Page 57 of Nowhere to Run
“I never wanted to be this person, Jo,” I whispered.“I didn’t want to be someone who lived a life of crime and violence.At first, I trusted Tray and the things he did.For a while, I was so oblivious to what was happening because he had me so busy tracking people down online.I was stupid for not seeing what was happening in front of me before it was too late.”
“Tray is really good at that,” Jo said softly.“Trust me, I know.”
“I hate him for what he did to you.”I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out forcefully before continuing.“And I fucking hate him for what he did to Lauren.I might not have had a good relationship with her growing up, but the only thing she ever wanted was to get to know me.I always tried to keep her at least an arm's length away—more so for her own protection.But it just wasn’t enough.”
“I know that you resent her for tearing your family apart, but I think your dad would have done what he did either way.If it weren’t Lauren and her mom, it would have been with someone else.”
“It didn’t end with Lauren and her mom,” I said bitterly.“Nothing was ever good enough for him.I found out shortly after I left that he had been cheating on Lauren’s mom and gotten another woman pregnant.Lauren and I didn’t keep in touch often, but she always made the effort to try.I feel like such a dick for constantly pushing her away.”
“It’s hard to allow someone to love you when you don’t know what that’s supposed to feel like.”
My head whipped up as I stared at Jo, her words knocking the breath out of me because she was absolutely right.I had no idea what it felt like to be loved by someone because, aside from my mom, no one else ever bothered.Or so I thought.
Forty
Jo
We both woke up feelingrested the next morning, even though we were going stir-crazy being locked in the hotel room.Keith had confirmed this morning that his team couldn’t find any traces of Tray and his men in Nowhere.While someone had obviously been there to drop off Lauren’s body, there wasn’t any sign of anyone who didn’t belong there.
I sat at the table, watching TV, while I picked at the breakfast Dom had ordered through room service.He was busy doing something on the laptop he convinced Keith to give him, but he hadn’t said what.The look etched on his face for the last twenty minutes was enough for me not to bother asking what he was doing because I didn’t want to break his concentration.
The movie finished, so I picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels to find something new to watch.It was hard when there were a limited number of stations and nothing that I felt like watching.I settled on reruns of an old sitcom I used to enjoy and set the remote down as I finished my food.
“I want to talk to you about something,” Dom said, a hint of nerves in his tone as he looked at me over the top of the laptop screen.“But I don’t want to upset you.”
“If you tell me that you didn’t like the blow job I gave you yesterday, I will punch you in the balls.”
He lifted his eyebrows in surprise and then shook his head and chuckled.
“No.I would never complain about your blow jobs.They’re almost as good as your pussy, though I only like her better because she does tricks for me when I play with her.”
A full-on blush covered my skin as it heated, and a giggle slipped past my lips.
“Okay, then what do you want to talk about?”
“Do you remember how I told you last night that I used to track people down for Tray?”
