“She may have. Dixie doesn’t play around.” She nods.
“Hey.” I reach out and take her hand. I don’t even realize I did it until I’m holding her little hand in my big old paw, but it feels just as natural as breathing. “I won’t let them force you into anything. You know that, right?”
She nods. “I think I just had to say yes so many times.” She fidgets. “You know, to avoid being punished.”
I don’t know, but the thought of anyone punishing my soft little petal of a woman makes that anger rise again.
“Anyway, I think I just got so used to agreeing to everything that I fell back into it when I saw Jeremiah and my father. Like a defense mechanism. I have to break out of that. I mean, I thought I had, but then …”
“They surprised you, Petal. Don’t fret too much about it. Next time–if there is a next time–you’ll be ready.”
She takes a deep shaking breath and lets it out. “I hope so. Because I’ve already promised myself I’ll never go back. No matter what. If I do, that place will kill me.”
I squeeze her hand. “Then you may as well forget about it, because I won’t let you go anywhere that’ll lead you into harm’s way.”
“You won’t?” She looks over at me, a few tears on her lashes.
“Count on it, Petal.”
She smiles again, soft and thoughtful. “I like it when you call me that.”
I squeeze her hand again as I pull into her driveway. “Come on. Let’s get you inside.” I glance up and down the road, but I don’t see the truck her father was driving.
“Okay.” She reaches for the door.
I take her wrist. “Let me, Petal. Always let me.”
She gives me a nod.
I walk around and help her out, then walk her to her door. “I’ll put your bike on the porch.”
“Thanks.” She doesn’t let go of my hand.
I won’t let go of hers either, not until she does first.
She looks up at me. “I hope you don’t think any less of me because of where I’m–”
“Never.” I cup her warm cheek. “There’s nothing you could ever do that would change the way I feel about you.”
Her eyes widen.
Shit. I said too much. Hell, I’ve said more to her in the past ten minutes than I have to anyone since I moved to town. She does that to me, pulls me out of my shell.
“Go on inside, Petal. I’ll keep watch out here. Lock your doors, and you’ve got my number. Text me if anything happens–if you hear a noise, if you get scared, if there’s anything that makes you worry. I’m right next door.”
“Okay.” She takes a deep breath, then slowly pulls her hand from my grip.
It takes a lot of willpower for me not to hold on to her more tightly, but I have to let her go.
She unlocks her door and slips inside. “Good night, Sully.”
“Good night, Orchid.”
She closes the door, and I wait to hear her flip the lock before I grab her bike from my truck.
I head to my place and make a pot of coffee. After all, it’s going to be a long night of watching and waiting for me. Those guys aren’t the sort to give up … But neither am I.
6
ORCHID
I watch as Orion continuously paces around me, often winding through my legs. I swear he can sense my energy at times. It wasn’t until I’d left the land and my father’s church that I realized there were other beliefs out there to be had. My first cell phone had sent me down a rabbit hole that I still can’t pull myself away from at times.
There are so many different ways of thinking out there. People in the real world have the option to believe what they want and interpret things in different ways. Honestly, at first I was a bit shell shocked by it all.
It was a lot to take in and process. For so long, I had believed what my father had indoctrinated into me. Having free will was something that took me a bit to get used to. I’ve always been most drawn to Mother Nature. To me, she seems to be the most powerful, but I’ve also taken a liking to the Greek gods as well.
When a fluffy, very handsome white cat showed up on my doorstep with a dead mouse in his mouth only two days after I rented this place, I knew his name had to be Orion. He was bringing me his hunt to prove that he would not only be living here with me but also living up to his name.
I’m not too fond of the dead rodents he’s always trying to bring me, so over time I’ve turned him into a house cat. Which means we have to have a lot of play time to keep him busy. Sometimes, I do let him out back or take him for a walk but always on a leash. I know Orion is supposed to be a great hunter, but like myself, just because we were born into something doesn’t mean it’s who we have to be. We can change.