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Three years ago…

Della

You are my sunshine, ray You never know dear how much I love you Please don’t take… please don’t take my sunshine away

Don’t stop singing now, Momma Not now I’m sorry I left I just wanted to live a little I’ for o to him He wasn’t real Don’t you see? He was never real He died sixteen years ago

I should have told someone about you This is all et you any Maybe I was scared after all… scared that they would take you away

“Della, sweetie, give me your hands I need to clean theone but you’re gonna be okay We need to clean you up They’ve taken her body and it’s ti back Please, Della, look at ”

I blinked away the memories and stared up at Braden,the blood fro down her face I should get up and go clean this all off myself but I couldn’t I needed her to do it for me

I always knew that one day this would happen Maybe not the exact way it was happening I hadn’t ever iined my mom dead Most days when I let uilty It wouldn’t stop h to keepmy freedom

I had always thought soure out that I wasn’t soe child anted to stay inside all day and refused to come out into the real world I wanted themy mom As crazy as I knew she was, she needed me I couldn’t let the

Four o

Della

When Braden had given et out and see the world, neither of us had thought about the fact that I didn’t kno to fill it up with gas I had only had my driver’s license for three months And I’d only actually had a car to drive for five hours Pu I needed to know until now

I reached into my purse and pulled out h this She was on her honeyh When she’d shoved her keys into my hand earlier today and told me that she wanted ht up in the aweso else I’d sied her and watched as she ran off with her new husband, Kent Fredrick, and crawled into the back of a limo

The fact I couldn’t puas had never crossed my mind Until now My tank was so empty I’d coasted into this small service station in so at myself I listened as Braden’s voice said, “I’ up and textto have to figure this one out all on my own

I stepped out of the sas tank on the correct side There was the little door I knew the nozzle went in I had seen Braden do this before I could do this Maybe

My first probleical door It was there I could see it but it had no handle I stared at it a lanced around to see if there was anyone near me who didn’t look scary I needed soet ers Now I did it often Braden really had ist I’d been forced to see weekly She’d pushed ht me how to live

I had the quote, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” by Franklin D Roosevelt, taped to my bathroom mirror I read it daily or at least I had been, for the past three years I silently quoted that in my head and my body relaxed I wasn’t scared I wasn’t my mother I was Della Sloane and I was on a road trip to find myself

“You okay? Need some help?” A deep suy sas puhter as he stared back at uys but I did have soeous, like this one, it didn’t inity to a s southern boy with a smile that made panties drop all over the place It had been the worst experience ofsex He was offering to help ht he was

“I can’t… I, um… See, I’ve never” God, I couldn’t even say it How did a nineteen–year-old girl explain that she didn’t kno to puhter slowly bubbled up into think I was insane I sed hter the best I could and sas”

The guy’s elegant dark eyebrows shot up and he studiedto decide if this was true or not If he only knew There was soto educate me in the ways of the world but she was s out without her as my crutch

“How old are you?” he asked and I noticed his eyes slowly scan er My body had been fully developed by the tiure this one out Youth would be the only explanation he could coas

“I’ and this is the first tihed and then chuckled This sounded ridiculous, even to me “I know it sounds hard to believe but honestly I need soetfancy truck It was all shiny and black It fit him and his tall, muscular body, olive complexion and dark hair He was one of those sexy, beautiful, dangerous ones I could tell that by the smirk on his face

When he stepped around the corner, I realized that he was ht But then I was only five-foot-five The snug fit of his jeans and dark brown leather work boots did really good things to his legs I realized a little too late that I was staring and jerked aze up to meet his amused one He had a really nice smile All white perfect teeth framed by a face that looked like it hadn’t seen a razor in a few days His scruffy appearance didn’t fit with his expensive truck

“You need to pop this little door open first,” he said, tapping his knuckle on it The way his lips curled seductively around his words fascinated me to the point that I worried I’d missed further instructions I was just about to ask when he walked around ivingover an equally firm backside I really liked this view

Theopen and startledopen “OH!” I exclaimed in excitement “How did you do that?”

His large war richer… as I wasn’t one to miss an opportunity (I’d htly, just enough sohis chest