Page 62 of Fighting Shadows

“I love you too, Dad,” I say before leaving the house.

“Are you ok?” Noah asks me, eyeing me warily.

“I’m fine; I just had some heavy stuff today.”

Noah wraps his arm around my shoulder in an awkward hug as we walk before peeling away from me as we reach the car, “You’re stronger than you look, Strange Girl,” he says before jumping in his vehicle and practically tearing out of the driveway.

“He totally likes youuuu,” Dominic sings songs.

The others grumble, but none of them say much more on the matter. I close down that train of thought, refusing to go there.

I have my men, my amazingly devoted men; I don’t need another, do I?

Chapter 32

To my Chlo,

I showed him your grave today, and he didn’t hate me for everything you went through. He loves you nearly as much as I do, and he listened to every word I said about who you were.

He’s quickly becoming someone I care about. Dominic has all but adopted him into our group, determined that they are best friends, and Noah apparently is inclined to agree.

I wish you were here to see this, to get to know your brother like I did mine. His brother Aidan would have loved you also, even when you weren’t his blood, but that never really mattered when it came to you.

You made everyone love you, drawing them in with the light you carried in your heart, and I miss it. Some days, I need it more than others, and I feel like I’m lost without it.

The guys help, but now, after waking up in that hospital again, being told that Charlie assaulted me and not having memories of it, my mind has turned dark again, and this time, there’s no soft glow luring me back.

The guys try to keep me occupied. Dominic dumped all the knives from the house into Dad’s lake today.

It made my heart flutter in all the best ways.

I swear I smelled the shower gel I used to buy you the other day as I laid in bed, and the chains that held my grief to me for so long wrapped back around me like a long-lost friend, reminding me that I’m going to be spending the rest of my life without you.

I think I’m going to be lost for a bit longer, and maybe that’s ok.

I love you, Chlo.

Always, even when I’m a bit lost.

Love

Mama

X

Chapter 33

Atlas

‘Daydreams – We Three’

“Yes! They’re here!” Dominic exclaims when we get to the house.

A large box sits on the front step, and Dominic lifts it into his arms as if it weighs nothing, strides into the house, and dumps it onto the dining table unceremoniously.

“Is it the replacements for all of my knives you decided needed to be thrown out?” Zander grumbles, peering at the box curiously.

“It is!”

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