Beautiful Disaster by Laura Spinella

Author:Laura Spinella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-11-09T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

It was too much truth. Mia’s head pounded with it. If Flynn said one more word, she was positive her head was going to explode. No wonder he didn’t know how to tell her; she had no idea how to process it. He should have kept his damn secrets to himself. A jumble of thoughts stuck to her brain, like little yellow Post-its. Flynn’s everything I want. Not to mention, a convicted murderer. I want a life with him. Note to self: He’s a fugitive; they’ll never give him a mortgage. He understands everything about me. Friendly reminder: The simplicity of your life probably amuses him—like a board game. Flynn had tried to warn her, over and over. She shouldn’t have had the drink, gone for the ride, gotten in bed . . . fallen in love with him.

“Mia, please, say something, anything.”

His voice was full of concern. Mia rose from the chair and walked back inside the room, snapping on the light. Somewhere in her mind she thought a change of scenery might alter the situation. It didn’t. She clutched her stomach, pulling tighter on the tie of her robe. The whole sordid story made her insides ache. While she knew there were secrets, she never expected anything quite so tainted. She turned, realizing that he’d followed her inside. Mia opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. Her arm gestured in the air, delivering a stinging slap to her bare thigh. The story he told moved forward and back in her head as she tried to make sense of it. “There’s no way out now, is there? No one would believe you—you’re stuck with this crime as if you committed it,” she sputtered between hiccupping breaths.

“Mia, I’m not going to argue responsibility with you. That’s not why I told you. And, yes, it’s who I am—Sergeant Peyton Flynn McDermott, dishonorably discharged for behavior unbecoming to a United States Marine. Convicted of second-degree murder, and sentenced to twenty years in a military disciplinary barrack. I’ve lived with it for a long time.”

“And Jensen, Ruiz, they let you do this? They let you take the blame?”

“Not at first, not easily. But they were scared, more scared than I was. I’m sure it’s cost them. Doesn’t matter anymore. Ruiz died a few years ago—some god-awful disease. Last I heard, Jensen moved to Canada with his wife and kids. Back then, to be honest, they couldn’t cart me away fast enough. I just wanted out of there; I wanted it to be over. Of course I had no idea that the worst was yet to come. Even when you think you’ve paid for your sins, the subconscious has a way of upping the ante.”

“The nightmares,” Mia said, realizing that like death, murder and jail weren’t the worst things he might endure. “What are . . . will you tell me what they’re about?” she asked, suddenly curious for the details.

“I can, but I’ll tell you right now, any faith, any belief you have left in me is about to hit ground zero.

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