Page 30 of Hollow Forest

I wanted to lay her down and tear a release from her body. Another after that. So many that she forgot her own name and melted into the earth.

“I’ll walk you back,” I offered.

Sam glanced at the trees. With a shake of her head, she turned back to me. “I can find the way.”

“Samantha,” I warned.

“You need to take care of that.” She turned slightly and pointed at my shoulder.

I wanted so badly to tell her that I didn’t feel it. I was immune to pain. But that would mean disclosing secrets that were better kept for some day in the future when I could reveal who and what I was.

Samantha was a flight risk. If she found out the truth about the Cove, she would probably try to leave.

There might be danger here, but it was the safest place in the world for her.

“Goodnight, stalker,” she murmured and turned.

Watching her walk away was pure torment. When she faded into the trees, I sank to my knees. My body shook, and it felt like a kettle bell crashed into my chest. I couldn’t draw a breath past the phantasmal weight.

But I stayed.

Because she wanted me to.

Tonight was about her needs. I’d given her control, gifted her the opportunity to hurt me. It was probably lucky that she hadn’t killed me, but in this moment, hearing her steps fade over the crunchy underbrush, I wished she had.

Chapter 12 – Samantha

“You’re telling me you don’t want to go to the Moonshine Festival?” Ivry yelped, dropping the tray of fresh pumpkin scones on the counter.

Snapping the glove in place, I began to pluck them one by one and arrange them neatly in the bakery case. “Not really.”

“The work on your cottage is done!” she insisted. “There’s no need to rush home. Come out with us, live a little!”

I turned my face away, hoping that she didn’t see me swallow too hard. It would look suspicious if I continued to go straight home after work. So far, I’d had the perfect excuse with the renovations. But they’d finished earlier in the week, and of course, everyone in this small town seemed to know every detail about the process.

“I know it’s weird having a whole event celebrating apple pie moonshine,” Ivry prattled. “But there will be food trucks and artisan vendors, not just booze. Oh! And a dance!”

“I really don’t like—”

“You like us,” she insisted, cutting me off.

I sighed. I knew it, one look at that pixie’s face and I would be a goner. And really, what did I have to fear?

Antonio Ferretti.

He would be there. I didn’t trust myself not to get too close. While he wouldn’t recognize me, seeing him would be too big a temptation. I was careful. But I also knew my limits. Which was why I conducted my reconnaissance from a careful distance.

“Pretty please.” Ivry vibrated, she was so full of a sunshine energy.

I envied her happy little life. Truly, I did. I bet she never knew the sharp sting of loss or the heavy knowledge that justice favored the wicked. She was going to marry an Adonis this winter, and her whole future seemed bright and full of promise.

“Alright,” I hedged, trying and failing not to resent her happiness.

Anything else I was going to say was cut off by her squeal of delight. She wrapped her arms around me, making me drop a pastry.

“I know you’re not a hugger, but I’m just so freaking excited!”

The rest of the afternoon flew by in a rush. Before I knew it, we were done and closing up the shop. Derek, Maria, and Carmela joined us on the sidewalk, and we walked as a group to the marina. There were technically two marinas in San Pietro Cove, both on this side of the Cedra Cala, the inland river that rushed past the cove before it spilled into the Delaware River. But only one of the marinas was for the public.