Page 2 of Journey To Sunrise (Protectors of Jasper Creek #6)

Chapter One

Chloe

I pushed up from my chair after sitting at my computer. My hand and back hurt. It didn’t make any sense. Why was it dark out? I’d just sat down to play a game of Candy Crush that morning. I would have played on my phone, but I kept forgetting to charge it.

I stumbled and grabbed the dining room chair for support. My leg had fallen asleep. I looked at the clock over the stove.

“Oh God.”

Ten hours had passed. If I hadn’t been thirsty, I would still be playing on the computer. I reached the kitchen, flipped on the lights, and winced. When was the last time I’d done dishes? My shoulders slumped. Did it matter?

I saw the plastic bag of Solo cups and reached for one, then filled it up with water from the fridge. I gulped down the water. Why did my mouth hurt? I reached up and touched my dry lips. Were they cracked?

I added the cup to the pile near the sink and headed towards the bathroom, touching my sore lip. When I turned on the light and looked in the mirror, I leaned forward and stared for a long time.

“Who are you?” I croaked out the question. It hurt to speak.

I lifted my hand to my face. It looked wrong. Pale. Thin. My cheekbones were knife sharp and there were dark bruises under my eyes. My eyes looked dead.

“Answer me, dammit! Who are you?” I yelled.

Dank brown hair moved as I leaned forward toward the mirror, revealing a scar on my forehead.

Time stopped.

I was back in that cabin, my friends tied and whimpering on the floor near my feet.

I felt that first blow from the man’s meaty fist as it hit my cheek.

I’d been surprised. Then I realized he wanted me to hurt, wanted me to scream.

He kept shouting at me to scream into the cell phone as he hit me over and over, punch after punch.

Splitting open the skin of my forehead with his ring. So much pain, so much blood.

Now the brown eyes in front of me weren’t empty, they were scared, my irises surrounded by white. I saw that face in the mirror whimper with fear.

I picked up the brush on the bathroom counter and hit the face in the mirror.

Again.

And again.

And again. A rush of feeling careened through my body with every splinter of glass that cracked as the mirror shattered.

At last, I felt something other than numbness and fear.

A chilling smile reflected back at me in the remnants of the mirror.

I didn’t care what it looked like, satisfaction washed through me.

I’d killed that weak and pathetic girl. That vile girl whose very existence disgusted me.

Something stung my foot as I stepped out of the bathroom. I ignored it as I walked back to the computer to start playing Candy Crush again.

* * *

Zarek

“Are you here yet?”

“I’m just pulling into Pearl’s,” I said as I maneuvered my truck into a spot in the crowded restaurant parking lot.

“I’ll be right there.” My phone went dead. Of course, Zoe would meet me there. She’d been impossible to shake loose. She’d been calling me every hour since I’d left Dallas. She was the reason I was back in Tennessee in the first place.

I went into the diner and wasn’t surprised to see the flaming-red-haired hostess at the stand. Pearl Bannister was an institution here in Jasper Creek.

“Zarek? Is that you?” she cried out. How could she possibly notice me in this crowd, let alone remember me after being gone for five years?

“Hey Pearl,” I greeted with a forced smile.

“I’ll get you a table in a jiffy. Unless you want to sit at the counter.” She grinned.

“Zoe will be joining me.”

Heads turned to look at me. No big surprise there—anything to do with one of the Averys still caused a stir around Jasper Creek.

“How’s Evie? How’s Chloe? Are they doing all right?” Pearl walked away from the stand and sidled up next to me.

Her concern was genuine, but I was still aware of the others listening in. There were too many greedy for gossip, so I lied. “They’re fine. Everybody’s fine.”

“I’ll get you a booth near the back,” she said, scowling at the nosy patrons. She guided me to my table. “Can I get you anything besides coffee and water while you wait for Zoe?”

“Some orange juice and biscuits.”

“Coming up.”

Pearl whisked away, and I had a few minutes to think about what I’d gotten myself into.

I hadn’t been back to Jasper Creek, Tennessee since my parents had retired to Florida, three years ago.

Sure, I’d called and Skyped. Deep in my heart I knew I should have come back sooner, but life had gotten in the way.

I stared down at the laminated menu and blew out a breath. My fist clenched.

“Dammit,” I whispered.

I heard a commotion behind me.

“Hey Zoe!”

“Hiya Zoe!”

“Looking good, Girlfriend.”

