Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
My stomach dipped.
I dropped the bras with a start as I saw the lone figure on my bed, leaning against the headboard.
My heart began to race. Closing my eyes, I focused on my breathing.
Oh, shit.
It had finally happened.
I’d snapped. And it was no wonder with the emotional beating I’d taken from my son over the past few weeks. The constant reminder of his father had done something to me, obviously. My mind was fragile and could only take so much. Perhaps all the talk about A.J. seeing Twitch had inspired some kind of jealousy within me.
Breathing hard, I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
“Stop it,” I whispered to myself before opening my eyes, and I watched the moonlight beam across the lower half of the hooded figure.
Jesus Christ.
He wasn’t there. He wasn’t really there. It was all in my head. But that didn’t make it any less distressing, and the way my heart thumped made me feel suddenly lightheaded.
My hands shook and I balled them into fists, my nails biting into my palms. “Lexi,” I warned myself. “Stop.”
The brain was a funny thing. Almost like a hard drive. It could conjure up memories in a flash, no matter how hurtful. And right now, I was hurting myself.
Why did I continue to hurt myself?
When I opened my eyes and he was still there, I started to get genuinely distressed. Breathing shakily, I put a hand to my forehead and begged myself as quietly as possible, “Stop. Please.”
My stomach dropped when I heard rustling from across the room.
Wait.
Did he just move?
No. He couldn’t have.
But he did.
He was.
Silently, he sat forward and did something I’d been wanting for forever.
He lowered the hood. And the moment I saw those soft brown, hooded eyes, my entire body turned cold.
This wasn’t the Twitch of my haunting dreams. This was somebody else.
I couldn’t breathe.
This was a dream. Wasn’t it?
It had to be.
“Angel.” That smooth, husky voice was barely audible.
I felt the blood drain out of my face. Quickly stepping back into the dresser, I gasped when I hit the edge and lost my balance. A bottle of perfume fell to the floor, and the shrill sound of glass breaking followed. My heart thumped in my chest. Wide-eyed and perplexed, I lifted my hands to my quivering mouth.
And that was when all hell broke loose.
***
Twitch
“Angel.”
What more could I say? She looked beautiful dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a white sweater rolled up at the arms.
Lexi’s big blue eyes watered as she stepped back into the dresser, and when she lost her footing, I stepped forward, my hand out to her. Her entire body shook, and when she covered her mouth, panting rapidly, a frown pulled at my mouth.
Shit.
Maybe I should have done this differently.
My baby looked like she was about ready to pass out.
In the doorway, a shadow appeared, and the little dude made an appearance. “Can I have some ice cream?” He switched on the light and looked at his mother’s stance in confusion a second before he noticed me. My boy. He couldn’t contain his excitement. “Daddy!”
He flew at me, and I caught him midair, hugging him as tightly as I could without hurting him.
My heart beat faster. This was it.
No more hiding.
My eyes observed her reaction. I continued to hold him, watching Lexi closely as realization dawned that this, what was happening, was not in her head. A mixture of emotions showed themselves.
First, shock. Then confusion. Lastly, hurt.
Her face fell, she shook her head slowly in denial, and she collapsed back against the wall with a thud, her body shaking violently as she started to cry. Her mouth opened and she tried to speak, but my baby couldn’t through the tears wracking her body.
A.J. pulled back to look at his mother. “See? Told you.”
Lexi pushed herself back against the wall, sobbing silently, unblinking, a haunted expression shadowing her pretty eyes. The look of sheer pain and betrayal was more than I could bear. I wanted to go to her, and I planned to, but the little Goth stepped into the room, her .22 pointed at me. She moved to stand in front of Lexi protectively before staring at me, unblinking. “Who the fuck are you?”
I was about to respond, when Happy walked in. “The fuck’s going on here?” When his eyes settled on me, his face turned fatigued, his body slumped, and he muttered, “You asshole.” He closed his eyes before swallowing hard. “You fucking asshole.”
Yeah, I was.
He moved closer to me, reaching for A.J., and I stepped back, throwing him a black look.
Yeah, try it.
He could pry my son out of my cold, dead fingers.
“Twitch, we got a full house here. Don’t do this. Give me your son.”
At that moment, Lexi glanced between my brother and me a long while until it finally dawned on her. When she spoke, her breath hitched. She sounded injured. Wounded. “You knew?” We both turned to the desolate question. Her tear-streaked face had landed on Happy. Again, at a higher pitch, more desperate this time. “You knew?” The panting increased and she whimpered before screeching at the top of her lungs, “You knew?”