#Chapter 209: Safe With Me

Agnes The saltwater felt like heaven against my overheated skin. I’d been soaking in my in-ground pool for nearly an hour now, but the heat that had built in my body still hadn’t completely subsided. Honestly, I was surprised that I hadn’t burned down the entire bar earlier. My finger had certainly been smoldering when I walked out. But what was even more strange to me was the fact that I didn’t even regret burning my father’s chest. If anything, I kept telling myself that he deserved it—that he deserved to feel even a fraction of the same pain I’d felt in my chest for seven years. At least his pain would subside in a few days, would scar over and ultimately fade. Mine had agonized me for seven years. Even though I’d been reunited with Thea, I still felt the lingering effects of those years of uncertainty and crippling aloneness. Those sorts of things leave scars. Deep ones. Across the room, the thud of Elijah’s fists hitting the training dummy ec