Page 31 of Burning Demons (Burning Torments #1)

Chapter 31

Tate

I hadn’t gotten very far with the list of amends that needed to be made. Mostly, I watched my phone for something from Wren. Winnie had returned without him and said he’d be home soon. I wasn’t sure my leaving with Franklin would’ve gone better if he had arrived before Wren. I might not have had the same resolve to get Franklin away from my family had Wren not been seconds from ripping his head off.

Wren didn’t need an enemy like Franklin. And Franklin didn’t need a chance to poison those that I’d come to care for so deeply. However, with every mile farther from home, the more this great idea seemed more like a very, very bad one. Was I strong enough to do this alone? I needed to be, I knew that, but was I?

Franklin had made one phone call before we made it out of Hickory Bend, and then he relayed his plans of having someone collect my things from Dad’s house and of flying back to New York with me tomorrow. I wasn’t leaving this state with him, but I didn’t bother correcting him yet. The more distance between him and Wren, Dad, and Winnie, the better. So ultimately, I didn’t care where the end of this road was, but it would end, of that I was certain.

“Tate.”

My stomach churned dangerously at the deep timbre. Memories of that voice coaxing me into things and demanding others threatened to take me under.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for months. I’ve had to hear about you from everyone but you. Very frustrating.”

I shut my eyes tightly.

“Your injuries aren’t too severe. Have you spoken with an attorney?”

I didn’t answer.

“Tate—”

“Don’t. I don’t need you to pretend as if you care.”

“You know I care. I’ve always cared about you.”

I hated how he kept his tone so even, so unfazed by anything.

“Yeah.” I couldn’t deny that, no matter how much I wanted to. The sick fuck had cared. “So you were having me followed? Spying on me?” Why? Do you like that? a voice asked in my head, and I shivered.

“I let you live out this defiance, but don’t think I haven’t known where you were at all times. I knew you had gone to your father before you landed in Alabama. The principal at your school kept me apprised of many things, but I had other ways.”

So he probably knew of the suspension before it officially happened. He had flown here to get me the moment I was getting punished. A younger me, a na?ve me, would see that as love, as devotion.

“Tate.” This time, with my name came a proprietary hand on my upper thigh.

Hot saliva flooded my mouth as my stomach boiled dangerously.

“Stop.” I shoved his hand away, then said, “Stop the car. Stop.”

When he didn’t immediately slow, I yanked at the door handle.

“Christ, Tate. Wait.” Franklin jerked us off the highway and into a parking lot of a small strip mall. I had no clue where we were.

I fumbled for the door as soon as it unlocked and all but fell out, crawling forward on my hands and knees, and heaved. Nothing much came out, but my ribs ached instantly.

Franklin rounded the car, then stopped near the trunk. He hated sickness. So at least in this, I had a few moments alone to regroup. Finally, I sat back on my heels, wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand, and gulped down cold air to clear my head.

I didn’t want to do this. I wanted to run away again and keep avoiding him.

Percy flashed in my mind. All that bravery wrapped in a tiny package inspired parts of this. But what really kept me moving onward was an image of Franklin putting his hands on Percy. It came out of nowhere. With me gone, had he been preying on some other kid? Was there a broken boy out there right now, crying into his pillow, trying to figure out what happened, why it happened, and how to get through it?

“Tate.” My name from his lips made me cringe. “Come here.”

I stood, brushed off my knees, then shuffled forward on autopilot, letting muscle memory surrender to his command. Franklin stood in a fine suit, chin high and an impervious expression in place. The cords of his neck flexed, and I was drawn into the familiar. My mind darkened at the edges, ready to give in, to give up and let him take control.

“I’m pleased to find you whole in spite of your time down here,” he said with a slow, deep voice. “Are you with me, Tate?”

No . Snap out of it .

“Come here, little darling. I need you. I’ve missed you so much.”

His words, no longer smooth and persuading, screeched into my ear and broke me out of the hypnotic spiral.

“Stop it.” I took a step back, regaining some of the distance I had easily given up.

This wasn’t going as I expected. No, this was going exactly how he wanted it. But even knowing that couldn’t calm me down. Knowing he wanted me emotional and confused about why I was doing any of this so he could control me didn’t seem to stop me from falling right into it.

