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Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for the novels of Mia Sheridan
  3. About the Author
  4. NOTE TO READERS
  5. Dedication
  6. prologue
  7. chapter one
  8. chapter two
  9. chapter three
  10. chapter four
  11. chapter five
  12. chapter six
  13. chapter seven
  14. chapter eight
  15. chapter nine
  16. chapter ten
  17. chapter eleven
  18. chapter twelve
  19. chapter thirteen
  20. chapter fourteen
  21. chapter fifteen
  22. chapter sixteen
  23. chapter seventeen
  24. chapter eighteen
  25. chapter nineteen
  26. chapter twenty
  27. chapter twenty-one
  28. chapter twenty-two
  29. chapter twenty-three
  30. chapter twenty-four
  31. chapter twenty-five
  32. chapter twenty-six
  33. chapter twenty-seven
  34. chapter twenty-eight
  35. chapter twenty-nine
  36. chapter thirty
  37. chapter thirty-one
  38. chapter thirty-two
  39. chapter thirty-three
  40. chapter thirty-four
  41. chapter thirty-five
  42. chapter thirty-six
  43. chapter thirty-seven
  44. chapter thirty-eight
  45. chapter thirty-nine
  46. chapter forty
  47. chapter forty-one
  48. chapter forty-two
  49. chapter forty-three
  50. chapter forty-four
  51. chapter forty-five
  52. chapter forty-six
  53. chapter forty-seven
  54. chapter forty-eight
  55. epilogue
  56. acknowledgments

After a moment, we both stepped back and Katelyn walked over to her nightstand where she opened a drawer and removed something. When she held it out to me, I blinked down at it. A switchblade.

“It’s been scary at night. Everything’s totally dark and silent and I, well, I took this from my dad’s collection. He has other knives too, don’t worry. Here. You press this button,” Katelyn said, demonstrating so that the sharp blade swung out. She closed it and set it in my palm. “I’m not saying you’re going to need this, but…” She frowned, pausing for a moment. “My dad says a woman should always be prepared to protect herself.” She glanced out the window to our right where the pink sunset shone through the blinds. “Promise me you’ll use this if you need to.”

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chapter twenty-two

Emily

Day Five

As the town disappeared from view, I had this panicked desire to drop my backpack and run back to the Goodfellows’ house and beg them to let me stay. To hole up in that room upstairs with the handmade quilt and men already guarding the perimeter of the town. There had been a modicum of safety there, and now, though we were headed home, we were also headed out into a world where I had no idea what to expect. On our feet.

“This fucking sucks balls,” Charlie said. The sun still hadn’t fully risen, but the streaks of color in the sky were plenty bright to light our way.

“Let’s think of it like a hike,” I said. “When this is all over and we’re back home, we’ll be in the best shape of our lives.” I’d show up for my tour looking fantastic. And okay, maybe the tour would be postponed for a few months considering the catastrophe that would have taken place for a large part of the country, but I could not allow myself to believe that it wouldn’t happen at all. I’d worked so long and so hard for my dream to come true and I wasn’t going to let it go that easily. I wasn’t able to pretend like Charlie had suggested we do to cope, but positive thinking wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, I thought it was necessary.

“Yeah. A hike. Okay. It’s not a bad idea,” Charlie said. “I just signed on for that movie where I play a superhero. It starts filming this fall. I’ll be ripped.”

I nodded. “I was thinking last night about how I want to help too,” I said. “There’s going to be so much to do, you know? So much money to raise for the people affected by this disaster and maybe driven from their homes. I can only imagine the terrible stories we’re going to hear, right?”