown I would never in my right mind pick.
Me crying on the inside but trying to smile on the outside.
Me trying to appease the two people who are supposed to love me more than anyone else in the world but have never loved me at all.
One tear streaks down my cheek. Only one person ever loved me. At least I thought he did.
Memories of Tor flit across my mind. God, I loved that boy. Loved him so damn much. And he…well, he just disappeared.
I’ve never known why he didn’t show up to my room that night, why the next day his dad was so tight-lipped about where he had gone, and why he never, ever came back to see me.
But I do know where he is now. I begged his father until he finally gave up the information. My tears were what finally did him in.
I know Tor is a member of some club called the Silver Snakes. And I know he’s only four hours away.
I straighten my shoulders and hastily wipe the tear away. Tor may not love me the way I love him, but he could never turn me away. He will protect me. He has to.
That night, on a Friday night in July, I decide to run. I decide to leave everything that I know behind and take a chance that my childhood friend will want to see me again. No matter how much he hurt my heart, I have to take the chance.
Because the alternative… I take a look towards the closed door where my Daddy left with the Sheriff, the alternative is hell on Earth.