Page 80 of A Midnight Romance
“It feels like a bad dream that I keep reliving.”
“This is all my fault,” she blurts.
“What? How are you to blame for what happened?”
“Because I left you at your front door alone so I could run off and get laid. Who does that?”
I rise to my feet and walk over to her. “Stevie, stop. It’s not your fault.”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s like Friend Code 101, and I did it to my sister!” Her voice strains. “What the fuck?”
“Stop.” I grab her hands in mine, forcing eye contact. “You walked me to my door. I got home safely. No one could have predicted I’d be abducted as I was walkinginto my house.”
She shakes her head in disagreement as a tear rolls down her cheek. “I should have been there with you.”
“And what would you have done?”
“Anything!”
I bite my lip, waiting for her to finish because I know she has to get this out. She’s grieving for me and blaming herself.
“I could have done something to stop it.”
“They drugged me. I felt a prick in the side of my neck,” I admit. The painful memory makes my stomach clench.
“Oh my god,” she gasps. Before I realize what’s happening, her arms are around me and she’s pulling me in for a hug. “I can’t believe you’ve had to deal with this alone.”
I haven’t been alone.
I think of River and how he sat outside my townhouse every night after he brought me home from the cabin and then he insisted on me moving into the manor—and now, providing me a clear path for vengeance. River is helping me get my voice back and my heart warms at the thought.
“I’m not alone. I haven’t been alone. River has been with me since the night he brought me home from the cabin.”
Stevie draws her head back, her hands on my shoulders, her eyes dart away from me implying there’s something else on her mind. “What did River’s cousin mean when he said they’re helping you avenge your attackers?”
This is the part of the conversation I’ve been dreading the most. How can I explain to Stevie that I watched a man die, and then soon after I took part in another man’s death? To only follow it up with the fact there are two more who still need to lose their lives before Sebastian, River, and I are finished?
I let out a weighted sigh, my stomach in knots. “This part you may want to sit down for.”
Stevie reluctantly releases me and shuffles over to the bed. Following close behind, I lower to sit next to her. With her eyes widened with fear, she remains silent while waiting for me to begin.
“River and Sebastian are tracking down each one of the men responsible.”
Stevie’s throat constricts with a hard swallow. “And what does it mean?”
“It means we are killing them.”
The blood drains from her face. “I’m sorry, what?”
“We are taking their lives, Stevie.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yes.”
“Like, you’re killing them? How?”
My fists ball together in my lap, moist with sweat. “I watched the first one, and River helped me shoot the second one.”
