Safe at Last (Slow Burn #3)

Anna-Grace should have been accustomed to people leaving her. Of being betrayed. But not even her mother running out on her and then Anna-Grace being shuttled to her mother’s brother, also an alcoholic, and who was verbally and physically abusive, had been able to knock her down.

And when her uncle had died, leaving her homeless, Zack had come and taken Anna-Grace away.

Zack had very much wanted to move Anna-Grace in with him, but he’d known and had lamented the fact that his father despised her. It seemed no one in the world had cared if Anna-Grace lived or died. Except . . . Zack.

He’d even wanted to move in to the tiny motel room he’d found for Anna-Grace so she wouldn’t be alone, but his father had hit the roof. Zack himself hadn’t cared, but his father had threatened to withhold his financial support, which would interfere with him going to the University of Tennessee.

Again, Zack hadn’t cared. He threatened not to go to college at all, which only served to infuriate his father even more. It was only when Anna-Grace had pleaded with him to stay at home, make peace with his father and go to school that Zack had reluctantly capitulated.

He’d hated that Anna-Grace had been alone, had lived alone and had no one to look out for her. He’d tried to find a way to move her to Knoxville with him so she’d be close to him at school. So he’d never even have to come home on weekends or breaks.

But finding a place they could afford had been impossible, and there was no way for her to get to school unless Zack drove her to and from it, and with football practice that was impossible.

Anna-Grace hadn’t minded the solitude of living at the motel with only the elderly caretakers for periodic company. For the most part, she’d done her job quietly and efficiently. The kindly couple who managed the motel and restaurant had even offered to drive Anna-Grace to school every day.

But the best times had been when Zack came home from school. They didn’t get out much. He helped her with cleaning the rooms so she’d finish early in the day and then they’d spend the afternoon and evening in her little room watching the tiny television, snuggled up together on the twin bed. Dreaming of the future. Making plans for when Anna-Grace completed high school and Zack was drafted to the pros.

He’d promised her the world, but she had only wanted one thing. Him. His love.

And in the end, none of it had been real.

Despite her best efforts, a tear slid hotly down her cheek. Instead of wiping it away, she drew up her knees, wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face against her thighs as more tears fell.

She should hate him. But despite saying so, despite the fact that she should utterly despise him, she was still in love with the boy she once knew. She grieved the loss of a dream as if he had truly died. And in essence he had. Because the young man she’d loved as she would never love another would never have done something so horrific.

What had caused him to turn on her? Had he met someone at college?

What he’d done was insane! Most people simply broke up with their girlfriend and moved on without thought or remorse. His actions implied a deep and abiding . . . hatred. As if he’d wanted her to pay for and suffer for some unforgivable sin.

What could she possibly have done to make him despise her so much that he would go to such great lengths to retaliate?

And why did he now so violently deny having done anything wrong and pretend his innocence? Did he fear reprisal? Or did he merely seek to undermine her and make it appear that she was crazy and delusional?

How could he seem so . . . sincere . . . in his claim of having searched for her the entire twelve years that had passed? Dear God, could he possibly want . . . forgiveness? Did he seek atonement for his sins? Did he feel guilty for what he’d done?

The thought that he would think for a minute that she could possibly forgive such a betrayal made bile rise in her throat, burning as she swallowed it back down.

And yet, he seemed so . . . haunted. No one could fake the pain she’d seen in his eyes nor the shadows present in them. He acted as though she had hurt him. And he seemed so sincere.

She shook her head. He was a consummate actor. Hadn’t he already proved that? She couldn’t allow herself to be sucked into his twisted world. If she ever doubted what he truly was, all she had to do was go back to that terrifying day when she’d been attacked, violated and discarded like trash.

More tears fell as she squeezed her eyes shut against the painful memories. They’d laughed at her. Told her how pathetic she was. That someone like her would never be good enough for Zack.

And God help her, when she’d been blasted by their thoughts, when they’d consumed her as if playing out in real time, she’d learned the horrifying and devastating truth.

Zack had instigated it all.

A forceful knock on the door startled her so much she nearly fell off the toilet.