No, I had to get this out. I had things I wanted to say to him, to shout at him. And the side of the road in the parking lot of some sort of discount store was as good a place as any.

Fluorescent lights hummed from the corners and were spaced through the middle of the lot. Various logos lit up windows, and the lighted signs beamed from over storefront doors. It wasn’t Macy’s the day after Thanksgiving, but there were enough witnesses here and there as they went about their shopping.

“You took from me, Franklin.” I had wanted to yell it, but the words barely came out at all. I darted my gaze around us, then forced my eyes back to him. “That’s all you ever did. You took and took until there was nothing left of me.”

“You wanted what happened between us as much as I did. I cared for you, gave you everything you could possibly want. You can’t deny that.”

Had he? Had I? He had cared. Maybe not in the way society would accept, but he had cared about me, right? All I wanted was someone to love me. I wanted a family when Mother never gave me one. I wanted someone to listen to me, to treasure me, and he had, hadn’t he?

My legs gave out, and I gripped the roof of the car. Words came from a deep well, a pit where I fought for air, for sunlight. “You didn’t love me,” I whispered.

“Of course I love you. Everything I’ve done since the moment I met you, has been from a place of love.”

“Everything?” Why did I ask? Why did I care?

“Everything, Tate. Marrying your mother was a means to get what I wanted. She knew from the onset.” He snorted. “She only wanted my social standing, and I only wanted you. It worked for us.”

Worked ? “It fucking worked?”

Franklin lifted a brow.

“I was a kid,” I accused. “How could you do that to a kid?”

“You were old enough. Don’t pretend I wasn’t fourteen once. I know what young men think of, how they act, what they desire.”

I shook my head. “No. No, you can’t defend yourself by claiming everyone is the same. You, you manipulated the situation. You preyed on my weaknesses. I wanted a parent, not a predator.”

Franklin laughed, sending chills across my back. “The South has made you so dramatic. You wanted us to happen, Tate, plain as that. I saw it in your eyes and in your desperate hugs.”

“No. I-I never wanted any of it. It wasn’t like that. I didn’t—”

“Yes, you did,” he said. “You may not have realized it then. As the adult in our relationship, I had to show you.”

Tears of rage burned my eyes and throat. “We didn’t have a relationship.”

“What would you call it, then?” He stepped closer. Just one step, as if he knew I was about to run. “You clung to me and I to you. I cared for you and showed you how to love.”

No. I shut my eyes tightly. No, this wasn’t …

“Tate,” he said against my skin and curled his hands around my arms. “I’ve missed you.” He kissed my neck.

“Don’t.”

“Hmm? Don’t stop?”

I flinched and stepped away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Tate.”

“I’m not yours, Franklin. Don’t you see?” Because at last, I did. I saw the truth in sharp contrast. The differences between standing here, alone with him, versus being alone with Wren. How had I been so blind? How had the rightness of it not smacked me in the face? The glow of Wren’s soul lifted me when all Franklin’s did was bind me, force me, control me, smother me.

“Then why did I come for you?” For every step closer he took, I retreated one. “Why are you here?”

“To get you away from my family.” The ones who loved me and didn’t make me feel guilty. The family I chose because I wrote my destiny this time. “I needed to speak with you in private but only to say I’m not leaving with you. I want you to leave tomorrow, but I won’t go with you. This is over, and I never want you near my family again.”

“You’re acting out. Being difficult. The South has changed you, and not in a good way.” He took a huge step before I was ready and cupped my neck in the suffocating heat of his palms. “You will come home, and we will forget all about this little episode.”

“You’re not listening.” I jerked out of his hold once again.

“I am, but you’re starting to abuse my patience.”

“Abuse?” I laughed a bitter sound. “Abuse? How can you even say that word with a straight face?” I laughed again. “Just go, then. Take your abused patience and fuck right off to New York with that shit.”

Franklin exhaled slowly with a stiff frown betraying his normally calm demeanor.

