Shadows In Durango

Chapter 123

*****Vincent's POV*****

The silence in the car was killing me.

I kept my eyes locked on the road, gripping the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles pulsed around the leather.

The tension between us was thick, almost suffocating, and I figured that it wouldn't have been so severe since we had both spent some time apart...

But boy was I wrong!

I could feel her growing antsy beside me, fidgeting, probably lost in her own worried thoughts, and all I could think about was how badly I'd screwed this all up from start to finish.

I knew that I couldn't avoid this conversation any longer, but damn, I still wasn't as ready for it as I thought I would be.

Not even close.

There was a million things to say and to talk through, yet all I could give her right now was thickening silence...

She had every right to be angry, every right to hate me for how I had handled things. The way I'd kept her in the dark. The way I'd gone behind her back.

But what the hell was I supposed to do?

Did she expect me to just sit back and watch her get pulled into even more danger? Watch her father finally catch up with her? Watch her get hurt because of me?

I only thought I was helping...

I glanced over at her, just for a second, and saw the tension in her face, her hands twisting nervously in her lap below.

She was hurting like I was over this, probably more.

And I hated it.

hated knowing that I was the one who'd put that very look on

the silence

Anything.

you for this, you know," I said quietly, not daring to look at her. My eyes stayed glued to the road ahead, my voice low, as if saying it too loud would make it

I could feel her gaze burning into the side of my face. "What? I mean, how?" Her voice was shaking, and I could hear the confusion

back through my hair, trying to figure out how to explain myself. "I don't blame you for what happened to Daryl. I'm angry, yeah,

seemed that way with how I had acted last night, but I was

why could I see the guilt all over her face as though

moment to think on my words, and then, almost like she couldn't stop herself, she whispered, "I feel that I'm responsible for all of this. If I hadn't come into your life at all,

it, like she really believed she was a curse, or some kind of

jaw, fighting the urge to yell, to tell her she was wrong, but I didn't. I had no right to snap at her, not after everything that she's already been through... that would only get us

bastard alone. "He made his own choices, and he hurt people because of his own issues. That's nothing to do with you. But..." I hesitated, knowing what I

me. She should have told me. I needed her to tell me.

wanted to keep

there! Just a friendly reminder that if you're not reading this book on nel5s.org, you might be missing out on the complete

was a long pause, and when she finally spoke, her voice was so small, I

that at the time, I didn't want to selfishly add another problem on top of that... but what I didn't know

next, pausing any and

I say

but nothing else comes after that, I was truly at a loss for words as

their toll now since

I put the car in to park and took a second to think... allowing my head to bury in to my hands, the

know where to start now. I'd run it over in my head a thousand times, thinking through all the things I would say when we found her, but now that we were actually here, it was like every word

heavy talk was

explanation for why I had chose to reach out to the one person she feared most in this world: her

I knew that, but I was now fucking terrified of

I raised my head, forcing myself to face her on this. She

before, now hurting because of me, the one she had finally began to

he was going to manipulate the situation like he did, and the whole arranged marriage thing wasn't mine or my

was malicious, at least not intentionally, but the same fact still remained - I should have discussed