Locke 2 (Blackwater Boys #4)

Fifty

Kali

“H e’s with his Aunt now,” I said.

We’d taken a seat on a park bench in front of a pretty fountain. I breathed in the crisp Georgewel air, knowing it would be the last time. My crutches were leaning against the bench. I hated using them.

“They found his mother in a shelter in a different town, with all that money…” I shook my head sadly. “The doctor paid her off to have the boy. He did it in some slimy covert way. And she accepted in the end.”

“Are you going to visit him?” Aurora asked.

“Yes, every opportunity I can get.”

“I think he would like that.”

“I think so, too.”

“You were there for him.”

I smiled, feeling my heart warm. “He was there for me, too. So were you.”

She pointed to her chest and locked her big brown eyes with mine. “Me?”

I nodded. “You’re always with me. I carry you with me inside my soul, Aurora.”

Her smile brightened. “Then you’re never alone.”

My eyes ached. “Never.”

She studied me. “Are you happy, Kali?”

I breathed out a soft laugh. “Strangely, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I have you in my soul, and I have Jem, and I have Locke…” My breath thinned as I thought of Locke. My chest tightened. “I love him, Aurora. I think I loved him from the very start.”

“I know.”

“How is that possible though?”

“People find each other in the dark and they hold on tight.”

I nodded, believing her every word. “I’m going back to Blackwater.”

She laughed. “Then you are crazy.”

I laughed, too. “I am, but I think I’m fond of its black heart. He hasn’t decided to take me yet I have to see the doctor one more time today. I hope I don’t run into Ambrose again. Did you know he got into a car accident?”

She smiled, secretly. “Will he be alright?”

“He seemed really happy to be alive, so I suppose he is. He seemed optimistic he would be healed in time for Christmas.”

“He was a good Santa.”

“He was.”

“So, Locke is taking you to Blackwater, but you don’t know when?”

I nodded. “I think he’ll do it soon. Maybe even tonight.”

“Can I come visit?”

I didn’t respond. I looked up at the sky, miserable and grey. A fitting end to my story. Who needed sunshine and roses? I'd become entwined with the darkness. Because in the darkness there was light, too. I’d discovered it in Max.

I chose my words carefully as I finally looked down at my sister. “I think…I think it’s finally time I let you go, Aurora.”

She tensed beside me, looking sad. “Forever?”

I shook my head as my eyes burned with tears. “No, not forever. Just in this life. You’re my little angel, and I know I’ll see you again, but it’s time I let this version of you go.”

“Tell me why,” she urged, but she sounded expectant this time, like she needed me to say the words I’d longed to say.

My throat locked. Tears escaped me, but there was a peace spreading through my chest. I told her the truth. “You threw a farewell party in that hole because you knew— I knew —this was coming.” I paused and stole another breath. “You’re beautiful, but you’re not as beautiful as my real Aurora was, and it’s time I let you go.”

She listened to me and nodded once. She looked me in the eye, and I held onto this breathtaking image of my beautiful Aurora in her birthday dress before she met her end. She looked happy. She looked like she should have looked on that fateful day.

“Goodbye, Kali,” she said. “I love you.”

“I love you, Aurora.”

She faded before my eyes, and I looked up at the grey sky, still feeling her all around me.

◆◆◆

Locke came for me in the middle of the night as I lay asleep in my bed. He roused me from my sleep and carried me to his car. He nuzzled his nose against my cheek, trailed kisses along my throat.

“What are you doing?” I asked, still doped up on my pain medication.

“Stealing you,” he answered.

“So soon?”

“Soon?” he barked out a laugh, but his words were dark and cold. “Eighteen months is not soon. You’re mine. I’m taking you to Blackwater with me, where you belong.” He settled me into my seat, careful of my broken leg and other injuries, and buckled me up.

I looked at him, lips flinching. “I might run—”

He kissed me, silencing me and stealing my breath. “Then run,” he growled against my mouth. “But I go where you go.”

“Always?”

“If always means forever, then yes.”

I kissed him, enjoying the feel of his lips against mine. “Then steal me, Max.”

His eyes warmed and he looked at me with such happiness. He pressed his forehead against mine. “You’re it for me, Kali. I love you. I want everything with you. I’ll do anything for you, if you could just love me a little in return.”

My heart thumped raucously inside me. “Silly man,” I teased, nipping at his lips. “I fell in love with you a long time ago. You’re it for me, too.”

Locke took a trembling breath. “We do this together. The highs and the lows. No more hiding.”

I shook my head. “No more hiding. Let’s go home.”

In the next breath, he delivered me our dog and off we went.

Back to Blackwater, with its black, bleeding heart where the Blackwater boys lived. A place where treachery met charity, and love balanced out the hate.