Imagine you are given two choices. Choice #1 gives you a stable life with little to no uncertainties. You can have a comfortable existence but you may never experience the thrill of falling in love or the satisfaction of taking that leap into the unknown. Choice #2 gives you all the thrills and all the satisfaction but you also have the possibility of heartbreak and failures along the way. Which would you choose? For Aurora Butler, this is the exact crossroads she has come to as she starts her Senior Year at a new school. Her head is telling her one thing but after meeting Owen Marshall, her heart is telling her something entirely different. Choices are made even more difficult as responsibilities take a toll on her and she realizes some choices requires sacrifices she just isn't able to make. Just when she thinks she has it all figured out, bodies of young women who look eerily similar to her start showing up as the town realizes there is a serial killer walking among them, one who has particular tastes when it comes to his next victim. Will Aurora's instincts lead to the right choices or will her choices have deadly consequences? Can she survive to have it all or will she lose everything in the end?
View MorePROLOGUE
My hands trembled as I searched for the phone. I knew it had to be around here somewhere. She was never without it, always within reach, waiting for that next call. The call that would lead to either the next big hit or the means to an end. My hands felt blindly, frantically through the sheets. Not finding what I needed, in desperation, I ripped them from the bed. I breathed a sign of relief as I heard, no felt a thud on the floor next to me.
I was temporarily deaf. The pounding of my heart fueled the high amounts of adrenaline running through my veins, creating a dull roar in my head, an endless pulsing wave rolling back and forth, blocking out all other sounds around me. My heart beat was strong, albeit a little too loud and unnecessarily quick at the moment.
I scooped the phone off of the floor, my knees buckling as I flipped it over in my hands. Pain ricocheted through my legs as I hit the hardwood on impact, all strength leaving me as I collapsed to the ground. The screen glowed brightly in the dusky darkness of the room. Her background was a picture of me holding Nate, taken the day we had brought him home from the hospital. I became so immersed in the image that I lost all train of thought, feeling the numbness seep in as I stared at the screen, lost to everything else.
A single tear splashing against the glass shook me from my daze. I hurriedly swiped them away from my cheeks and dried the screen against my shirt. I could not show weakness, not now. That little boy needed me and I needed to do whatever necessary to keep him safe and keep us together.
I opened her contacts, fighting the angry flames of betrayal and the bile that rose in my throat as I scrolled past the many disgusting and perverse nicknames in her list of clients and otherwise. If the beer bellied swine on the police department in this godforsaken podunk town really cared about the drugs and the prostitution rings that resulted, confiscating her phone would be on the top of their list of priorities. They could take them all down in one fell swoop. But, of course, it would take an IQ higher than fifty or actually giving a damn about your job to begin with for that to happen so I knew better.
This town was just like all the rest. The police department was long ago bought and paid for by the highest bidder. All paid to look here, not there and don’t do anything to rock the boat. She was just another useless face, a snag in their otherwise picture perfect days. That arrogant prick in the living room would end his day most likely climbing on top of a woman just like her, hooked on the high the drugs promised and willing to sell anything and everything, including herself, to get that next fix.
I cursed as I scrolled, struggling to find the name I needed. Why couldn’t she have just been normal? That’s all I ever wanted. No riches, no luxuries. Just some semblance of normal in our lives. Thinking I could possibly go with “Paycheck”, I scrolled on further, just in case. Coming across “Sperm Donor”, I’m thankful that I did but scoff at her audacity and the pedestal she propped herself upon to think she was any better of a parent that he was in the short time I knew him. If he was “Sperm Donor” she was little more than “Birth Giver”.
I was the one that took care of that little boy since the moment he entered this world, making sure he was fed, clothed and bathed. Walking the floors with him when he was a colicky newborn. Making sure he was at every appointment he needed, including dragging her to the ones that ensured he had formula and everything else a baby needed to survive. Shoving cup after cup of thick, black coffee down her throat to sober her up enough to fake our way through whatever ring of fire the government agencies made us jump through to get the handouts and giveaways. All so Nate could be a happy little boy and never know the pain and heartache I have had to face.
Not that any of that would matter if I couldn’t manage to pull one more miracle out of thin air. The last sixteen months will be for nothing if he won’t take us in and play along. With that in mind, I stabbed at the contact number with a forceful finger and with baited breath and a still shaky hand, brought the phone up to my ear.
After just two rings, he answers.
“Dammit, Janet. I am not doing this with you today! I’m at work and I don’t have any more damn money to send you!”
“Janet’s dead,” is all I manage to croak out before my lower lip wobbles and the dam breaks.
After the longest pause, I hear him take a deep breath and roughly exhale again. “Rory?”
“Yeah.” I clench my eyes tightly shut, trying to stop the tears.
“Where are you?”
I told him where we were staying and heard him curse again. “That’s five hours away. It’ll be dark by the time I get there.”
“Okay, but you are coming, right?”
“Yeah, I’m coming. That’s my kid.”
“There’s one more thing, Phillip.”
“What’s that Aurora?”
“I told them you are my dad, too.”
