“I was mad. I wanted Beth’s fear.” I shrug, knowing it goes deeper than that, but not planning on explaining myself. My reasons are mine and mine alone.
“I’m glad. A child should have its mother,” Sabre says, turning away.
I let him go without responding. He’s right. My daughter will have Beth in her life, I’m the one who won’t. I need to accept that and move on. The thought makes me want to scream and… kill.
I won’t be letting go of her… at least not today.
“Mo-om!”
Gabby’s voice fills the room and instantly the emptiness in my heart is lifted. I look up to see Skull standing there, his face impassive. I can’t read one thing that flickers in his cold dark eyes. Gabby pulls away from him and reaches for me.
I stand, wiping my damp palms on my jeans and reach for my baby. I’m surprised by the fact that Skull is here with Gabby, and maybe even more surprised when he passes her to me so easily. After his words last night, I expected him to keep Gabby away from me forever. Or at least try. I would have killed him or anyone who stood in my way before I would have let Gabby go. Well, that is, if I was able. If he gave me back to Colin and Matthew, I didn’t figure I would live long enough to worry about any of that.
“Should I thank you for letting me see my daughter?” I ask, and it would probably be wise to keep the bitchy tone out of my voice, but I can’t seem to.
Skull sighs, and I can see the circles under his eyes. I don’t want to feel pity for him; I just can’t seem to help it. I bite my lip before I blurt out something stupid. Skull doesn’t need me to care about him. By his own admission, he has someone to do that already. The knowledge of that is still burning inside of me like a poison. I expected it, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.
“I will be going out of town for a couple of days. I’ve asked Dragon to send some men over to help watch the compound, so you should be fine.”
“Don’t you have your own men?” I ask, confused and not knowing who Dragon is or if I should worry. I don’t like letting outsiders close to my daughter.
“I do. I want to make sure mi hija is protected.”
“If you would let me go, I’d make sure she was far away from Colin and anyone that might wish her harm.”
“That is not happening, but then you know that. I am dealing with Colin.”
His short, straight-to-the-point cold sentences annoy me. The look he wears on his stony face annoys me too. I want to scream at him, demand he acknowledge that there are things left between us that need to be dealt with, but I don’t.
Skull turns to leave, and the stupid woman in me can’t stop my mouth when I say, “Be careful.”
Skull freezes and turns just enough so that I can see the side of his face. “Why would you care?”
“I don’t know, but I do,” I tell him, swearing that that will be the last bit of honesty he gets from me.
“Follow me out to the main area. I want to introduce you to Dragon.”
I frown. The last thing I want to do is meet anyone. Still, it’s a chance to get out of this room, and honestly, I thought I would be a prisoner here until Skull turned me over to Colin. So I give in, if for no reason other than needing to see something besides the four walls of this room.
I follow cautiously behind him. I have learned that around every corner, you can find a monster. Right now, I’m not completely convinced that Skull’s not one of them. He’s so different from what I remember. That’s probably a good thing. I must focus on who he is now and give up the memories of the man I once loved. That’s the only way I’m going to survive this.
When we reach the room, I hang back against the door frame. Gabby plays with her plastic set of keys and tries her best to stuff them into her mouth. I watch as Skull walks over to a large African-American man wearing faded jeans, a green t-shirt, and a leather vest similar to the one Skull wears all the time. He’s tall—even taller than Skull, though not by much. He’s lean and muscular and wears an easy smile. In fact, he looks happy.
He’s got a little boy held close to his side. The boy is playing with the man’s ear. It’s cute, and somehow it makes this big man look even sexier. His other hand is draped over a blonde. She looks strangely familiar. Skull and the man are talking, but my eyes are on the woman. Where do I know her from? I take a couple of steps closer, still hanging back and not wanting to bring attention to myself if possible. She looks a lot like me. Actually, with Katie changing her hair color, I’d say people would mistake this woman as my sister even more so than Katie, except she’s prettier. She has curves and hips that I could only dream of having. She’s rubbing her very pregnant stomach and talking to Skull. He’s smiling at her in a way that makes me ache. It’s reminiscent of how he used to look at me.