I held up my hands to keep distance between us. “Look, I’m not leaving with you,” I said again. “I’m not. And you can deny that all you want, even as you get on the plane by yourself, but it’s not happening. This is over. Whatever this was. Don’t text me or call or interfere in my life.” I licked my shivering lips. “I’m done. That was all I wanted to say.” I turned to leave him there, to head toward one of the stores, to a crowd, and call for a ride home.

“Tate,” he growled behind me, and I was jerked back against his chest. He turned us surprisingly fast so that we faced the darkened street. One arm he had clamped around my chest, restricting my breathing, and with the other, he wrapped his hand around my throat.

“You think I’m going to let you leave?” He shook me. “Hmm? You think I’m going to let you loose when you could tell the world about what we shared?”

His hand tightened around my throat until stars swam in my vision.

“Think again,” he hissed. “Catherine and I made a deal. I put up with her shit, and I get you.”

“No. Let me go,” I said as I wiggled to free myself. His firm hold didn’t offer me much room, but it was enough to move an inch.

A high-pitched whistle pierced the growing darkness, and then a deep voice shouted, “You alright, pretty boy?”

The unexpected was a surprise to both of us, and I managed to break out of Franklin’s arms. I spun, coughed, and slammed heavily against the car.

“Mind your own business,” Franklin said as I gasped for air.

“I wasn’t talkin’ to you, Mr. Fancy Pants.”

Finally, I managed to lift my head just as Joey from that fucking horror house of pigs stepped under a light one car space over.

I smiled and waved, each action equally as weak. “Hey, Joey.”

“Sam’s kid, right?” When I nodded, he added, “Thought so. Everything okay?” He glanced from me to Franklin, who was composed once more.

“Yes, yeah, we’re good,” I said.

Joey narrowed his eyes at Franklin, but to me he said, “I’ll be over at my truck, loadin’ some shit. Holler if you need me.”

Keeping one eye on Franklin in case he tried to step closer again, I made certain I knew where Joey was parked. He kept an eye on us too.

“So that was your great plan?” I asked Franklin, voice a little rough. “You want to add assault and kidnapping to all the shit you’ve pulled?”

“Tate, I—”

“Stay back,” I barked when he made a move.

Franklin stopped and lifted one hand. He glanced around, noting Joey keeping an interested eye our way, then lowered his voice. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. Are you okay?”

I coughed on a disgusted laugh. “I’m not yours to worry over, Franklin.”

“No matter if you walk out on this, I won’t stop loving you or caring about you. Maybe you can change your mind about us, but I won’t.”

I didn’t bother to correct him. I didn’t bother to tell him I had never been given the choice over my mind the first time.

“I believe you,” I said. “In your mind, maybe in your heart too, I believe you love me.” I squared off my shoulders and added, “And I hope you believe me. I don’t love you, Franklin. You’ll forever be a part of me because we can’t undo the past, but you’re not a part of my future.”

Franklin kept his eyes fixed on mine. No blinking, no emotion, just blank.

“I’m not after anything, Franklin. There is no angle here. I just want you and Mother out of my life. Forever.”

“Tate.”

“No.” I shook my head and backed away from the car, away from him. There was nothing left to be said. There was nothing left to discuss. “Goodbye.”

He never moved, and when I was nearly halfway to Joey, I turned and raced to the burly Bubba.

“You good, man?” he asked when I grabbed one of many bags from a cart and loaded it into the back of his truck.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna be okay.”

My hands trembled so much I dropped one of the bags. Joey didn’t comment.

When we had everything loaded, Joey tossed a glance over his shoulder. “He gonna stand there all night, you think?”

I glanced around him, but I didn’t care, so I only said, “Thanks for earlier.”

Joey shrugged. “Sam’s a good man. Way I figure it, so’re you. You need a ride?”

The offer was unexpected, and a hysterical laugh bubbled out of me. “God, yes, please. I don’t even know where the fuck I am.”

He snickered, then nodded toward the cab of the truck. “Get in. I’ll take you home.”

Home.

Franklin got into his car as Joey drove off, but when we made a left out of the parking lot, Franklin turned right. I took a deep breath as I nodded to myself. Sweet, clean air rushed into my lungs. A slow smile spread through to my limbs. The heavy layers of pain floated away until all I knew was one word that kept echoing in my mind.

Wren .