Restitution (The Edge of Darkness, #3)

by Leigh Rivers

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re okay. You’re safe with me,” he says softly as he strokes my hair, letting me cry into his chest. “I found you, little one.”

“You are also my priority. I would have always hunted for you to the ends of the fucking earth, little one. I know you didn’t have the best relationship with your father, your brothers are useless pricks, and my son is shackled to a bitch on an insane power trip, but you have me.”

“Don’t cry any more tears because of them. You’ve got it all out. Dry your eyes and keep your chin up. They don’t deserve your tears.” He gives me a tight smile, which makes his dimple dent in. “No one does.”

If Stacey ever lets me hold her hand again, will she feel all the death I’ve caused?

My girl. Even when faced with the worst kind of horror, she fucking fought. I didn’t think it was possible to love her more than I already do, but I do.

Loved. Past tense. The way he says the word almost makes me flinch. We’ve been split up for three years now, and I don’t think I’ve ever stopped loving her. I don’t know how to not love her. Not a day goes by that I don’t despise myself for leaving her. We’d probably be married with kids by now.

“She was everything to me. I think she still is,” I say quietly, frowning to myself at how honest I’m being. Then I hate myself for saying think. “No, she is still everything to me.”

“I’ll fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness the next time I see her.”

“You die, I die,” he whispers. I can’t say it back.

Stacey Rhodes. My girl. My anchor that sank to the bottom of the ocean without me.

“I’ll leave your hearing, so I can tell you when I win her back, so you can hear her moaning my fucking name. When I marry her. When she births my fucking children. And guess what? I’ll have all of that. You won’t. Because Stacey Rhodes has been mine since the day I fucking met her.”

“Don’t be afraid of me, Freckles,” he calls, spitting out blood that’s leaked into his mouth. “This is for us.”

“But I was your first kiss too, so I was comfortable. You made those times I was in hell feel like heaven. I wanted to die so many times, wanted it all to end, but I had you, so it was worth it. Living was worth it. I trusted you with all my firsts, just like you trusted me.”

“You hate me,” he manages to say, his throat dry and rough. “You’re always going to hate me.” “I could never hate you, Kade.”

“I hate you, Chris. And if by some miracle you make it to heaven, I hope my mother kicks your ass. If not…” I lean forward to whisper in his ear as the gurgling stops. “I’ll see you in hell.”

presses his lips to her forehead. “I love you. Every broken part of me has loved you from the moment I met you.”

Even if that means taking a bullet for you… Jason kept his promise.

“I want your heart, every single fucking fragment that I’ve broken over the years. I have your past and your present, and I want to be a selfish asshole and have your future.”

Hide with me until reality slams through that door and takes me away from you.”