Cold as Ice by Toni Anderson

Author:Toni Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781988812595
Publisher: Toni Anderson Inc.
Published: 2022-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Darby watched one side of Eban’s gorgeous mouth twitch into a humorless smile. “Stone Creek, Montana. It’s also a hard place to survive, especially for outsiders.”

“You weren’t from there originally?”

He shook his head and took a drink of beer. Steam clung to his hair, making the black shine like onyx. It was at this point that he usually changed the subject and started asking questions about her background instead of talking about himself.

“My mom followed some guy there when I was eight. I don’t even remember where we were before that. Ohio maybe? Michigan? Anyway, she was always uprooting me to trail after some guy she’d hooked up with and Stone Creek was no different. We were there a little over a year when she found some other loser to attach herself to, but this time when she wanted to leave, I refused to go with her.”

“What happened?” Darby asked.

“I ran away. Hid in some guy’s stable.” Eban laughed and drank another sip of beer. “Looking back, I’m lucky he didn’t shoot me.” He looked up, a vulnerable light in the inky depths of his eyes. “I hid for about ten days. I’d taken a sleeping bag and some food with me. Stole some apples from a nearby orchard and collected water from a stream. Then school started, and I figured it would be safe to show my face again. When I turned up to class, I caused quite the ruckus and not only because I hadn’t washed in more than a week. Apparently, my mother had reported me missing and the local sheriff had arrested her on suspicion of having done something nasty to me.”

Darby’s eyes widened. “They thought she’d hurt you?”

He nodded, clearly amused by the memory. “The cops were constantly at our door. She was either too loud or too drunk or too high to care most of the time. I knew to disappear when the cops came around as there was no way I was going into Child Protective Services. Even my mom was better than that.”

Her mouth went dry at the casual way he spoke. She knew how rough it was to have a parent who didn’t provide the things you needed. Not only the material things. But the emotional support a child needed to thrive.

She inched closer. Stopped when their knees brushed. She ached to comfort him.

“After I disappeared, they locked her up and she spent a week in jail. Cops didn’t know whether to be glad or pissed when I showed up alive. I thought the sheriff was going to whip my ass.”

“Do you mind if I have the tiniest smidgen of sympathy for your mom for being arrested for a crime she didn’t commit?”

He grinned. Trying to keep the atmosphere light despite the mutual reveal of childhood misfortunes.

“You can feel sorry for her if you want. She was an addict and even though I didn’t have much sympathy at the time, looking back she needed help she never received. Jail was good for her.

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