Page 31

Not the beginning.

Here I found a family. One I loved dearly. Brothers and sisters that accepted me for who I was and what I had endured. Family who didn’t expect more than I was willing to give.

Looking around the room, I couldn’t help but smile as I watched Cash and Rachel cuddled on the couch. She hadn’t been feeling well lately but she insisted she was fine. Just a few headaches.

Blade and Beck were standing across the room. His arms around Beck, his hands rubbing her growing belly as they talked with Ace and Lily. Lily’s parents sat not far away at a table with Banshee and Tank.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were on the couch with Chrissy, Tabby, and Charlie. The girls were excited to ring in the new year with their special grownup glasses filled with sparkling cider. While Sam and Jack had disappeared upstairs an hour ago, but I don’t think anyone noticed.

Ellie was trying to hide her yawn as she sat on Ryder’s lap while he talked to King, about what, who knows. Brothers and the other club girls like me were spread out around the room.

The sheriff and Maureen were making out like teenagers after she realized how excited he was when she told him she was pregnant.

She was mad as hell when she stormed in and shared the news with the entire room. Shared wasn’t quite the right word. Screamed was more accurate. I understood her wariness. They both had grown daughters already. One of which would give birth to their child’s nephew, making him older than the sheriff’s child.

I didn’t know if I wanted children. Hell, I didn’t know if I could have children. My father had made sure I never got pregnant. But living on the streets, birth control wasn’t a priority.

Survival was.

When Dan took me in, he never offered it. And I never asked. I also never got pregnant. And when I ended up in the cell below the earth. Well, I never got pregnant then either. So, who knows.

Maybe it just wasn’t in the cards.

I was happy for Maureen though. Once the shock wore off, it was clear she was excited about the baby.

Grace was here. And so was Jessie, Ellie’s friend. I liked Jessie. She didn’t mince words. She didn’t care if people liked her. She was confident in who she was, and propriety be damned.

Grace was the same way. They might both be younger than me, but I wanted to be them when I grew up.

The only one who wasn’t here tonight was Romeo. He was in Virginia. One of his cousins had gotten married, and he said if he wasn’t there, his mama would come up here and drag his ass back. And probably everybody else here with him.

I had a special place in my heart for Romeo.

He was my first.

The first man I willingly had sex with.

When King set this chapter up, they had a party and invited anyone who wanted to show up. I had been living in Diamond Creek for a little while after traveling all over when I left Chicago.

I was tired of running.

Seeing the 1% patch, I knew what it meant. I had once again found myself among the depraved. The dregs of society. Men who saw women as nothing more than a hole to fuck.

This time I was ready. I was done with my time on Earth. I wanted to drink until I couldn’t feel anything, then let the men do what they wanted. I would have enough liquid courage to mouth off until they lost their tempers. I knew which buttons to push on a man to make them blow, in more ways than one. I had done it for years. I figured it wouldn’t take much for one of them to kill me.

Only that didn’t happen. I’d found the one freaking club that had respect for women. Instead, I made a choice to have sex that night. For the first time in my life, I had sex because I wanted to.

With Romeo.

And I enjoyed it.

Boy, did I enjoy it.

It was only that once though. Once I decided to stay, I changed the rules. Romeo might only be a year or two older than me but if I was going to live this life, I would never be with someone older again.

I would be the one in control. I would make the rules and force others to abide by them. It limited who I slept with, but I was ok with that.

Because it was my choice.