Page 27 of King of Wrath

And for her to know, we’re way more alike than she ever imagined.

“When I was ten, my pops decided to have a big birthday party for me. All the family and a bunch of my friends. He hired a company to bring in farm animals and everything.”

I hear her pause in the shower. She must be wondering where this story is going. Nowhere good is the answer.

“The day was going great until one of the ponies bit me. Drewblood. I started crying because it hurt like hell. What did he do? Punches me in the jaw in front of everyone.”

Nia gasps in the shower. I turn back and realize she’s got her face peeking out, holding up the curtain over the rest of her like I don’t already know what she looks like naked.

Pivoting all the way around, I step closer and touch her face. “The hit was hard enough that he dislocated my jaw. But he wasn’t sorry. Told me I needed to man up. Be tough.”

“That’s awful,” she says with a shake of her head.

“I think he thought he was teaching me to be a man. It’s how his dad had done it. It was some fucked-up version of love.” I’m trying to gain her trust. I really am.

But I also want her to understand. I was her. I bear the same scars. And I know who she is. Which is why I’ll be as gentle as I can be.

But also, it’s why I can’t be her hero. I’m too dark, too close to the edge.

Nia’s eyes meet mine. But she doesn’t look scared or anxious anymore. This time, her eyes are hard, their blue depths flecked with steel. “Toni’s love isn’t fucked up, Jake. There is no good intention in his actions. He just doesn’t love me. At all.”

And then she steps back into the shower and closes the curtain.

CHAPTER TEN

Nia

Over the courseof the day, the fear and shame recede. A little…

I think I appreciate that I’ve met someone who understands what it means to be raised by a psychopath. Then again, Jake might be a psychopath too. He did kidnap me. And maybe I’ve got Stockholm syndrome because as he sits next to me on the couch reading, I’m glad he’s there.

I feel…safe.

Crazy, right? This man is the threat, not the shield. Then again, my father is supposed to be my protector and he’s been mostly a cruel jailer. Maybe I don’t know the difference.

Maybe shit has been rewired backwards in my head.

Or maybe Jake is different.

I have to will myself to stop thinking about it all. The only thing I should be working out mentally is escape. But I’m sluggish and out of sorts after falling. And Jake learning one of my secrets has made me feel both ashamed and somehow bonded to him, which is dangerous. This is the man I’m supposed to escape from. Not stay with…

Jakes makes dinner and as the sun sets, there is little to do besides go to bed.

I’m tired anyway. Being here, it’s like my body has suddenly decided it’s time to catch up on all the sleep I never seem to get.

Tomorrow, with some more rest, I’ll come up with a plan.

So I go to bed, curling under the covers, my eyes drifting closed.

But I don’t fall asleep. I can feel that I’m tired, but some of my old fear is creeping in. What if another snake creeps in the house? The desert is loaded with them.

What if Toni finds me before I can run?

This is my one chance, and I have to make the most of it, because the truth is, if I can escape Jake and this house, he really has helped me just disappear in a way that could keep my father from finding me.

Jake comes in the room and shucks off his shirt, then sits on the bed, removing his shoes.

When he stands, he unbuttons his jeans and pulls them down his powerful thighs, just enough light coming into the room that I can see his body.