The Ripple Effect (Rhiannon's Law #3)(46)

The depth of emotion between Sonja and Baxter was too much. I wanted to be anywhere but here. It hit too f*cking close to home.

“I’ve missed you so much. I’ve had dreams about this very moment. Now that it’s finally here...” She fell into Baxter, weeping into his chest. “I don’t want to let you go.”

“I know.”

When Baxter’s eyes darted in my direction, I turned my head and stared at the wall. This was more than uncomfortable. It was unbearable. I knew how Sonja felt right now. Her heart would feel like an anchor, but her mind would keep screaming to wake up because it was all just a bad dream. When you don’t want to let someone go, or you don’t want to believe that they are gone, you’ll grasp onto something—anything—to convince yourself otherwise.

Their reunion was short-lived. I couldn’t see the beams from Heaven, or hear the voices and music that would cause a sinner to beg for forgiveness, but I knew Baxter could. It wasn’t long until he was no longer focused on the crying woman leaning against him but the space across the room.


Lowering his face to her hair, he whispered, “Walk with me.”


So that’s how it went. Sonja took his hand while holding onto mine and together we closed the distance to the place that would allow Baxter to rest in peace. Again, I turned away, wanting to give them a moment. My eyes caught the bloodstain on the floor, and I remembered how Disco had saved my life, unwilling to let me go. That reminder made me even more uncomfortable. The weeks after my attack he had pampered and cared for me as no one had since my parents had died. Those weeks were some of the happiest of my life. There was no fear, no anxiety, no worry of what came tomorrow. It was just the two of us, getting to know each other, spending night after night talking and teasing each other like any other couple.

I missed that so f*cking much.

I missed him.

Then, I heard Baxter whisper, “It’s so breathtaking, everything I hoped it would be. Thank you,” and I was back inside the room, listening to their goodbyes, caught in the shared moment I shouldn’t be a part of.

A soft sound and a whimper told me they were sharing a parting kiss, driving the phantom stake in my heart a little deeper. I didn’t want to think about Disco and what he’d done. I didn’t want to forgive and forget. He was someone who’d hurt me, broken my trust, and didn’t deserve a second chance. But deep down I knew if he persisted I’d eventually break. Seeing him all the time, remembering how good it used to be between us, would send me into arms.

I miss you.

I’m sorry.

All I want is another chance.

I’m asking for forgiveness, even if I don’t deserve it.

Call me, Rhiannon. Please.

How stupid I was, thinking I could keep him away, that my animosity would continue despite my love for the man. Disco was right. My stubbornness was the roadblock. I couldn’t teeter-totter on the fence. After all, neither of us knew how much time we had left. The future, no matter how much I wanted to change it, was never certain. Yet I had wasted the time, using my anger to keep him at an arm’s length, even though it wasn’t what I truly wanted.

“I love you,” Sonja whispered.

“I love you, too. So much.”

I felt like a lovelorn voyeur as I watched Baxter take a step with Sonja clinging to his hand, imagining myself and a certain vampire in their place. The image of the two of them was a permanent firebrand etched into my mind, making it a moment I would never forget. Their fingers slid against one another’s, until they held on by the tips, and then the physical contact was gone. Baxter walked to the wall, into the light we couldn’t see, and vanished. Sonja released my hand and fell to her knees, sobbing. What she didn’t know was that I was weeping right along with her, my tears invisible, my cries silent.

Done. It was finally done.

I had seen to a promise I made months before, but back then, the notion seemed idealistic. Help a man cross over to the other side, do a good deed, and feel happy about it for the rest of the day. Who wouldn’t want to save a lost soul? What I couldn’t possibly have known at the time—what I hadn’t even fathomed—was I wouldn’t be doing Baxter a favor at all. It was the other way around. When I helped him cross over, he’d returned the gesture full force, giving back a part of me that I thought was there but had been tossed aside, making me cold and bitter, detached from everyone and everything around me.

It wasn’t Baxter’s soul who needed saving.

It was my own.





Chapter Twelve



I was late by the time I made it to Disco’s—well over thirty minutes after the timeframe he’d given me. Although I was dead on my feet, I paid the cabbie and climbed out. The front door opened as I scurried up the stairs to the ginormous house. Goose appeared, and he didn’t look the least bit happy. I wanted to ask questions, or get a general idea of what I was up against, but the way he shook his head and narrowed his eyes told me to keep my mouth shut.

The door closed with a snick and I was just about to relax when I was literally thrown across the room. I hit the wall on the opposite side of the door, saw stars, and slid to a heap on the floor.

“Where is it?” Marius thundered, rushing over, eyes furious.

“Let me talk to her. Don’t do this.” I lifted my head and saw Disco striding toward me, distressed and worried. The family stood at his back, watching everything from the sidelines. I couldn’t tell if they were concerned or angry, not with Marius heading in my direction.