Page 72 of Worth the Ruin
“I thought you might.” He gives me a sad smile. “Anyway, I know that this whole thing—” he gestures between me and the dining room where Melody laughs so hard she snorts, “—can’t be easy given your position. Complicated seems like the understatement of the century.” I huff out a laugh. “But thank you for it. She’s happier than I’ve seen her in so damn long. If we can help with anything, just let us know.”
I nod and shake his outstretched hand. We head back into the dining room and find Mulligan wiping away tears from laughing so hard. Jonah arches a brow and Melody gets out of her chair and slides into my lap as soon as I sit, like we’ve been doing this for years. Mull tries to fill us in on whatever had started the laughfest, and I feel the tiny flames of hope spring to life in my chest that I’ve found a little family around this small dining table.
And then the second attempt on Melody’s life happens.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
MELODY
Word spreadsquicker than wildfire about our relationship. It’s only been a month or so, but every single person in Haven knows damn well that Traeger and I are together. Some people look at me in confusion, probably wondering if Austin is forcing me to be with him. Some people smile warmly, seemingly happy, or at least accepting. And there are plenty that look with downright hostility. I don’t know if they’re pissed that I slept my way to the top—in their opinion—or if they don’t think Austin deserves any kind of happiness. Probably a combination of both plus a host of other things.
But I couldn’t care less. I’ve jumped headlong into this thing with Austin, letting myself be completely all in. No walls. No fears. No hesitations. If there’s one thing we both know, it’s that life is too fucking short, especially in this world. Every heartbeat is a gift and we don’t want to waste a single one.
“There you go, much better!” I say, smiling and nodding encouragingly at Jenna. I’d volunteered to help train some new members of the security team out at The Farm. Jenna had asked if I could teach her how to throw knives because she’d heardrumors that I was really damn good at it and she thought it would be a handy skill to have. I’d agreed easily, wondering who had spread that particular rumor. Probably Wynn.
“Thanks,” Jenna says, smiling a little shyly, but there’s pride in her eyes when she glances back at the row of practice dummies—burlap sacks stuffed with straw to vaguely resemble a person and targets painted on their—across the field beside the barn where we’ve been practicing.
“Ok, this time, try releasing just a little bit later?—”
“Help!!” someone cries. Jenna and I both turn towards the sound, my hand flying to the pistol at my hip and Jenna tightening her grip on her knife. A man is sprinting towards us, looking panicked.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, stepping forward. I can’t remember his name, but I know I’ve seen him around The Farm before. Paul maybe?
“She fell,” he pants. “Out in the woods just past Field Eight.” He points over his shoulder to the trees in the near distance. “It must be an old storm cellar or something, but she fell through and I think she’s really hurt.” He’s frantic, eyes wild.
“Who fell?” I ask.
“Sarah,” he chokes out.
“Oh God,” Jenna gasps beside me. “That’s Terry’s daughter. She’s only ten.”
I’m already grabbing the guy—Preston?—by the shoulder and running towards the field and the trees beyond.
“Go get more help!” I call to Jenna over my shoulder. She nods and takes off in the opposite direction, back towards the big farm house.
“Hurry. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. She’s just a kid. I think she’s hurt, she wasn’t moving…”
“It’s ok, she’ll be alright.” I’m not really one to pray much these days, but I send one out into the universe all the same thatmy words aren’t complete and total bullshit.Not a kid. Come on, not a little girl…
We run across one of the field, trying not to trample whatever’s growing—I honestly can’t remember what Field Eight is set up for, though I know I’ve seen the list and map a handful of times—and through the trees lining the other side. My lungs are burning a bit by the time I see an old truck and a couple of other guys standing around a hole in the ground, splintered wood sticking up from the edges like jagged fingernails reaching out of the earth.
“There!” the guy pants.Fuck what is his name?“She fell through right there!”
I dash to the edge, barely sparing a glance at the other guys. I look down into the hole, bracing myself for what I might find, but…there’s nothing there.
Searing hot pain erupts through my skull, turning my vision to a blinding white for one terrible, intense heartbeat before everything goes dark.
“I don’t like this.”
The voice is male, low, and anxious. My head is throbbing, a burning pain still radiating through my entire skull, and something coats the left side of my face. Blood. My head is bowed, chin leaning on my chest, and I keep it that way, keeping my eyes closed as I take a few deep breaths through my nose and figure out what the fuck is going on. I clear my head, forcing the pain to quiet and take a back seat while I inventory everything I know:
I was attacked.
Reason? Unclear.
I’m in a chair. Wood. Like the kind you’d have at your kitchen table.
I’m not tied to the chair, but my hands are secured behind my back with no shit handcuffs.Where the hell had they gotten these things?The metal bites into my wrists.
