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My phone vibrated frolance at the text

Love you

It was simple It eet It was a reminder that after this was all said and done, I had soo I had someone that would alantor anyone in ooey threads of love and happiness shooting all through et back hoet back to Rowdy The days I had to spend apart froer than the decade we had previously spent separated

I missed him I orried about et back to work, and as much as it surprised me, I really missed the crystal-clear Colorado sky I had found my place and it would take a real act of God to remove me from it now I sent him back the return sentiment and stood up as the service ended with a final prayer and everyone started to file out

Exiting church took forever Everyone had to say hello Everyone had to stop and shake my father’s hand and tell hi nature I had to literally bite ue when more than one person muttered under their breath about the shock that they had felt about what had happened with Oliver and oers so readily offeredthis trying time made me see red The fact that the lunatic that had held un to her head, and beat her senselessall of his evilness while my sister suffered alone and in silence e The injustice of it all left a vile taste inotten Poppy home without incident, but once they were in Denver, my sister had started to break down She was a mess and Roas at a loss as to how to help her Poppy didn’t want to be at my apartment, she didn’t want to be alone with him at his place, so out of desperation Rowdy had called Sayer and asked her to take both of theot home Luckily Sayer had plenty of room at her Victorian and she ell versed in how to handleout to be a lifesaver, and the fact that she had dropped everything to pursue the sarateful she had found her way into our lives Rowdy’s endless prophesizing that all things happened for a reason really did seem to be true There was a lot of really nasty stuff and a lot of really ugly bumps in the road we had all had to overcome, but in the end it really felt like all of us had ended up exactly where ere supposed to be For me, I kneithout a doubt that herever Roas at, but I felt like it rang true for Poppy and Sayer as well

I was the last one to leave I felt like I was saying good-bye to this life and this place the right way this ti all the good that was inona stand to prevent any of the evil that lived here fro its tentacles into ed at the hem of my shirt and took a deep breath I wasn’t nervous so much as I was anxious and ready for it to all be over with I had to squint into the sun when I exited the church doors Myto the last of the parishioners as they exited the parking lot for the rest of their Sunday afternoon I flinched ahen my mom reached out a hand to touch , they looked older and far less impressive than I remembered I saw my dad’s eyes skate over all the tattooed skin that was exposed by ust rise up in his gaze

"It wasn’t bad enough that you desecrated our hoo and violate your body in an unholy way as well?" He shook his dark head at ivable way "Why a would’ve stung It would have uilty for the choice to wear art onmy skin as my own, but now I saw it for what it was, a desperate attempt to belittle me, a way to exert his control and putthumb I lifted an eyebrow at him and looked back and forth between him and my mom

"I didn’t think you would want to do this here on the steps of the church, where any of your followersto hide Can you say the sa, Dad?"

I saw my mom start out of the corner of my eye and saw ain and this tiers land on my forearm

"It’s been ten years, Salehed, an actual laugh, and shook her off "No, and that’s because this has never been any kind of holared hard at both of the to know any better You made it impossible for me to stay, and as a result you destroyed Poppy and you forced me to leave the only boy I ever loved behind" I poked my dad squarely in the center of his chest and saw the way his eyes flared with veritable hatred for oing to come to heel, so you made it so that I couldn’t stay and would never come back Well, I’ll hand it to you, you won that round, Dad"

He scoffed at ht I saw her flinch but I wasn’t about to break eye contact with hiodless You rapped up in a boy that was too young and had no fa for this fao out on your own Your sister would have fallen victim to your heathen ways"

I rolled my eyes "My heathen ways led reat friends, and put uy you forced me away from My heathen ways led me to exactly where I was always supposed to be You turned your daughter, your own flesh and blood, into a victim, into a shell of herself, because she was so scared of disappointing you You nearly got her killed How do you think your parishioners would feel about that, Dad?"

He tilted his chin defiantly and looked down his nose at ive in, never ad Not when it came to me or to Poppy, but there was fear there I saw it in the way his htened and the way he paled just a fraction I could pull the mask off and everyone would see who he really was I had the upper hand but he still kne to dig his way under my skin