Free One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1) by Danielle Dickson

gawping at me but I followed him.
    “Sammy, I-” That voice, I’d been yearning to hear that voice again for the past eight years and now I was, it just cut me right to the core. It stung and that made me madder at him. Wait? Did he just call me Sammy?
    “No! Don’t you call me that! You lost the right to call me that after you left me!” He just stood there, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. What was wrong with him? He was infuriating and I couldn’t just stand here making a fool of myself. The emotion was building up inside me and my eyes started watering. Damn tears! Why now? I turned around and heard his deep gravelly voice resonate through me in a soft tone.
    “Sam, I get why you’re mad, trust me I do.” Oh did he? Did he really get it? What, while he was swanning around living his perfect life? Meanwhile, I was left here picking up the pieces of my broken heart with no one left but an alcoholic mom who just bordered on unresponsive after Tommy’s accident.
    I sniggered through my tears. “Oh yeah? Please enlighten me. I’m dying to hear how hard your life has been!” I heard a sigh and turned back around, feeling like I was a little more in control of my tears.
    “It’s not easy for me being back here again, Sam. After all the torment I was put through in this very town. Tommy was like a brother to me too.” No! I didn’t know what I was doing as I slammed my fists down on his chest one by one.
    “No! You don’t get to say his name! How could you come back here year after year and not have the decency to come see me?” Grabbing my wrists gently, he ran his calloused thumbs over the backs of my hands like he used to do when I was upset.
    “I’m sorry, Sammy, I tried a bunch of times but after what happened that night, I didn’t think you’d want to see me again.” Damn right I didn’t! I didn’t understand why he’d left me in the first place.
    “You left me. You left me broken. After everything that night, you just left me. No phone call, no letters, no texts. You even got rid of your cell number! How is that possible, Connor? Huh? You said you’d always be there and I will never forgive you for that.”
    He flinched. “What happened that night wasn’t my fault, Sam. I couldn’t stop myself from leaving just as much as I couldn’t stop what happened to Tommy.” He looked at me with watery eyes and in that moment I realized not only did I hold guilt for myself, I also had been blaming Connor subconsciously all these years.
    Looking up at him, I must’ve been a state but I didn’t care, his eyes were so sad and that spurred me on, he had no right to be upset because he was the one that left me.
    I pulled my hands away from his, I had to get out of here. I turned around and started to walk as fast as I could away from him as the tears started to fall.
    “Sammy, wait!” Hearing him call my name hurt deep down and I didn’t know what was coming next but I knew what I needed to say to make a getaway. Taking a deep breath, I turned around to face him.
    “I don’t ever want to see you again, Connor Hartley, do you understand me? Do what you need to do, then get the hell out of town!” I couldn’t believe that came out my mouth, I’d spent years yearning for him and now he was here, I couldn’t wait for him to be gone. Was that what I really wanted?

“Pack this! We need to get the hell out of town! Connor! Don’t just stand there, you hear me?” I started emptying my closet into the duffel mom just threw at me.
    “Mom, you need to listen! Tommy-” Tears started falling down my cheeks and I slunk down onto my knees cradling the duffel. Kneeling down in front of me and taking my face in her hands she looked into my eyes with urgent ones of her own.
    “Connor, I’m so sorry, sweetheart, but whatever’s gone on we need to leave right now! Tony could be back any minute and he’s on the warpath looking for you, he found out you borrowed the keys to the garage to fix