Page 49 of A Touch of Frost
“Any last questions?” Frost asked.
I shook my head.
“None here.” Black Widow replied.
“Let’s go.”
“Oh yeah.” Black Widow chuckled. “Let’s go to war.”
I had no words on the drive toward our destination. It all became too real. Hopefully, we could get Paul out of there safely, then I’d have to face the music of my absence. I thought back to the day I left our parents’ place. Paul hadn’t been home, and my father was working my last nerve. His face had gotten red with the exertion of him yelling at me.
You’re useless!
You’re never going to amount to anything, and your mother and I aren’t going to support your little trip into the gutter.
Your brother—
My anger runneth over.
I picked up his laptop, slammed it shut and sent it hurling across the room and into a glass case holding all his Paul’s many awards and accolades. I couldn’t control my breathing but didn’t say anything after that.
The glass shattered into a million little pieces and all I did was lifted my chin and stormed from the office. I went to my room, gathered just what I needed into a backpack and then made my way down the stairs again.
By then, my father had pulled it together to start his tirade again.
“You know what? You don’t have to raise your blood pressure anymore. I’m out.”I’d interrupted. I could see the veins at the side of his head pulsing so hard, I was sure they would rupture.
Our mother entered the space in time to hear what I was saying and grabbed my arm. I shrugged from her and exited the house, leaving everything behind. My mother called after me, begging me not to leave.
My father on the other hand, had another message to give me.
You leave this property, you don’t come back! You’re dead to me, you hear?
I was sure he thought that would shock me, that the threat of never being able to return would scare me enough to stay and put up with the madness. But I knew I was dead to him the day I turned fifteen and he got me nothing. When my mother asked why he hadn’t, my father told her I was no longer a child.
He was dead to me then.
“You okay?” Frost asked.
“Not really.” I admitted. “But one crisis at a time.”
“Do you need a moment?” She asked.
“We don’t have time for that.” I told her. “Could you…”
She eased the car to a stop and turned to look at me. “What is it?”
“Could you kiss me?” I asked. “I feel like I’m splintering and I just—I don’t know if you want Widow to know that we’re—”
Frost drank my words into her mouth. I allowed myself to get lost in her kiss—as her tongue tangle around mine, her suction on my bottom lip. She kissed me until my world moved, my toes curled, and someone honked behind us.
Still, she kissed me again before refocusing on the drive.
Before arriving at Lover’s Folly, Frost pulled over to the side of the road. She sent a text message and we just seemed to sit there, waiting until Black Widow pulled up on the other side of the road and lingered.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked.
“Lizard.”
