Show Me the Way (Fight for Me #1)(27)

His thick throat bobbed. “You don’t know me, Rynna.”

“And that’s why I’m here. Because I want to.”

Regret seized his expression, and he peeled himself away, putting space between us. “I can’t.”

My spirit coiled in rejection, and those old insecurities flared. Vying for dominance. I drove them back, refusing their chains. “Because you’re afraid or because you don’t want me?”

Releasing a jolt of bitter laughter, he raked both hands over his face. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“You can tell me, Rex.”

He shook his head. “You should go home. It’s getting late.”

Disappointment gusted through me. Heavy and oppressive. “Maybe you’re just a coward.”

He flinched, and I turned away and pulled open the door. I started to step out when his voice hit me from behind.

“You know what it feels like to be left behind, Rynna?” There was a plea behind it.

I slowly turned back to look at him.

His hands were in his jean pockets, surrender on his face, begging me to grasp something he wouldn’t allow me to see.

I swallowed down everything I wanted to say and instead gave a slow nod of understanding.

Then I stepped out and quietly latched the door shut behind me.

The second I stepped outside, I was swamped with the clear memories of it. Because all too well, I knew the feeling of being left behind.

Rynna – Five Years Old



Cold gusts of wind whipped through the playground. Laughter floated on its wings from where groups of children ran through the fields, playing in their heavy winter coats.

My head was drooped between my shoulders, my hands close to freezing where I had them wrapped around the metal chains. The tips of my toes barely touched the scooped out dirt, and I dug them in, slowly rocking myself on the swing.

I glanced up as a group of girls raced by.

Laughing.

Giggling.

My chest felt funny and my tummy hurt.

I looked up when a shadow suddenly blocked the sun.

A smile wanted to climb to my mouth, but I didn’t know how to make it shine.

“Corinne Paisley,” my grandmother said so softly. She knelt down in front of me and covered my freezing hands.

“Gramma.”

“Why aren’t you playin’, child?”

“They don’t like me.”

She frowned. “What do you mean, they don’t like you? You got the invitation. That means the birthday girl wanted you here.”

I quieted my voice. “They said I’m too slow.”

My grandmother huffed. “Too slow? You’re the fastest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I shook my head and clung tighter to the chains. “No, Gramma.”

My grandmother brushed her knuckles down my cheek, hooked her index finger under my chin, and forced me to look in her knowing eyes. “Why do you say that?”

That feeling in my tummy was back. It hurt and made me feel like I might throw up. “I couldn’t catch her, Gramma. I couldn’t catch Mama. I ran so fast . . . but I couldn’t catch her.”

My grandmother stood and stretched out her hand. “Come on, child. Let’s go home.”





10





Rex





I jerked up to sitting. Darkness played against the walls, my bedroom lit with the faintest hue of the moon streaming in through the crack in the curtains. I blinked away the edge of sleep I’d been riding, shaking off the nightmare that drenched my skin with sweat, glancing at the clock that told me it was just passed three a.m. on Monday morning.

This time . . . this time, it wasn’t the dream that’d pulled me from sleep.

I tilted my head and focused on the faint sound that seeped into my room.

Crying.

That was all it took for me to throw back my covers and jump to my feet. I flew out my door and through Frankie’s, skidding to a stop at the side of her bed.

She wasn’t fully awake, just tossing and whimpering in her shallow sleep.

“Shh . . . what’s wrong, Sweet Pea?” I urged, voice a whisper as I was reaching for her, brushing back the hair matted to her forehead.

A flash of terror jolted up my spine.

She was hot.

I pressed my palm against her forehead.

Her skin was sticky with sweat.

Shit. She was burning up.

She blinked, her eyes searching for me in the shadows. “I don’t feels good, Daddy.”

I scooped her into my arms, pressing a bunch of kisses to her temple like the action alone had the power to soothe away any discomfort she might feel. Fighting the panic that churned within me, I carried her into my room, flipped on the light switch, and headed straight for the attached bathroom, flipping that light on, too.

Frankie blinked against the brightness.

“Sorry, Sweet Pea,” I muttered, setting her on the counter but keeping one hand on her while I rifled through the medicine cabinet to find the thermometer. “What hurts?” I asked as I fumbled to get the plastic guard on the earpiece.

“Ev’ryfing.”

My hands were shaking, and it took me for fucking ever to get the damned thing snapped in place. I forced myself to slow, to be careful as I slipped it into her ear, my heart thundering in my chest as I waited the five seconds for it to beep.