Claws and Feathers by Jennifer Hartmann

Author:Jennifer Hartmann [Hartmann , Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-30T18:30:00+00:00

Abby was driving home, hysterical tears streaming down her sun-kissed cheeks. Cooper’s rejection stung more than she could possibly put into words. Had she read him all wrong? Had she read them all wrong? Abby didn’t understand; she couldn’t possibly understand.

She had little experience with men. Jordan was the only person she had ever been with. He’d been her first and only kiss – until Cooper McAllister.

Was she… bad? Was she not good at kissing? Was he repulsed by her?

God, it was a horrible, gut-wrenching thought. Cooper hadn’t given her much of an explanation. All he could do was apologize.

Abby had to get out of there. She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t be so close to him, knowing he didn’t want her. Knowing he wasn’t feeling what she was feeling. Abby would like to say that he’d broken her heart, but she feared that maybe it had never been put back together in the first place.

“It wasn’t meant to be, sweetheart. You’ll find the one.”

Abby glanced to her right, her anguished breaths catching in the back of her throat. Her mother sat in the passenger’s seat with a somber smile on her face. Her dirty blonde hair was plucked up with her favorite barrette. Her mother loved that barrette. Abby broke down.

“Oh, Abigail. It kills me to see you like this,” Gina said, resting a comforting hand on Abby’s thigh. She laughed lightly. “Goodness. Probably not the best word choice.”

“I miss you, Mom. I need you here with me,” Abby cried.

“Honey, you need to keep your eyes on the road.”

Abby looked ahead, the dark stretch of road appearing endless. Much like her black thoughts. “Maybe I’m not meant to be happy,” she said. She sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her arm. “Maybe I’m not meant to be anything at all. I just exist.”

“Don’t you dare say that. You’re a Stone,” Gina told her, squeezing her leg with conviction. “The Stone women never give up. They never stop fighting.”

“All I do is fight!” Abby screamed. “All I do is fall and fail and fight until my fingers bleed. I feel so alone.”

“You’re never alone.” Gina raised her hand to Abby’s cheek, stroking away the tears. “I’m always with you.”

Her touch was warm. It gave her peace. It was a mother’s touch.

But then Gina’s fingers began to wrap around her neck and Abby let out a wail, jerking her head in her mother’s direction. Only, the person beside her was no longer Gina Stone. It was The Man.

“Eyes on the road,” he snarled, then lunged over the seat and began to strangle her.

Abby screeched in terror, twisting the steering wheel, and veering off the road towards a tree.

She woke up before she crashed, sitting up straight in her bed, gasping for air.

Then she began to sob. She cried so hard she thought she might pass out.

“Abby?”

Daphne came rushing into the room in her nightgown and fuzzy slippers, her hair pinned up in curlers. Abby was still staying with Daphne until she’d made more progress with her renovations.

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