Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 80507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Was I that starved for affection?
That a simple spooning he wasn’t even aware of made me cry?
I swiped the tears under my burning eyes and tried to clear my mind. I was nearly asleep when I heard a scream.
I jolted up in bed.
Romeo already had his Glock in hand. Naz bounded into the room and jumped between us. “Monsters!”
“What?” I pulled him close.
He was shaking like a leaf. “I saw monsters in my closet.”
Romeo, clad in nothing but low-slung black sweats, got up out of the bed, gun in hand, and popped his neck. “I’ll take care of this. Do not leave this bed until I come back.”
I nodded, and he left.
Naz gasped. “Mama, he’s gonna kill the monsters.”
I held my son close, wondering if it was really a figment of his imagination or if there was real danger in our house.
Five minutes later, Romeo was back. “Found the monster…”
Naz gasped again. “You did?”
“Yup, a squirrel right outside your window, thought you looked fun and wanted to play.” He smiled at Naz and pulled him in for a hug, careful to keep the gun away.
Over Naz’s head, he murmured, “Bad dream, all clear.”
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding, mouthing “Thank you.”
Romeo put the safety back on his Glock and tucked it into the nightstand next to him with one hand. Pulling Naz against him in a sitting position, he asked him, “You want to sleep here tonight?”
“REALLY?” Naz nearly took out the room with his yell. “You’d actually let me? Dad always made me go back to my room, and sometimes… sometimes, I got scared and didn’t sleep.”
If the man wasn’t dead, I’d kill him for that one confession alone.
“Naz.” I put both hands on his shoulders. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
He sniffled, “I thought you might get in trouble.”
Not him.
Me.
What else had my son seen? I’d originally thought I did such a good job protecting him, making sure he saw the hero every time I dealt with the monster.
“Hey.” Romeo fell onto his back.
Naz copied him.
Both guys with their hands behind their heads, staring up at the ceiling, shooting the breeze.
“Let’s try to get some sleep. No matter what, you can always stay here if you need to. Sometimes it’s nice to have people chase the bad away.”
“Thanks, Uncle Romeo.” Naz yawned.
Then Romeo yawned.
Both of them smiled at each other, and I nearly looked away when the small dimple in Naz’s cheek made itself known.
Romeo frowned a bit. “Hey, I never noticed that before,” He reached out and touched Naz’s face, then pointed at his. “Family trait, I suppose.”
“Cool, Uncle Romeo! I have one part of you and one part of my dad now. He said I got his hair and brains!”
“That you did.” He laughed. “Now, let’s sleep.”
I was the last to lie down.
The last to turn on my side and pull the covers up.
The last to probably even close my eyes as the past came back to haunt my future.
When it came to Romeo Sinacore, it always would, wouldn’t it?
We weren’t meant to be… then why was he sleeping in my bed like we were one big family?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I’m a villain, and villains don’t get happy endings.” —Mr. Gold
Eden
Then: One year later
“What the fuck?” Tristian roared. “Where’s dinner?”
“I’ve been checking out schools all day for Naz, Tristian. Remember? I reminded you last night.”
There was no recollection in his annoyed glare, which was directed right at me.
“Of course, you don’t remember. You were drunk again,” I rasped under my breath, walking toward the kitchen. “I’ll make something quick for you.”
“Don’t bother,” he demanded in a rough, stern voice, a voice that was almost always accompanied by the smell of whiskey on his breath. It was starting to trigger me in the worst of ways, all because it was his drink of choice, all because he turned to it instead of me when he was frustrated. Whiskey held his secrets…
Not his wife.
Not his brother.
Not his son.
I couldn’t believe he was taking this tone with me after all the bullshit I had put up with this last year alone. I forced myself to keep my emotions in check, knowing it wouldn’t do me any good to react.
It never did.
“Who are you wearing the robe for, Eden?” he questioned, standing in the living room of our home with me.
Chills ripped through my body, freezing every nerve and muscle and leaving every part of me unable to move. It didn’t help my disposition, although there was no controlling the emotions he was pulling from me. The only sounds I could hear were my pounding heart, and my thoughts and memories hammering through my mind. Taking me back to another place in time. Ever since the night in his office where I’d told Tristian the truth, and he left, he hadn’t come back home the same man.