Page 16 of Summer Ride

“Okay,” he said when she didn’t continue.

“My family was very… religious. I have an older brother, Daniel, and a younger sister, Ruth Ann.”

Between statements, she took very long pauses, probably to figure out just what she was going to tell him. How much of her past she was willing to share with him.

“They—my parents—were very strict. The last night I saw them…” She closed her eyes and tucked her face into her arms. “My father caught me looking at a magazine that I’d stolen from the grocery store.”

“What kind of magazine?” he asked when she remained quiet.

“One of those teen fashion magazines. They were more upset that I was lusting after clothes than that I’d stolen the magazine,” she added with a slight chuckle. “After getting my spanking with the belt—”

Carter tensed and must have made a noise, because she jerked her head up and glanced at him.

“It wasn’t the first time. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Proverbs 13:24,” she said dryly. “Anyway, I went to bed that night without supper.” She dropped her head again, and he had to strain to hear the rest of her story. “I didn’t even wake up when I was lifted from my bed.” She shook her head quickly, stood up, and walked directly into the water, stopping when she was ankle deep.

He followed her and stopped directly behind her.

“Go on,” he urged.

“I… can’t.” She hugged herself, then turned towards him. “The point is, I left that night. I never went back. What happened next, I’m not really ready to say out loud. I’ve pushed it away. Buried it so deep that I never want it to surface again. Whoever left me that note, knows. That in itself scares me so much I want to grab one of my bug-out bags and start over.”

Carter’s heart did a funny twist in his chest, leaving him almost breathless.

“Bug-out bags?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t even know if I remember where I put them.” She sighed and glanced out over the dark water.

Swallowing slowly, he asked, “But you’re not going to. Are you?”

She glanced over at him and ran her eyes slowly over his face before shaking her head and turning her eyes to the water beyond.

He moved closer to her, reaching out his hand and pulling her back against his chest.

“Kara, whoever wrote that note knows more about you than I do, and we’ve been together for years.” He tried not to let his hurt cause his voice to strain. “Tell me the rest.”

She shook her head. “All you need to know is that I spent several years in a place for troubled teens. When I was finally released, I legally changed my name and moved here.”

He took that bit of information and soaked it in while he held onto her. The last sliver of sunlight left the sky and when it was completely dark, she turned in his arms and held onto him.

He played her words over several times in his head. She’d said the word released. Meaning she hadn’t gone there willingly. She’d been held. Why?

“I don’t want to be alone tonight,” she said into his chest.

“Come home with me,” he offered. She glanced up at him and nodded and for the first time in months, he felt a sliver of happiness.

Kara had told him more truths about herself tonight than she had in all the years they’d known one another. This was a new side to her that he was desperate to know more of.

Would she trust him now?

What would it take for her to open up all the way?

How could he protect her against an unseen enemy when he didn’t know all the facts?

It was obvious from her reaction that she was afraid of whoever had left her that note. Why?

Had her parents been abusing her? Even though she’d played off the spanking with a belt as nothing important, it had obviously been bad enough that she’d left.

He’d gotten the hint that she didn’t believe any of her family members had left the note, which meant that she was more afraid of someone else out there finding her than her own family.