Paint with Me Among the Shadows (Book One, the Salvation MC Series)

3. Home

"Georgie." My eyes bulge out at his interruption.

Okay, that's weird. "Alright, you have ten seconds to explain to me how you know my name before I jump out of this very beautiful car."

"You're a little different, aren't you?" My hand grabs the door handle and he gives another one of those beautiful chuckles. "Now don't do that, Tater Tot. I know your dad."

It takes me a minute to process this information. "Wait, hold up, you know my dad? So, you knew who I was? What is going on?"

He looks over at me for a minute then back to the road. "I recognized you the minute I saw you. You haven't changed much since you were a kid."

"Did I know you because I have zero recollection of you and I think I'd remember..." I wave my hand at him. "You."

He smiles. "No, but your dad has pictures around his house."

"My dad has pictures of me," I whisper.

He cocks his head to glance at me. "Of course he does."

I shift uncomfortably and start mumbling, "This is an interesting development."

How he grips the steering wheel makes the muscles in his arm coil. "I'm taking you to him."

My skin prickles at that. "What's he like? Does he know? Do you know my sister too? Do you think they'll be excited or horrified? A mixture of both? What does Amber do? Are they happy?"

His mouth twitches. "That's a lot to answer in this short ride, but yes, I know your sister. I think they'll both be shocked. She's in college playing soccer. Yes, they're happy. The one word I'd use to describe your dad is loyal. And no, I tried calling at the gas station but no one answered."

I store in the valuable information. "You know them well? Is that why you said you'd never hurt me, because of my dad?"

"I'm curious?" he questions. "They don't talk about you much. In fact, you're a mystery to everyone. My question is what happened?" I'm quiet and try to find out how to answer. I'm about to get lost in my thoughts, which is a very dark place for me, when he says, "You don't know everything do you?"

Our eyes clash and once again it's like that pearl can see everything, every thought and emotion. "Wrong. I don't know anything. The only thing I can remember with this dumb brain was watching my childhood home disappear in the backseat of the car while my mom was driving away." I end my rant with a sharp crunch on a Chex.

"There's definitely some serious mending that needs to be done." He throws out.

"I'm guessing you think it's all on me then?"

"Didn't say that, Tater Tot."

The sign to my tiny hometown comes into view as it creaks in the wind. Sunny Valley. I scuffle to my knees cranking down the window. "Have I mentioned I love your car? Like seriously, old school window cranks are amazing."

The wind whips my hair all around, smacking my face maliciously and stinging my cheeks. The warm humid air swells up in the car and I close my eyes for a moment. I expect only the color behind my eyelids to be that soft darkness the sun lightly kisses, but instead, it's a blur of people laughing and playing in the sun. Everything is close up. It's similar to those Claritin commercials except there is no allergy medicine to clear up this picture.

Do they have some Claritin prescription for the mind?

Something about the blurry vision fills me with warmth, but then it's gone. The happy moment is ripped in half by a lightning bolt of smoke and blackness just like when I have an episode. It fades and before that smoke can take over, my eyes shoot open. There's a plethora of trees, some dark green, others bright yellow, burnt orange and fiery red.