The twins. Carmen had taken them to her room. She would keep them there until I gave her the ‘all clear’. And maybe, if they didn’t have one of their screaming fits and I got Velik out of here, he wouldn’t hear one of them.
No. I would tell him, just like I’d tried to that day with Warden Egara. Even if I could never be with him again, I had to tell him. He was their father. As much as he hurt me, I wouldn’t hurt my babies. I knew what it was like to grow up unwanted by my father. I would not curse my girls to suffer that same mental gauntlet. The self-doubt. The endless wondering why? Why? Why? Hating every Father’s Day and every kid in my elementary school class who had a doting dad show up to…well, anything.
“Stefani?” The knock on the door was surprisingly soft, considering the size of the man—alien—doing the knocking.
“Just a minute. I’m almost done.”
Kicking myself for caring, but doing it anyway, I put on a bit of mascara and some blush. Just enough to feel like I looked okay, without looking like I was trying.
I rolled my eyes at myself in the mirror. What was this? Junior High?
Turning around, I opened the door. Velik stood there looking exactly the same way he had when I’d grabbed my things and locked myself in the bathroom.
Confused. Hurt. Like if he said the wrong thing to me I’d break.
Maybe I would.
Maybe I already had.
At least I didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant again. The doctor had recommended birth control at my six-week checkup and I hadn’t argued. Mostly, I didn’t want to explain to the nice doctor that the father of my children was an alien who had left me behind a long, long time ago.
“Do you want to take a shower?”
“Sure. Thank you.” Velik stepped away from the door so I could exit the bathroom. He walked inside and closed the door. The water was running soon after and I took the opportunity to hustle to the other side of the house and check on Carmen and the twins.
“Carmen? It’s me.”
The door to her room opened almost instantly. She poked her head into the hallway and looked behind me. “Where is he?”
“In the shower.”
“The shower?” She looked me up and down. “You had sex with him, didn’t you?”
No use lying. “I couldn’t help myself. He’s hot as hell, and it’s been a while.” Sure, that was it. Hormones had over-ruled my head. Totally justified the idiotic decision I’d made to let him touch me. But, holy hell, had he touched me.
Carmen pulled me into her room and shut the door. I looked around to see the twins happily rolling around on a blanket, playing with their toys. “So now what? He’s back. He is acting all obsessed beast. He is obviously still into you. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say when you told him about the twins?”
“I didn’t. Not yet.”
“Shit.” Carmen crossed her arms over her stomach like I’d just punched her in the gut. “You’re going to get us both beaten to death by a beast.”
“He would never hurt a woman.”
“He hurt you, didn’t he?”
“Not like that. Not physically.”
Carmen sighed. “You’re right. He didn’t hit you. What he did was worse.”
I wanted to argue, the need to defend him rising in me without conscious thought. But I couldn’t. I’d been punched. Kicked. I’d been in my fair share of catfights in High School. No punch had ever hurt me like he had. Not even close.
“I’ll tell him when he gets out of the shower. Right now, I need some girl time.” I put a smile in my voice and joined the twins on their blanket. Their happy squeals and coos at seeing me lifted my spirits like nothing else could. I leaned over, taking turns blowing raspberries on their bellies as they shrieked and giggled.
God I loved them. So much.
