Chapter 11
COLTON
I’d had the day from hell.
Whose bright idea was it to drive eight long hours back to my hometown in my beat-up second-hand car? Oh, that’s right, mine.
I thought the drive would help clear my head, settle my nerves and prepare me for the Thanksgiving holiday ahead. But the disastrous ride had the opposite effect. Everything that could go wrong did, which completely fucked with the Zen energy I was aiming for.
First, I got a flat tire. Great, no big deal. Except Avery had borrowed my jack a couple of months back and conveniently forgot to return the damn thing. If that wasn’t bad enough, my phone coverage was out of range, I had 13 percent of battery left and I’d forgotten my portable charger.
Checking out my surroundings, dread soon took over as I realised how well and truly fucked I was, secluded and stranded on a back road with little to no traffic.
Fucking swell.
After I typed out a vicious text to my best friend which didn’t deliver, I had no choice but to wait.
An hour went by before a car appeared. However, my rescue didn’t quite go as planned.
Maybe it was the way I was flailing my arms, or the desperate yelling that gave off lunatic vibes, but as the vehicle slowed, I noticed a lone female in the driver’s seat… She didn’t stop. Instead, she sped up.
Deflated, I stared after my retreating saviour and slumped back against the hood.
I didn’t even blame her—a barren road, a strange male asking for assistance, with no protection or witnesses in sight. Hell, I probably wouldn’t stop either. But damn it, I needed help!
After that failed attempt, my thoughts swayed to William and how he’d be waiting. I’d been conflicted for months, ever since Eloise Tems walked into that diner and dropped all her past regrets onto me.
We had remained in contact since that initial meeting. Nothing substantial or deep, but the connection was there. Which only left me further confused.
I didn’t want to betray my mother’s memory by associating with someone she had clearly cut out of her life when she was alive. I also had a lot to consider regarding my newfound inheritance and the upcoming appointment I’d organised with the Tems’ family lawyer.
My recent life had turned into an overload of intel that I had no idea what to do with or how to sift through. I was disoriented, which in turn had me contemplating who I could turn to at such a time.
I needed my dad; the old version, the one I admired, looked up to and loved. Familiar resentment and loss speared through me as I tried to reconcile what I had been battling with for months… I missed him. Point-blank.
So, when he reached out about Thanksgiving, with the promise of sharing Mum’s favourite dessert, yeah, I folded. Fucking sue me.
Knowing I was going to be extremely late, I snapped a photo of my useless car and the isolated road, then pressed send to my father’s contact, realising too late that the images wouldn’t be received.
Three and a half hours later, I pulled into the local gas station, fiending for a drink. Once parked, I made my way into the store and swiped up a basket.
Well, I’d definitely missed our late lunch date, the clock striking nine as I roamed the sparse aisles.
Everything in town was closed, shutting early for the holiday—including the bakery that housed the cake Mum loved.
Light disappointment sparked, but I didn’t let it take root, vowing to pick one up tomorrow instead.
As a substitute, I filled the basket with her favourite junk food, a nostalgic smile coating my face at the cherished memories. On the way out, I added an external charger to the bill, plugging in my device as soon as I returned to the car.
I was ten minutes out from my childhood home, and although I housed some underlying anxiety, I was ultimately relieved to finally reach my destination.
But that relief soon transitioned to self-preservation as my instincts ignited like a nuclear bomb, causing me to look closer and take heed.
I had felt it before, this bone-deep warning, and in the past, I had unintentionally ignored the signs—which inevitably resulted in me witnessing the worst moment imaginable.
I wasn’t so na?ve anymore, and now that I was prepared, everything snapped into focus quick sharp.
Nikita’s car sat in the driveway, and the lights were still illuminated within the house.
Is this a set up? A fucking intervention to force me into submission? Is this their way of confirming they are together? That they always have been?
I collected my phone, snuck around the side of the house and peered through the kitchen windows to gauge what those sneaky fuckers were trying to spring on me.
What I found was far worse than I’d imagined.
You think seeing my own father fuck someone else was bad?
That had nothing on returning to the crime scene over a year later and finding the two culprits in the same location.
Nikita and William stood on either side of the kitchen bench, fully clothed, laughing, enjoying, sharing my mother’s decadent chocolate cake.
The sight was blasphemous, utterly abhorrent.
Old noxious feelings churned in my gut, previous trauma mixing with the new. In no time, I was bent over, vomiting in the side garden.
After I was fully empty, all that was left was a singular, destructive fury.
Swiping to my camera, I took a photo of the joyful couple and opened the message thread to William’s unsaved number. The previous images of my broken-down vehicle had been delivered, and now I had one more to catalogue a truly atrocious day.
Once all evidence was sent, I raced back to my car, vowing never to return to that contaminated place ever again.
As I blasted the ignition, my gaze caught on the bag of candy in the passenger seat.
On a whim, I wound down the window and threw all the contents out on his front lawn, then pressed down on the accelerator, steering for the one place that could give me solace.