Voracious (The Edge of Darkness, #2)

by Leigh Rivers

I knew that version of Kade was in love with me. I could see it in his eyes. I’m not sure I’ll ever see that side of him again.

She’s like my own sunrise. Beautiful. Perfect. She fills a part of me that’s been empty and dark for as long as I can remember.

I once drew what I assumed our daughter would look like – my most prized possession.

I’ve fallen in love with Stacey Rhodes.

Somehow, I fall asleep, and if I had to give up everything in the world for this, I would. I’d give it all up for Stacey.

Kade is watching me – I can feel the heat of his gaze on me.

A silent pleading – I can feel it. That’s why she put this song on. It’s the same one she told me to listen to when we were younger to describe how she felt about me. I know every lyric by heart. She knows I’m here – she wants me to save her.

I stare at her – the beauty of her – and release her hand.

I want to be the one caring for her.

The Stacey Rhodes Effect.

My heart explodes in my chest as I lower my head, pressing a tender, loving kiss to her mouth. “Are you going to be my forever, Freckles?”

That girl in my bed is everything to me.

I never wanted to say those words to Stacey. I wanted to tell her that I’ve already broken rule five. That she can have every fractured shard of my heart, if only she knows how to fix it back together – but I’m an asshole, and I broke her heart instead.

I keep reminding myself that I’m doing all of this to protect her. Because not only is she my weakness, but she’s also my strength – my main reason for continuing, the air to my fucking lungs.

It seems she has no idea how much I’m obsessed with her. Not just with her looks, but her heart, her fucking soul.

We’ll get through this. We’ll survive this grief. We’ll make our angel proud of us.

“You. Always. You’re mine, and I’m yours.”

If I die, at least I’ll get to be with my angel.

I always think of her. She’s the only memory in my head that’s holding me in place. My anchor.

For the next two years, I die a little more each day, until the version of Kade Mitchell I want to be turns into a ghost. My soul is shattered and broken, and I lose all the pieces, unable to glue it back together.

He reminded me of what it felt like to be alive.

The father I always wanted, needed and will keep forever, regardless of my position with his son.

“Are you going to be my forever, Freckles?” What is forever if it’s not with him?