Page 30 of Road to Absolution

I asked, “What’s—what was your rank in your club?”

She rubbed her forehead. “Road Captain.”

Besides the obvious, I wasn’t sure what that title meant, but I asked, “Do you miss it?”

Head leaned back while she stared at the ceiling, her reply was a tortured whisper, “Like I’m missing a lung from my body.”

“Why did you have to walk away?”

As if answering many questions wasn’t her strong suit, she said, “Didn’t have to. Chose to.” Her head lowered to face me again.

“To keep them safe.”

She gave me a curt nod.

“Where are they now?”

Her smirk was… scary. “Safe.”

I had been warned. Questions about her babies were not appreciated.

Enemies I had nothing to do with had rocked my world tonight. I could only imagine the destruction possible if the enemy was actually mine.

I changed the subject. “How do you know how to read a chart? Lots of friends in the hospital?” I didn’t mean for my last question to sound as cruel as it did. I was fighting exhaustion and frustration, my life so out of control.

Not judging, she admitted, “Research is my thing.” Tapping her temple, she added, “Shit tends to stick after I read it.”

No time better than the present, I proceeded, “Research. Does that mean you know about Kenny?” Had she found the old newspaper articles like I had?

That caused her a moment of silence while she stared at me. I refused to back down. Waited. I deserved an answer. And she knew it.

“Giver. That’s his road name.”

I hated that I spewed more attitude. “Huh. Yeah. He gives, alright.”

Justice licked at her inner cheek as if trying to choke down her own attitude. She was stunning in her toughness. Hard, yet deeply soulful… “Yes, he gives, even after all he’s been through. All that’s been taken.”

As deep-seated guilt bubbled to the surface, I struggled with all I was feeling. Simply too many emotions had me overflowing with tears… I shrugged, all my innocence bubbling to the surface, too. “I want to be mad at him. The last time I saw him alive,” I choked out, “he had just—” I blew out air, shaking my head, refusing to go there.

Dark brows bunched as she now bit down on that tongue still pushing against her inner cheek. Gray eyes, looking like beautiful windows to the spirit inside her, brimmed with water. She admitted, nodding, “I understand that. Parts of him,” her tears finally falling, too, “are…” She shook her head, unable to voice the terror I now knew she had also seen.

“Are you scared of him?”

Pity filled her expression, and her head tilted with empathy. “No, Pretty D.”

I gasped, not only because she used my personal nickname, but also because she wasn’t afraid of Kenny’s darkness. “H-How?”

“If you’re ready for an unreasonable truth, I’ll tell you. But I need you to promise not to let it change you. Giver loves you who you are.”

Blinking, I tried to understand her meaning.

“Delilah, you are a good soul. One that a certain part of Kenny gobbled up.”

I winced. “Cold much?”

“Exactly.”

My chest lifted as I breathed in, trying to follow her icy approach.