Silence. Complete silence to the point that I pull the phone away just to make sure we have not been disconnected. He’s still there but he says nothing for what seems like forever.
“Fine. I’ll deal with it when I get there. Anything else I might need to know?”
“No.”
“Be packed and ready to leave. I have work in the morning.”
As soon as we got to school, Owen threw the console back and pulled me onto his lap to straddle him, kissing me with this need to show to me, prove to me that he wasn’t about to let me go. It was exactly what I needed to erase all of the doubts and fears from my mind. The kisses were not lust fueled but instead filled with emotion and this passionate demand, this critical insistence to deliver commanding reassurance of how he felt for me, how we felt for one another.My emotions overflowed until I couldn’t stop the tears that crept down my cheeks. Owen was safe enough for me to let my emotions break free. He pulled back to wipe them away as I gave him a bittersweet smile before collapsing against him, just needing to be as close to him as I could. I closed my eyes and just breathed in his cologne, relaxing against the masculine smell and the feel of his strong arms around my body.“You’re my girl, Gracie.” He whispered against my hair. “I’m not letting you go, come hell or high water.
The next morning, I did the best I could to get both Nate and I dressed and ready for school without making a lot of noise. Barb and John were both used to being up late and sleeping in so I didn’t want to take any chances of waking either one. Thankfully, our room was downstairs and their bedroom was upstairs so that made it a little easier to move around quietly without worrying about waking them.Owen texted to let me know he was on his way to get us. It was something I was so thankful for since he was literally having to drive out of his way to do this. I knew he didn’t mind but it was just another thought as to the reasons why I needed to get my own vehicle. I couldn’t rely on other people and there would be times that Owen wasn’t available so I needed to get a plan in motion as quickly as I could to secure transportation.Owen was in a good mood when he picked us up, scooping me up with a big hug and kiss in the driveway. Nate had seen us kiss and hug over the weekend but he sti
The bed was comfortable but nothing like the spoiling Nate and I had both received the last week at Marshall Manor. I knew it was totally unfair to keep comparing everything to our experience there but it was still fresh so it was so hard not to. Regardless of my snotty inward thoughts, I was forever grateful to Barb and John and just having a bed and a roof over my head right now was the biggest blessing.I had put Nate to bed around eighty-thirty and then told Barb I was going to head over to the apartment and work for a couple hours until I was ready for bed. She asked if I needed help but she was snuggled up with John on the couch so I told her no and to just text or holler at me if Nate woke up.Barb’s instructions had been pretty straightforward with all of the boxes. Go through them, take out anything that I wanted or could use in the apartment and then box up everything else for her to sort through. If she wanted it, she would box it up again for keeping in the new storage the
I remember this feeling all too well. This uneasiness, uncertainty. It’s like I can’t escape it. It follows me wherever I go, just lurking beneath the surface and out of reach. I even felt it that first night at Owen’s. The only reason it didn’t rage like a wildfire out of control was that I never fell under the scrutiny of his parents. It was still there, though. The feeling that made it easy to move from Phil’s house. That feeling of knowing it wasn’t my home, not really. I was just a guest. I was always just the guest.The feeling started not long after my grandmother passed away, when I first moved in with my mother. She was shacking up with this guy that she dated before she met Phil. He was a total jerk face and made sure he mentioned to my mother daily, in front of me, that he hated kids and he wasn’t anybody’s daddy. Not that I wanted him anywhere around me to begin with. The man made my skin crawl so I was never more thankful than I was when she left him and we moved out.Tha
Time does not stop and no matter how hard I willed it to at least slow down, it couldn’t do that either. In the blink of an eye, it was Sunday afternoon and we had just packed everything I brought with us into the Yukon and Owen was driving us over to Barb and John’s house for my move.I had spent time downstairs last night after getting Nate to sleep getting our clothes washed up so that everything I packed was clean and ready to go. Owen had came down with me and I actually taught him how to do laundry, something he said he would have to figure out next year while he was in college as he didn’t expect to be able to come home every weekend, regardless of where he chose to accept a scholarship.I had spoken with Barb already this morning and the plan was to first drop off what we had and then Barb would keep Nate with her while I went with Owen and John to load up the rest of my stuff. Barb said she had a bed and a dresser but anything else I wanted to bring to make the room mine, I n
The entire class erupted in applause and it took Mrs. Muncy a few minutes to get us all calmed back down, even though she was smiling herself. Who doesn’t love the idea of getting out of school or work early? Plus, this wasn’t just something that could be ignored. You had to have water to run a school from the bathrooms to the cafeteria and cooking to the water fountains.Owen glanced over at me with a huge grin and a wink. I loved that grin. I loved that wink. I loved that I could see the gears turning and he was already looking forward to more time together at his house this afternoon. I hope he remembered that Nate was part of those plans but I’m sure he did. He was just happy to have more time out of school with me. With practice also canceled, that meant we really wouldn’t have to leave once we got back in. I was so hoping to persuade him to go swimming because that pool had been calling to me since the moment I saw it while driving up that first night. Plus, the heat index was su
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