Harlot (Bartered Hearts 2)

“You should go away,” she whispered. “Go away and never see me again.”

“I plan to go, but I’m taking you with me.”

“You can’t.” She sat back, wilting, her skirt spreading over the dirt. “Your family… I’ve ruined everything for you.”

“You haven’t. I’m the one who left. I’m the one who gave you doubts. And if he…if he used those doubts against you, it was only because I wasn’t here.”

“Caleb…” She closed her eyes. Squeezed them shut. And when she opened them, some of the wild shock was gone. “How could you even think about loving me? After what I did and with him?”

“You trusted him, Jess. And he used that trust to hurt you. He kept your last letters back. He must have. What did he tell you?”

She swiped at the tears on her cheeks, but more spilled over and wet her face again. “He said you had a sweetheart. That you weren’t coming home. He acted so sorry about it. When I wrote and you didn’t answer, I knew it was true. I knew I…I didn’t have anyone.”

“That bastard,” Caleb barked. “I should go back and finish him off.”

She grabbed his arm. “What did you do, Caleb?”

“Not as much as I should have. He’ll live.”

Her chest sank as she blew out a long sigh. “Good. Your mother…your poor mother.”

Poor indeed, to be married to a man like Durst, but there was nothing Caleb could do to help that. “Jess, I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t say that. It was my fault. I chose it. I was stupid and naïve—”

“If you were, he should’ve protected you from that, not hurt you.”

“I don’t know,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“Who was the other man? The one you ran from?” Even the question made him sick, imagining his stepfather orchestrating something so vile, so evil.

She shook her head, and he thought she wouldn’t answer, but then she whispered the last name he’d expected to hear. “Minister Forbes.”

“What?” he snapped, flinching in regret when she jumped. “That soulless monster. I’ll slit him open from his—”

“No. There’s nothing you can do that won’t make it all worse, Caleb. It’s over now. It’s done.”

She was wrong. There was something he could do. “Let’s leave, Jess. We’ll get out of this fucking town and walk away from these people and never come back. We can marry in California. Take the—”

“No. I won’t keep you from your mother that way. I swear I won’t.”

Even after everything, she didn’t want to hurt him. Didn’t want to hurt his mother.

Love for her swelled up to push all his rage away. The anger had slipped free of him. Maybe not for good, but for now.

He eased closer and sat next to her in the dirt, moving slowly so he wouldn’t startle her again. When he put his arm around her, she didn’t stiffen this time. Instead, she leaned in, and her head sank until it rested on his shoulder.

“Do you think I could ever come back here?” he asked. “See that man? Set foot in his house? I’m done here, and that’s his fault, not yours.”

“I can’t,” she said.

“Because you hate me?”

“Because I love you. So much.”

That love inside him swelled bigger, pushing on his lungs until he could hardly draw air. “I love you too. And we’ve waited so long for a chance. Just a chance, Jess. Come away from this place. With me. Let’s see what we have together.”

“You’ll hate me someday. How can you even look at me now that you know?”