Alpha Hayley's Destined Mate novel · Chapter 31 of 32

Chapter 31: The Letter

I didn't open it at the table.

I put it inside my jacket, against my chest, where I'd carried the matchbook for a month.

I carried it all day.

I carried it through the dishes and the folding tables and the last Greenhorn truck going up the mountain.

At sunset I sat on my porch swing alone, with my grandmother's quilt over my knees and the river loud below the yard.

Torrey was in the kitchen. He'd said he would stay there till I came in.

I slid my thumb under the flap.

The glue was so old it let go.

It was one sheet of shop paper, folded in thirds, with a grease thumbprint in the corner.

His handwriting was worse than I'd thought it would be.

"Hayley Rydell," it said.

"You don't know me. You know my name, and you think I killed your father."

"I didn't. A grey rogue with silver on his teeth killed him, and my grandfather a month before."

"I'm sorry for the scars. I'm not sorry I held on."

"I have one of his teeth. I'm going to find him. I don't know how long it'll take."

"I'm sorry about your father. I heard him say your name in the water. He was trying to get to you."

I had to stop there.

I sat on the swing with the paper in my lap until I could see again.

"If you want to hear it from me, to my face, leave your porch light on one night."

"I'll see it from the ridge and I'll come down. I won't come if it's off."

"You called me a son of a bitch on the riverbank. You were right. I should have been faster."

"Torrey Ossler."

I folded it back in thirds.

I looked up at the light over my front door.

For two years I'd turned it off every night before bed, the way my father always did, to keep the moths off the screen.

I got up and switched it on.

Then I went into the kitchen.

He was standing at the sink, pretending to wash a clean cup.

He turned around when he heard me.

He looked at my face, then at the letter in my hand.

← Chapter 30 · All chapters · Chapter 32 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend