Worth the Wait(37)

I was cursed.

The only time he didn’t hit me was when I was carrying the twins, but that didn’t mean all forms of abuse stopped.

Oh no, I was told daily how fat I was getting, or how undesirable I’d become. When I didn’t have the energy to clean the house, I was a disgusting, lazy slob. When my back hurt to the point of tears, I was being dramatic. I was to blame for Lance’s cheating because I’d let myself go and he couldn’t stand to look at my body.

Once the twins were born, I’d worked tirelessly to get my pre-pregnancy body back. But there were just some things that carrying two babies did to a woman’s figure that couldn’t be undone, no matter how many hours were spent in a gym.

It was during one of those grueling workout sessions with the personal trainer that Lance hired that I realized something that rocked me to my core.

I had turned into my mother.





Present

“You tracked Kenzie’s every move at the party last week. I don’t think you took your eyes off her for more than a minute. Might as well admit it, dude. You’ve got a serious hard-on for that woman.” Trevor had been at it since we sat down at Colt’s. So far, beers with the guys consisted of them giving me shit about Kenzie. And as usual, Trevor was the worst.

“You won’t hear me denying that, brother.”

“You want to wife that chick and you know it.”

I looked over at Trevor with a look that screamed you’re one to talk.

“This coming from the man who got Lizzy loaded just to get her down the aisle?” I scoffed.

“Eh, if it works, it works. At least I’m getting it on the regular now.”

“I said I had a hard-on for her. Not that I wanted to marry her.”

“We all saw you at that party, man,” Luke chimed in. “You’re more whipped than poor Ben over here.”

Ben’s offended gaze shot towards Luke. “What the hell! I’m not whipped.”

Trevor let out a snort before saying, “I work with that woman. I know the set of balls she’s got on her. Any man dating her doesn’t have a choice but to be whipped. It’s your cross to bear, Benny boy, just accept it. Only reason we don’t give you more shit about it is because she’s hot as hell.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed on Trevor. “You know Lizzy’s keeping me on retainer, right? Just in case you fuck up and she needs a good defense for murdering you.”

Just as everyone burst into laughter, Luke’s phone went off.

“Ah, hell,” he muttered, looking down at the screen before sliding it back into his pocket. “I gotta go.”

“I thought you weren’t on call tonight?” I asked.

“I’m not, but I want to be on scene.” Concern spread over is features as he said, “I think you need to come with me.”

Icy dread filled my chest at the look of concern on Luke’s face.

“What’s going on?”

“String of break-ins. Someone got shot.” He shook his head sullenly before adding “It’s Kenzie’s apartment complex, man.”

He barely had enough time to complete the sentence before I was out of my chair, heading for the door at a run, my heart firmly lodged in my throat.





BANG!

I woke from a dead sleep by what sounded like a gunshot. Disoriented and shaking, I thought for a moment that it had just been a dream. That was, until the twins came running into my bedroom; their eyes bugged out in fright.

“Mommy,” Callie shrieked as she and Cameron dove onto my bed, scrambling toward me and climbing under the covers.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” I soothed, wrapping the both of them in my arms at the same time I tried to steady my own heart rate.

The sound of sirens, accompanied by blue and red lights, came through my bedroom window. I had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. My mind immediately went to that dark place. What if he’s out there? What if Lance found us?

The commotion from outside grew louder and louder, causing my fear to grow along with it, until it squeezed my chest like an ice cold fist.

“Mommy, what’s happening?” Cameron whimpered from beneath my arm.

“I don’t know, baby. But it’s all going to be okay. It’s going to be okay,” I repeated on a whisper, trying to remind myself that Lance had no clue where we were.

A loud pounding on the front door started screams from all three of us.

“Kenzie! Open the door!”

Oh, God. He’s here. He found us. No! No no no no.

“Beauty, it’s me. I need you to open the door, baby.”

Beauty. Lance never called me beauty. Oh, God. It was Brett. Jumping from the bed, I ran down the hallway as fast as I could. My fingers fumbled with the deadbolt and chain lock; my hands shook uncontrollably. As soon as I got the door open, Brett barged through and wrapped me in his tight embrace. The moment I was in his arms, all of the fear disappeared. I was safe. My kids were safe. I was overwhelmed by how much I trusted Brett at that very moment. I knew…I just knew that if he was there, my children and I had nothing to fear.