Forgive Me by Kateri Stanley (reading strategies book TXT) 📕

of her belly; she couldn’t tell her colleagues the true reason for her retirement.

Will cupped her face in his hand when he found out. “I’m going to miss you, T.”

Don’t tell him about the baby.

Peter and the team were amazing and doting when she confirmed she was on board. A little miracle had happened. She watched Sheila lather her blooming belly in gel. She nearly cried when she saw the little nose, arms and legs.

“It’s a boy,” Peter said. “Congratulations.”

“What do you reckon you’ll call him?” Sheila asked, rubbing her shoulder.

Latoya had thought about it. There was one name in particular. “I quite like Isaiah.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Summer 2017

The hunter tried his best to sleep, but the mottled mattress he was lying on made him twitch and tumble. The lightning and heavy rain was startling, reminding him of a distant memory where a powerful current soared through his veins because he got a question wrong. He glanced to his abdomen, breathing a sigh of relief. He’d managed to stop the bleeding mid-stitching, and the skin had healed all on its own. The blood had caked on his clothes.

“You look scared,” Anna whispered, perching on the edge of the driver’s seat.

“I don’t like this weather,” he replied. “It feels angry.” He moved to the front of the van and peered through his binoculars. Calm down. His heartbeat relaxed immediately. They’re still in the house.

“You’re losing your magical powers.”

“I’m not magical, Anna. I can simply do things others can’t.”

“So that makes you better than us?”

“No, of course not. I didn’t say that. You’re putting words in my mouth. Stop it.”

“I think this is a sign.”

The hunter turned to her. “To signify what exactly?”

“Danger is coming.”

He smirked, his eyes marking the house. “It sure is for her and for him.”

“I wasn't talking about them. I was talking about you.”

There was a beat of silence and he turned to Anna, his beautiful ghost. “Things aren't going to end well for you Isaiah,” she uttered.

His chest burned, something inside him snapped. “Don't say my name.”

“Then why did you tell me before you killed me?”

He got up from the passenger seat and paced to the back of the van. “I don't know, okay. I was in the moment.”

Anna followed him, chuckling. “Yeah, in the moment of killing me.”

“Please Anna stop this,” he whispered.

“Tell me why you did it.”

He wiped his forehead, staring back at Anna. The tension all around him was palpable. “I...I...”

Anna grew closer, her hand trickled to his shoulder. This was new to him. “Come on. Just tell me...”

Warmth stained his shirt when she touched him, fingers pulsing with life that wasn’t his. “Why are you so real?”

She pressed her body up against his chest. “Because I am real to you.”

“Anna. I...told you my name because I…I…”

“Tell me.”

“I w-wanted you...I still do...” He felt the shame leak from his heart. “I don’t know why you're here. I don't get why you'd be talking to me after what I did to you.”

She touched the bottom of his chin. He exhaled, sensing her lips covering and smothering his and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her kiss suffocating him. “Wh-what is this?” he whispered. “What are you doing? What are you trying to do?”

“I never experienced this before I died.” Anna shifted out of her dress. He saw her breasts, the way the lightning crackled outside made her skin shine in a beautiful blue light.

He pressed his back up against the van wall. “You never experienced what?”

“Sex.” Anna moved over and leant into his view. “Make me feel alive.”

He stared at her, confused and heartbroken. You’re tricking me.

No, I’m not, Anna’s voice replied, swirling around his mind. I know you wanted me when you broke into my house, to take me right there, on the floor of my hallway. I want you to take me, right now.

He closed his eyes as her fingertips caressed his face. He grabbed her around the waist, pushing her onto the mattress beneath him. Anna looked up at him, with longing. He leaned, arching his back, kissing her neck. There is the heat of love, the pulsing rush of longing, the lover's whisper, irresistible, magic to make the sanest man go mad. Her whimpers shuddered in his ear and he pulled off the rest of her dress, snaking his fingers around her wrists.

He pushed his body across hers, grinding himself against her pelvis. She feels so real.

Anna pushed her head up, kissing him again. The hunter groaned rolling his tongue into her mouth. Anna began to pull his shirt off, throwing it to the dirty floor. He pinned her down, fingers slotting through hers, kissing her neck until she started to moan loudly. Just dive in.

Stripe watched Isaac throw heaps of her clothes into bags. “Think about what you’re doing. Where are we going to run to?”

“We can go to my house,” he said. “We’ll be safer and I’ll have a better chance at protecting you and Sofia there. We can hide this out.”

Stripe hadn't been to his house since he'd kidnapped her. It was where their daughter was conceived, where the truth was shoved right in her face. A part of me still resents him for it. “And what about our jobs? Our families?”

“I can tell my folks to leave town for a while. They go on vacation all the time. And I’m the CEO of my business, I can work wherever I want.”

“Not all of us are CEOs. I have to travel for my job.”

“You’re on maternity leave.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever this is, running is not the answer. Moving too fast isn’t good.”

“Escaping was the best thing I ever did.”

“For that particular situation yes, but on the other hand, you ended up being fearful. This is not the same. Rushing into a decision straight away is not the way to go. We need to plan this out properly, think strategically. It’s the same with my assignments. I don’t publish the first write up of an article,