I was ready to leave Violet Ridge, for good. I wouldn’t miss this God-forsaken farm or the people in it. But I’d miss the hell out of the curly-redheaded girl filled with compassion.
I heaved the bag over my shoulder and barreled down the stairs.
“Flynn, honey, please don’t listen to your father.” My mother’s hand caught mine before I walked out of the door. “You graduate from high school tomorrow morning.”
A muscle in my jaw ticked as I shook my head.
“Please, at least let me take you to a hospital tonight.” Her gray sunken eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“It’s a little too late for that, Ma.” I pushed open the torn screen door about to come off its hinge, and it made a violent screech as it slammed behind me.
I threw the bag in my pickup truck and peeled out onto the dirt road. I had to say goodbye to the only person in this shit-hole of a town that cared, to the only one who made me happy.
A black hole warped into my heart, leaving it barren. I had to do what I was born to do, to make the changes and the sacrifices necessary for my life.
I parked on the narrow dirt path leading to her family’s tiny red-brick cottage, a cottage old and crumbly, but it gave the place charm. It had a grey slate roof and one small chimney with two little windows at the front. An enormous oak tree stood over the cottage. The massive branches seemed to embrace the tiny building. The window to the left was Evelyn’s room. The lights were off in the whole house, and I couldn’t muster the courage to call, text, or knock on her window like I knew I should have.
Glaring back at me in the rear-view mirror was a face more purple and red than any other color. The skin had ruptured above the growing knots on my face. The cut from the bottle was gaping, blood still oozing out. I sighed. She couldn’t see me like this. I knew Evelyn had a heart of gold. She’d put her life on hold to follow me, and I couldn’t be that selfish.
Without another thought, I pulled out of the dirt path and got on the highway. Every mile I drove away from Violet Ridge, from Evelyn, a knot twisted in my gut.
It was better this way, and I was never coming back.
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Also by Lyra Winters
Standalones
Monachopsis
Dusk of September
Violet Ridge Series
Can all be read as standalones
Always Asher (Book 1 of the Violet Ridge Series)
Loving Luca (Book 2 of the Violet Ridge Series)
Forever Flynn (Book 3 of the Violet Ridge Series)
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