Chaos (Havoc Series Book Two) Read Free Page A

threatening
a smile. “God, you used to have your mother read that thing to you
almost every night. At least when I was home. It was about a prince
whose princess got taken by an evil wizard who turned himself into
a snake to keep her captive. The prince rushes to save her, attacks
the thing, but realizes the only way to defeat it is--”
    “To cut the head off the snake,” the answer
flows from my brain to my mouth without a second to filter. I guess
I do remember.
    “Exactly.” Sir's eyes meet mine and for the
briefest moment I don't feel those blue stones I'm used to seeing
gray are judging me. Exactly. Exactly? Exactly...Oh. I cut the head
off the snake. Old Man Banks. I guess it's the only way I knew that
asshole would never come for her again. The root of the problem.
With a stab, with a less fatal wound, he could survive. Imprisoned,
he could post bail, break out, hunt Haven down and attempt to take
her away again. Attempt to kill her so no one else would have her.
He even said she'd always be his. I solved the problem the only way
I could fathom. The only way my brain knew how.
    He turns to face the water again and so do I,
a small weight lifted off my shoulders. This trip isn't about
chewing me out. It's not about an ass kicking he thinks I deserve.
It's about me knowing he's here for me. He gets it. A situation to
build trust between us. Trust that seems like an odd timing
considering that my life is over now.
    I can't recall him bringing up past memories
of me before. Hell, I didn't even know he remembered what I was
like as a kid. Or mom. Much like me her memory has stayed dormant
until recently. Until Haven. The images of him throwing her
favorite vase against the wall, his oversized hands ripping apart a
picture of them, our home movies being cracked in half come
treading back to me. He didn't wanna remember. That's why he
destroyed everything.
    The agony from that nightmare starts punching
at my brain with sharp hits. Sharper kicks. It's fighting to
understand what happened then and what's happening now. The chaos
from the past grinding with the chaos of the future. My grip on my
pole tightens. I start to shake in rage; the sound of another
family photo ripped echoing in my ears.
    “Sir,” I speak up.
    “Yeah?”
    “Why...why did you destroy all of her things?
Why did you get rid of them? Why didn't you cry at the funeral!”
the emotions attack him instead of me. At least it's not just me
they're after. Fuck. I hate emotions. It's not enough that they
want to swim around mind fucking my stability; they have to attack
Sir who for the first time I can recall might be trying to help
me.
    To my surprise, instead of unleashing a mouth
full of hate, a steady spew of curses coated in hatred, he merely
sighs, “I was angry.”
    Confused, I look at his profile. He won't
face me. I don't think he can. I observe the stubble of a beard
trying to come in. His pale skin. The stress lines under his eyes.
Wrinkles across his brown line. Stress. Weariness. Anxiety heavy
weighing down to cause a droop on his once stone face. When did he
get this way?
    “I was livid that she left me, Clint. No. She
didn't just pack her shit and leave; that I could handle. Knowing
she was alive. Knowing she was somewhere else well and breathing,
even if it wasn't with me, I could live with. But I couldn't live
without her. I had no idea where to start. Hell, I still don't know
how. I had no idea what to do with you. About you. I was pissed off
she left me alone. Without her.” The words look like they have been
waiting to be hatched for years. Slowly, he turns to face me and I
notice the slightest tear in the corner of his left eye. I've never
seen him cry. Didn't even know it was possible. “I didn't know what
else to do, so I let my anger tear through me. Yes. I destroyed
some of her things. But not all of them. And I didn't get rid of
them. Well, I meant to, but Mindy had other plans. She put your
mother’s things in a storage