“He’s back there,” I heard Pearl say.

I looked up and saw the vivacious brunette striding towards me.

She barely came up to my chest, but she filled the entire restaurant with her presence.

Even now with her face lined with worry, people were drawn to her.

Back in the day when it had been both Chloe and Zoe, every head in the entire diner would have turned and talking would have ceased as they stared at the duo in awe.

Those girls were special, but to my mind Chloe sparkled like a lake at dawn.

Even though the women were identical twins, I had always been able to tell them apart.

I had first met Chloe when she’d been defending an abandoned puppy from two older boys intent on tormenting it.

She’d been holding the wriggling little yellow dog and was waving a stick—almost as big as she was—at the two teens.

She couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

I’d jumped into the fray and gotten a bloody nose for my troubles.

After the boys had run off, I’d turned to Chloe, who told me she hadn’t needed my help. She’d been pissed that I’d interfered.

Maybe it was because of the way we’d been introduced that it was easy for me to always tell her apart from Zoe. The Avery family thought it was a big deal, but for me, it was as simple as breathing.

“You came.” Zoe plopped down in the bench seat across from me. “You took long enough.”

I raised my eyebrow.

“Fine, you got here fast,” she admitted. Zoe smiled as Pearl dropped off coffee, OJ, biscuits, butter, and blackberry preserves.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Pearl asked.

“I’ll have the lumberjack, eggs over easy,” I said.

“The biscuits are enough.” Zoe smiled up at Pearl.

“I’ll get you an omelet,” Pearl told her as she picked up the menus. “No green peppers, right?”

Zoe sighed, then nodded. “Thanks, Pearl.”

“It’s going to be all right,” Pearl said as she patted Zoe’s hand. Then she walked away from the booth.

“I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about all of this until you called me the day before yesterday,” I said staring at Zoe.

“I know, the Averys are infamous again. Isn’t it great?” She had that fake Avery smile, her tone bright with sarcasm, but her hand trembled slightly as she slathered the preserves on her biscuit.

“Cut the shit. I googled everything and then called my parents. What I didn’t find out online they filled me in from the rumor mill that they’re still plugged into. For fuck’s sake, why didn’t anyone tell me what in the hell had been going on?”

“Hello? You were studying. You were finishing all your certifications so that you could be a firetruck driver.”

“Driver/Operator,” I corrected.

“Yeah, that. We didn’t want to do anything to break your concentration.”

I slapped my fist down on the Formica tabletop. “Evie was almost killed in Turkey, then Chloe was held hostage and beaten in a cabin at Cherokee Lake. What the fuck, Zoe? Don’t you think I should have been clued in sooner than Tuesday?”

She covered my fist with both of her hands, attempting to soothe me.

“The stuff with Evie happened so fast, and then those guys came out of nowhere. We had no idea.”

“That went down three months ago, and you just told me now.

“No wonder Chloe blew off my last seven Skype calls. When I reached out to you, you ignored me. Now her I get, but why you?”

She turned away from me, but not before I saw a sheen of tears. “This was a family thing.”

“I’m family. You always said I was part of the family,” I protested.

“During the good times. Not during the Avery bullshit. That’s private. You’re a golden boy—we never wanted you to see the dirt,” her voice broke as she looked back at me. “Not the real slime.”

I looked at her and realized she was serious. Life shifted on its axis once again. “Really, that’s how you saw me? Someone who couldn’t handle ugly?”

Her expression turned to regret, and she gripped my hand even tighter. “No, that’s not it at all. There was never any doubt that you could handle ugly. Never, Zarek. We just didn’t want you to see it. We didn’t want anyone to see it.”

“Well, you did a piss poor job of hiding it. I saw it. Even when we were kids, I saw it.”

“Well sure, the whole county knew we were white trash.” Her tone bled twenty years of bitterness.

I reached across the booth and tucked my knuckles under her chin. “Never that. You girls were, and are, amazing. Look at the way people immediately call out to you—they care. They’ve always cared.”

She ducked her head down and plucked at the biscuit. “They wouldn’t care, not really. Not if they’d if they’d known what Mom was like. Uncle Huey,” her lip trembled.

“I knew. My parents knew. Your teachers knew. They did everything possible to make sure you girls caught breaks. Think about the job that allowed your sister Trenda to work from home after she gave birth. That was my dad and Brad Phillips who arranged that.”

Her head jerked up. “Brad? But his wife hated my mom.”