Page 1 of Tangled Threats on the Nomad Highway
Chapter One
Einstein stood immobile, muscles painfullylocked into unforgiving stillness while the first scattered dropsof rain patted at the dirt as if with tiny, wet hands. Each dropletraised minuscule clouds of dust that settled back to the surface inan obscuring skin, blurring and muddying pure, clear liquid untilit was spoiled, soiled.
Already he missed her.Lauren.
The weight of the golden oath on his lefthand was a binding promise he couldn’t set aside. He imagined hefelt the heated graze of her lips on the skin of his neck and frozeat the sensation, holding tight to the illusion for as long as hecould.
Every memory would fade with time, likephotographs too-long exposed to sunlight. Brilliant reality and thegleam from day-to-day life would overlay the stories in his minduntil only shadows remained.
Still. Forever he would miss her.
The slide of silken hair in his hand, theundulating glide of skin against skin. Sweet teasing touchesintended to rouse and rile, her brilliant smile owning hisreactions.No more.
Miss them.
The welcome heat and weight of his baby girlresting against his shoulder as he carried her to bed. A burdenhe’d never shirked or begrudged. The best part of his life hadjolted into being on the day Makayla had taken her firstbreath.
Never again.
“Ashes to ashes.” The words drifted throughthe air around him, as useless in this moment as his efforts tosave them had been. Forgettable and harmless, except that thesounds served to mark the beginning of the end of a journey.
My family. My girls.
“Dust to dust.” He didn’t lift his gaze fromthe mud rapidly developing underneath the soles of his boots.Watched as the dirt changed texture, becoming something innate toits nature, but an evolution nonetheless. He didn’t want to seewhat was in front of him. Didn’t need to see. She wasn’t there, notanymore.
All her vitality, the beauty she had carriedon her skin and in her heart, was gone forever. The love that hadstabilized him through the changes in their lives was alreadybecoming a fallible memory. The heart-stopping pureness of theirdaughter’s love and light—gone. Snuffed out in an instant by amurdering bastard.
Who’s gonna save me now?
Weight settled in the middle of his back, aheavy hand bearing down in the same sorrow that coated him. Thesteady pounding echoed the rhythm of his heart, closed fistthudding against his spine, centered over the patch that was theonly thing still holding him together. From nearby, he heard theonly word that could bring him back from the dark thoughts circlingthe edges of his mind.
“Brother.”
Chapter Two
Elbows propped on his knees, Jim Dancerleaned his face into his hands, fingertips digging and rubbingacross his forehead.
Today.
That’s what he’d told himself when he’drisen out of sleep midafternoon, head still pounding from theskinful of forgetfulness he’d sucked down last night—aiming, asalways, for oblivion. Today would be the day he’d change hiscurrent existence.
That was three hours ago, and the farthesthe’d gotten so far was perched at the edge of the mattress,surrounded by rumpled covers.
The paint colors were bright, and on thewall in front of him, a large sticker of a cartoon figure waspeeling, the top edge folded over itself. He couldn’t stay put. Heneeded to get up and take a piss, maybe find something nutritiousto put in his belly for a change. Only now that it was time to makea decision, it was looking like maybe tomorrow would be a betterfit for a shift in trajectory.
Today was too hard.
Eight months not long enough.
Pounding echoed through the house. He shovedup from the side of the tiny toddler mattress to stalk towards thekitchen door, not bothering to pull on pants or a shirt, becausewhoever this was, they wouldn’t give a rat’s ass what he wore ordidn’t wear.
Stumbling over an empty pizza box, he kickedit out of the kitchen doorway and was shocked to see the table andchairs upended, thrown around the space like a child’s blocks. Loudknocks clashing with his headache, he struggled to pull a chair outof the way of the door, then thumbed the lock, unfastening the boltat the same time he turned around, giving his back to the manwalking through the door behind him.
“Jesus, Einstein. What the fuck happenedhere?”
Flinging a hand up to hopefully silence hisfriend, he responded with, “Don’t know, don’t care,” beforedisappearing into the bathroom. Accessible from the hallway, italso joined the main bedroom. Blocking the thought from advancing,he ignored the prickles across his skin. That was a space heavoided at all costs. Einstein gritted his teeth and tried to shovethe door closed against the wad of dirty towels jammed in the way.He gave up with a grunt and took another step into the room,downturned gaze registering the state of the sink.Lauren’d beso mad.Toothpaste, whiskers, blood—the scum was caked on sothick he thought he could peel it off like a leathery skin.
Then his traitorous gaze wandered just alittle away from the sink, and every muscle locked in place. Apink, barely used toothbrush stood next to his in a dusty jar.Twins sharing a container, just as its predecessors had, symbolicof his and Lauren’s marriage. Only this one hadn’t moved in months.She was never coming back.
