Page 36
Story: Ache For Her
Grandpa’s gaze narrowed. “But you were in on it.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Simon said, “But that’s not the case. Everything Delilah told you was the truth. I raped her. I beat her.”
I gritted my teeth. It just didn’t sound right coming from him. “He saved me,” I whispered. I totally believed that. I’d lived only a mirage of a real life, never knowing that my grandfather didn’t even care. It was just a shell, waiting to break. Simon had made the first crack, thankfully, awakening me to what was really going on. “I can live my life now.”
“Exactly,” Kayleigh said, “Which is why you need to put the gun down and let Simon handle this.”
My finger tensed over the trigger. Memories flicked by one-by-one while I saw them for what they really were. I never had good, quality time with my grandfather. He was standoffish. When I was younger, I excelled at trying to make him happy. None of it made a difference. By the time I was an older teenager, I must’ve realized that nothing I did mattered because I dropped all my extracurricular activities and filled my life with things that I thought made me happy. The shopping. The clothes. Showering myself with things that filled my life, but only on the exterior. My interior was still broken.
Simon pressed against my backside. His hand slid up my arm, past my elbow to the hand that held the gun. “Give me the gun, Delilah.”
“I could do it,” I said, tensing once more.
“I know,” he said. “And I don’t blame you for wanting to, but you know how much I wanted to kill him.”
I nodded. That was his intention through it all. He wanted justice for that little kid. What about justice for my little kid? The one who tried so hard to please someone who never cared? All the disappointment. All the feelings like I was never good enough rose to the surface. The gun wobbled in front of me and it took me a long time to realize that it was coming from me. Hard tremors shook my body.
Simon continued up my hand. He placed his finger over mine on the trigger. “This is for my mother, Greenie. Rot in hell.”
He pressed down, and the gun fired.
The crack of the bullet rang through my ears and I closed my eyes immediately, but not quickly enough to avoid the hole in my grandfather’s chest.
I turned away, wiggling my hand away from the gun. Simon let me, and I turned into Kayleigh who took me from the room. We passed through the familiar house and right out onto the lawn. “The boys will clean this up and then we can get out of here.”
“He didn’t love me.”
“I know,” Kayleigh said. “I’m so sorry, Delilah. Family should never be like that.”
“We killed him.”
Her jaw ticked, and a murderous look crossed over her face. “I know.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Maybe I should be pissed like Kayleigh, or maybe it was like Simon said. I was more like him. He wanted things his way. He had a set of rules all his own he expected people to comply with, but he wasn’t without heart. He wasn’t without feeling. And because of that, he was the exact opposite of my grandfather. One. a soulless creature, the other, a grandfather, and yet, they were the exact opposite of their logical descriptions.
I slid to the ground, and Kayleigh followed. I couldn’t help but feel that although I barely knew them, these vampires had been there for me more than my grandfather ever had.
That had to mean something.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Sixteen
Simon
I pulled out Jacob Greene’s will and snarled. Sure enough, the senile asshole hadn’t been joking. He hadn’t left Delilah a single cent. She wasn’t mentioned in the will at all.
“And they call us monsters,” Galen said from behind me.
Anger ripped through me. “We need to do something about this. It isn’t right.”
He set to work, calling in someone he used to know who was discreet. While we waited, Galen told me he was going to send Delilah and Kayleigh to a nearby hotel while we figured out what to do with the scene. When he came back a short while later, I looked up. “How is she?”
“Shook up,” Galen said. “When we figure all this out, we’ll bring her back over. We can make it seem like one of the other big drug runner families in the city raided them, hurting her and killing Greenie. Once my guy gets here, he’ll fix the will and then Delilah will be set to do whatever she wants.”
I nodded, trying to take it all in. “What about the bullet wound?”
“She’s in pain, but we probably can’t do anything about that right now. It has to still be open when the police get here.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Simon said, “But that’s not the case. Everything Delilah told you was the truth. I raped her. I beat her.”
I gritted my teeth. It just didn’t sound right coming from him. “He saved me,” I whispered. I totally believed that. I’d lived only a mirage of a real life, never knowing that my grandfather didn’t even care. It was just a shell, waiting to break. Simon had made the first crack, thankfully, awakening me to what was really going on. “I can live my life now.”
“Exactly,” Kayleigh said, “Which is why you need to put the gun down and let Simon handle this.”
My finger tensed over the trigger. Memories flicked by one-by-one while I saw them for what they really were. I never had good, quality time with my grandfather. He was standoffish. When I was younger, I excelled at trying to make him happy. None of it made a difference. By the time I was an older teenager, I must’ve realized that nothing I did mattered because I dropped all my extracurricular activities and filled my life with things that I thought made me happy. The shopping. The clothes. Showering myself with things that filled my life, but only on the exterior. My interior was still broken.
Simon pressed against my backside. His hand slid up my arm, past my elbow to the hand that held the gun. “Give me the gun, Delilah.”
“I could do it,” I said, tensing once more.
“I know,” he said. “And I don’t blame you for wanting to, but you know how much I wanted to kill him.”
I nodded. That was his intention through it all. He wanted justice for that little kid. What about justice for my little kid? The one who tried so hard to please someone who never cared? All the disappointment. All the feelings like I was never good enough rose to the surface. The gun wobbled in front of me and it took me a long time to realize that it was coming from me. Hard tremors shook my body.
Simon continued up my hand. He placed his finger over mine on the trigger. “This is for my mother, Greenie. Rot in hell.”
He pressed down, and the gun fired.
The crack of the bullet rang through my ears and I closed my eyes immediately, but not quickly enough to avoid the hole in my grandfather’s chest.
I turned away, wiggling my hand away from the gun. Simon let me, and I turned into Kayleigh who took me from the room. We passed through the familiar house and right out onto the lawn. “The boys will clean this up and then we can get out of here.”
“He didn’t love me.”
“I know,” Kayleigh said. “I’m so sorry, Delilah. Family should never be like that.”
“We killed him.”
Her jaw ticked, and a murderous look crossed over her face. “I know.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Maybe I should be pissed like Kayleigh, or maybe it was like Simon said. I was more like him. He wanted things his way. He had a set of rules all his own he expected people to comply with, but he wasn’t without heart. He wasn’t without feeling. And because of that, he was the exact opposite of my grandfather. One. a soulless creature, the other, a grandfather, and yet, they were the exact opposite of their logical descriptions.
I slid to the ground, and Kayleigh followed. I couldn’t help but feel that although I barely knew them, these vampires had been there for me more than my grandfather ever had.
That had to mean something.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Sixteen
Simon
I pulled out Jacob Greene’s will and snarled. Sure enough, the senile asshole hadn’t been joking. He hadn’t left Delilah a single cent. She wasn’t mentioned in the will at all.
“And they call us monsters,” Galen said from behind me.
Anger ripped through me. “We need to do something about this. It isn’t right.”
He set to work, calling in someone he used to know who was discreet. While we waited, Galen told me he was going to send Delilah and Kayleigh to a nearby hotel while we figured out what to do with the scene. When he came back a short while later, I looked up. “How is she?”
“Shook up,” Galen said. “When we figure all this out, we’ll bring her back over. We can make it seem like one of the other big drug runner families in the city raided them, hurting her and killing Greenie. Once my guy gets here, he’ll fix the will and then Delilah will be set to do whatever she wants.”
I nodded, trying to take it all in. “What about the bullet wound?”
“She’s in pain, but we probably can’t do anything about that right now. It has to still be open when the police get here.”