“Now you’re talking.” He cupped my head and kissed me slow and sweet. “So, when I ask you to marry me really soon, pretend to be surprised okay?” He yawned.
I grinned and put my head back over his chest. “Okay. Just give it some time. We need to set up our house first and I need a little more time at my job before I tell them I need a couple weeks off for a wedding and honeymoon.”
Jonah wrapped his arms around me and tucked me close. “Deal.”
I waited a few minutes, and as sleep started to take me, I pressed my hand over Jonah’s heart and asked him the same question he’d asked me. “You happy, baby?”
He hugged me close and kissed the top of my head before he answered. “I’ve never been happier than I am lying in our bed, in our house, beside you, our dog safe in her bed, with a bright future ahead of us.”
I sighed and snuggled into the man I knew in my heart I’d spend the rest of my life loving.
And for the first time in a month, I slept the entire night through, held in the safety of my man’s arms, without a single nightmare marring the happiness in my life.
The End
If you want to read more in the world of the Kerrighan foster sisters, check out Addison’s book in Wild Beauty. Each book will be a complete but interconnected standalone novel. I may write three total books of select sisters or one for each. It all depends on the muse and the readership.
Read a sneak peek of Addy’s book on the next pages.
WILD BEAUTY (A SOUL SISTER NOVEL)—SNEAK PEEK
Click. The camera flashed and I was back there.
In that chair.
That dark, freezing cold basement, with rats and other vermin scurrying around my feet.
My chest was tied with thick, uncompromising ropes. My arms zip tied, forearms up so he could continue with his torture.
I glanced down at the blistered, ravaged tissue of my forearms with a detached, vacant assessment. Seeing the torn, bleeding, black wounds on my arms in the only way I could—as if they weren’t mine. The scent of burnt flesh seared my nostrils. I desperately held back my need to vomit as my mouth watered around the cloth gag. It was tied so tight it dug into the edges of my mouth, abrading the sensitive tissue every time I attempted to free myself.
Another camera flash.
“Addison…” A somewhat familiar voice reverberated in the cavernous space around me. My mind swirled as I tried to focus on that tone. It was kind. Compassionate. Connected to someone I loved.
Blessing.
Click.
I shuddered at the sound and shook where I stood, skyrocketing back into that dreaded chair.
The masked attacker was coming back.
He would continue hurting me.
He was going to kill me just like all those other women.
My only hope was they’d find him before they got to my sister Simone. If she were spared, my soul would be free. I could die knowing she was safe.
I had no idea when I got off that plane and met the driver out front of the airport holding a sign with my name on it that I was willingly walking straight into my own personal Hell. He looked the part. Wore all black. Had a Town Car. Knew my name, when I was to arrive. Everything.
Smart girls knew better.
And I was a smart girl. Mama Kerri made sure all of her foster daughters got the appropriate education, graduating high school with good grades. I had a dream and worked toward making that dream a reality. She told us there was no mountain too high when it came to our life and career goals. I believed her. Took everything she said as gospel and worked my ass off…literally.
I was one of the most coveted plus-size models in the industry. I had millions in the bank. But there was no amount of money in the world that would save me from the Backseat Strangler.
“Addison, honey, you’re scaring me!” Blessing’s voice broke me out of a cold sweat and catapulted me back to the present. I shook like a leaf where I stood under the unnaturally hot lights of the backdrop for the photoshoot.
“Where am I?” I trembled in her arms.
Blessing put her hands to the sides of my neck. They were cool and steady. I shivered in her arms. She placed her face directly in front of mine, her dark eyes fixated on me. I locked onto those familiar loving eyes like they were my talisman. The only connection I had to my safe place.
“Addy, you are in the middle of a photoshoot,” she said calmly.
I shook my head. “He’s here…” I choked out on a guttural whisper.
She shook her head, her black curls bouncing along with her. “Boo, he’s not. He’s dead. You’re in the middle of a shoot in downtown Chicago. Behind me are your clients and the photographer.”
I looked over her shoulder at the myriad of bodies standing around and staring at us. I clenched my jaw realizing I’d had another moment. That’s what we were calling them. “Moments.” Which was essentially a really kind way of describing my mini-freak-outs. I lost all time, space, or any sense of where I actually was and found myself stuck back in that basement with a serial killer. The place where both Simone and I watched our sister Tabitha sacrifice herself in order to save us.
Tears filled my eyes and started to fall.
“Okay, that’s a wrap. Bring me her robe.” Blessing snapped her fingers to the young fashion design student that she had mentoring under her.
The girl brought my robe and Blessing helped me put it on over the delicate pink bra and panty set I wore.
I wrapped my frozen form and allowed the soft chenille fabric to remind me there were soft and beautiful things I could count on to bring me back to the here and now. Something sizzled in the air, an electricity I felt tease the air forcing me to look up.
Click.
The photographer on the job, took a random, candid shot. He was positioned at the lens, his face hidden behind his equipment. I hadn’t been concerned with who was behind the camera, only that this was my first job back after the incident. Now I needed to see the individual or I might go back to when “he” was taking pictures and filming me.
All I was able to see was the man’s long sandy brownish blond hair falling around his shoulders. He moved his face and his brown-eyed gaze met mine.
It was as if in that second, he’d seen right through my eyes to the empty, broken, frightened woman beneath the perfect hair and makeup.
Click.
I twitched as gooseflesh rose on my skin, but as long as I was looking into those earthy, tranquil brown eyes, I felt grounded. No longer floating aimlessly across an endless expanse of deep, pitch black waters with no hope for shore. But in his eyes, I found my footing. I curled my toes against the cool floor, cementing where I was in that moment.
This man, the photographer with his soulful eyes, trimmed beard, and mustache held me centered to the here and now with a single look. No longer was I wading back into the dark memory of that night when my entire life changed.
I removed the robe, stared into his gaze, and handed the robe to Blessing. “I’m okay. I’m going to finish.”
“You sure? You don’t have to. The clients understand what you’ve gone through. They’ve agreed to photoshop the scars marring your arms, but I know them well. They’ll understand if you’re not ready,” she assured me.
I shook my head, my gaze set on the photographer.