HIM

Jaxon Pierce

THE THIRD (ll)

~~~

What did I say about Hazel being my nightmare?

I thought I was rid of her. I thought I was on to better things like Jade, yet here she was, haunting me with the son I never wanted.

But I had never been held back by nightmares. If I was, Greg would still be alive. Mum would be on one of her trips.

If I was the type to be held back by what tried to get in my way, I wouldn’t have taken a sizable chunk of my savings and gone back to the town it all started.

The town Mum died in.

The town Hazel thrived in.

I took two weeks off work, knowing I’d need them, and every person in my workplace was eager to give it to me.

“You work too hard.”

“You deserve this, Jaxon.”

“We’ll still pay you for this leave, no worries.”

Fools.

Every last one of them.

It was only Adrian, his green eyes boring into my soul, who questioned me.

“Two weeks, for what?” he’d asked, putting on his glasses as if to see me clearer.

“I thought this system wasn’t a prison?” I half-joked.