Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 980(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 980(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
His voice wasn’t loud. It was cold and demanding.
“I... I know I’m not supposed to do that but I swear to you, no one was here! I don’t know where this came from. Oh my god, someone was watching me? They were in the house?””
His fists were balled into medallions of fury and his body shook. “I could give a shit right now that you played when I told you not to. That’s pretty fucking insignificant as I see it.”
“I would never let anyone in the house. Not to see me… Not to be with me. I may have fucked up the last couple days, but I would never do this. I would never do that to you. To us!”
“You’ve not had the best track record of telling the truth lately. I get this fucking video at work and I can’t even fucking think straight. I wanted to fucking kill someone. So, you better think, ‘cause this shit is real and I’m not playing.”
My mind raced, finally landing on the spot where someone would have had to be standing to take that video.
“You sent me a package today, right?” I asked, already knowing the answer but hoping I was wrong. “A little bear?”
“No.” Adam frowned. “What bear?”
“Oh, Jesus,” I muttered as bile tickled the back of my throat and I tugged at his hand, leading him upstairs and into the bedroom. “See that bear on the shelf? It came today in a box with a card. I thought it was from you. It said something like, put me where I can always be watching you. It has blue eyes. I thought you sent it.”
In three strides, Adam had the bear in his hand, flipped it over and tore open the back, stuffing flying, then finding something inside, attached to the back of one of those beautiful glass eyes.
It was a tiny camera with a transmitter.
“Fucking camera. When did it come? Did you see the truck that brought it?”
“Yeah, it was a white van, there was no company name, just a delivery guy. I told him to leave it by the door. I didn’t even see him. I wasn’t going to answer the door without you here. Not after everything else.”
“I fucking know who sent it. Motherfucker. This shit’s gonna end tonight.”
We both knew. Ron was tenacious.
And stupid. Because this time, I was pretty sure Adam was going to kill him.
Adam’s eyes burned with fury.
“Please, don’t go. You’re the one who’s going to end up in trouble. He did it just to get you to come after him. If you go, you’re going to jail. He doesn’t care about the IRS right now. He’s humiliated and only wants to get back at you. Don’t go. Please.” Tears filled my eyes as Adam shook, the tendons in his neck straining against the collar of his shirt.
“He came into our home. No one invades my home and fucks with us. I gotta go, baby. You gotta trust me.”
He kissed my forehead, then stepped around me and was gone. The door slammed as I crumpled to the floor, knowing my life with the man I loved more than anything in the world was probably over.
10
My shoulders shook as I sobbed and choked.
Another round of sobs engulfed me as I fumbled for my phone, pulling up Larissa’s number and waiting for what seemed like forever before she picked up.
“Yeah, sweetie?” A choking sob tore through me at the sound of her voice. “Jesus, Angel, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know where to start,” I spluttered as my hands shook.
“Take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on.”
I did as she said, drawing a deep breath, then another, explaining the last couple days. Not the Daddy stuff, but everything else.
I spilled it all while my stomach churned. I knew something bad was going to happen if Adam found Ron and I needed someone to talk to.
“Ron’s always had it for you. I don’t know why you were so oblivious. He also has an ego and a man-boy temper. So…”
“It’s stupid. All of it. I have a temper, too, and that’s gotten me into this mess. I don’t blame Ron. I need to grow up. Get therapy.” I chuckled.
“Angel, you’re a good person. You have a hair trigger sometimes, I’ll give you that, but that’s something you’ll work through. Don’t let your insecurities from your deadbeat dad ruin all the good stuff in your life. We all have a little girl inside; it’s just some have more damage than others.”
I’ve known forever that part of me wasn’t pretty but that it came from a deep pain of my father never really caring.
I felt abandoned by him for a long time. But Adam changed that.
“If Adam gets in trouble because of my bullshit, I don’t think he will forgive me. I won’t forgive myself.”