This Is a Dark Ride
Page 18
It was easy to see by looking at Sam that he was a powerful man, and for some reason, seeing all that power unleashed was mesmerizing.
He was doing this for her—but he hadn’t even wanted her to know.
Sam meant to kill RJ. There was not a single doubt in Angel’s mind that was now Sam’s sole intention. To obliterate, to unleash upon RJ all the rage that smoldered in his heart. A dark part of her wanted to see it happen, because he deserved it, more for what he’d done to the girl who had actually died at his hands than for what he had done to Angel. And for what he had done to Sam. Because of RJ, Sam had been cursed to walk the earth carrying the burden and guilt of RJ’s sins.
Not fair. Sam had done nothing wrong. He was as innocent in all of this as the little girl who had been raped at the hands of a man she’d been told to call Daddy. RJ deserved what he was getting…every bit of it. The fucker should die in the snow right here and now, at the hands of a man who had once loved him.
And the little girl in her mind screamed and pleaded for retribution. Let Sam kill him. Let Sam kill him. It became a song in her mind, over and over, kill him, and with each blow the man on the ground became her stepfather, Paul, and the one stomping him was the little girl she used to be.
Kill him. Kill him.
“It’s not Paul,” she reminded herself out loud, in a whisper. Even if it was Paul, would it change what he had done? This wasn’t going to change what RJ had done either, not to Sam, not to her, and not to that poor girl RJ had murdered.
Sam, a sweet, gentle soul with a kind heart. What felt so right, so satisfying now, would surely torture him later. Killing RJ wouldn’t change anything that had already happened; it would only be one more cloud over the things that should be. The things that would be.
“Sam!” Angel shouted. “Please, stop!”
Sam’s foot came down on the man again, and she swore she heard the crunch of bone beneath his sole.
“Please! No more. I love you. Brody loves you.” Her voice broke, and she fought to force out more words. “Don’t make our lives like that fucking sign. A dark ride…it’s not. It doesn’t have to be that way. It’s not that way. We have so much more than people who pretend to have everything! We have love. It’s real.” It is real, isn’t it? Angel breathed in a deep breath of icy air, imaging herself lying dead here in this alley. “Tell me it’s real.”
He froze, arms stiff at his side once more, hands still clenched into iron fists. “It’s real.”
“And it’s enough,” she said quietly. “Please?”
It was enough. Sam didn’t need one more burden on his conscience. Maybe he thought killing RJ would put the demons inside of Sam’s own heart to rest, but Angel knew the good inside of Sam would never be able to accept taking a life.
Sam turned his head toward her, the sallow light catching his eyes. In their depths she saw the need he had, for acceptance…for atonement.
She extended her hand and offered both to him, and smiled when he covered her fingers with his own. Angel looked down at his hand, at the blood smeared on his knuckles. His index finger was swollen.
“It’s all right,” she said. “We need to get home. Brody will be worried, don’t you think?”
Sam blinked away snowflakes on his lashes.
The man on the ground moaned, and Angel exhaled the breath she hadn’t known she was holding in.
Sam hadn’t killed him. And despite the wooden sign she’d seen and wondered over, so many times…this wasn’t a dark ride; it had been a ride full of light. Glorious light.
She looked down at the beaten figure in the snow. Bruises on his face began to darken. Blood oozed and bubbled from his grotesquely twisted nose.
Despite the disfigurement, Angel knew the moment her eyes focused on the man’s face that RJ and Bobby weren’t the same person. The man lying broken at her feet was definitely not the one who had hurt her that night. The realization didn’t make her feel anything. It really didn’t matter. RJ wasn’t Bobby, who wasn’t Paul. None of it mattered, and it never would again.
“I want to kill him,” Sam said without emotion.
Angel pulled Sam’s hand to her face. “But you didn’t and you won’t because we’re better than that. Me, you…Brody. We’re good people. We’re not like that.” She shook her head. “It’s not him, Sam. Bobby and RJ aren’t the same person.”
Sam’s eyes widened. “It’s not him? I was so sure…when I read that note. I was so sure it was him.” He laid his hand on his forehead, squeezing until his knuckles paled. “I thought I could make things right. I just wanted to make things right for you.”
“Don’t you see?” Angel said, hugging him. “You already have.”
She looked back down at the injured man and felt no sympathy. For what he had done to Sam, to that other girl…she was tempted to kick him once herself.
Her gaze fixed on Sam’s, and she saw that he finally appeared to be at peace. For the very first time since she’d looked into those gorgeous eyes, she saw no haunted look. No pain. He looked triumphant. He’d finally fought his demons. And he’d won.
Angel looked back down at the man bleeding in the snow. He hadn’t hurt her but he had killed a girl, and he’d ruined Sam’s life for years. He’d twisted Sam’s love and his trust, and he’d abused him in a way that was very much like what Paul had done to her.
RJ wasn’t dead but he’d taken one hell of a beating, and he did deserve all he’d got and more.
She gently kissed Sam’s swollen finger.
“Thank you.” Her voice echoed the sincerity she felt. No, not for this. Not for what he’d done tonight. Not for buying her a coat. The thanks were for loving her exactly as she was. “I love you, Sam.”
“I love you,” he whispered. “I love you and I love Brody, and nothing will ever change that.”
Angel tightened her fingers around Sam’s, avoiding the one that appeared to be broken.
“Let’s go home.”
Home.
It had a nice ring to it.
Loose Id Titles by Melissa Harlow
This Is a Dark Ride
Melissa Harlow
Melissa Harlow was born and raised in rural Western Pennsylvania. She lives on a small farm where she enjoys rehabilitating wildlife, raising chickens, and gardening.
Her amazing and tolerant husband puts up with not only her, but the wide variety of animals that have shared their lives, including a fox, opossums, a groundhog, and raccoons. Currently they share their home with their dogs, cats, two goats named Toggles and Gobel, and a much loved and very spoiled pet raccoon named Cooper. Cooper enjoys removing the letter keys from computer keyboards, which makes it hard for an author to type!
She happily lives in the country and frequently gets the mail in her pajamas.
Besides writing, she has a fondness for computer games, cold beer, and all injured or stray animals.
Find out more at http://www.melissaharlow.com.