Baptism by Fire (The Restless Kings Motorcycle Club Book 4) by T. Ralston

Author:T. Ralston [Ralston, T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-01T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Sapphire

Lunch is a much needed break. My arms are so sore and achy from folding laundry for literal hours. I don’t know how many people live here, but they should not be going through this much laundry. I haven’t gotten to meet anyone else, either. Amy has kept me sequestered away in the utility room until now. I get to eat in the kitchen at one of the cafeteria style tables. By myself. How delightful.

Amy has been quiet, as well. She’s not quite giving me what I need her to give to keep my sanity. I have had entirely too much time to poke around inside my own head today. Even the pain and exhaustion aren’t giving me a break from thinking. I’ve gone over every second of the past sixteen years- everything I can remember- with a fine tooth comb and a magnifying glass today.

I remember when Jewel’s hair turned darker brown the year mine started to take on a red tint. I remember the day Jewel disappeared. My first boyfriend. Celebrating my seventeenth birthday with tears in my eyes because Jewel wasn’t there for it. She managed to show up at my graduation with just enough time to watch me collect my diploma and show off those bruises that have plagued my dreams ever since.

I’m trying to remember to be grateful that she’s alive. That’s not something I should take for granted and I know that. She survived a horrific ordeal that she wasn’t guaranteed to make it out of. But what good is any of that to me if she doesn’t want me to be part of her life? I know- it’s wrong to think that way. I’m trying, okay?

My appetite is gone now, so I dump the rest in the trash and head back to the laundry room to finish folding. I have to stay focused on something else other than missing my sister so I don’t fall apart.

“She’s not coming back,” Grandma whispers. There are tears in her eyes and she’s clutching something to her chest. It looks like a newspaper. “We lost her, baby. She’s never coming back.”

But that doesn’t make sense to me. I’m sixteen and nothing seems like it lasts forever. How could Jewel possibly be gone forever? Unless she’s dead. I grab the paper out of Grandma’s arms and look at the front of it. “She’s not dead, Grams. She might come back.”

She shakes her head. “No, baby. She’ll never leave that man. She’ll never come back. He’ll give her everything she’s ever dreamed of and couldn’t have. She won’t want to come home.”

“What are you talking about? They live like ten miles from us. We can just go see her.”

Grandma’s hands rub over my back. “No, we can’t. You can’t recognize it yet, but the look in his eyes and the way he’s holding her in that picture is clear to me. He’s not going to be good to her, but she won’t ever leave anyway.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will later.

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