I recoil, panic clouding the corners of my vision. Martin reaches over to squeeze my hand, sensing that I’m drifting away on the spot.
“Hey,” he murmurs. “It’s okay. I’ve got this. He doesn’t scare me. Just take the babies and close the door, I’ll get rid of him.”
I hesitate. I just want this to be over. But maybe…God, maybe, if Thom doesn’t respect me, he will respect another man stepping in and taking care of me. He always thought I was cheating on him, and maybe this could serve as the proof he needs that I’m a good-for-nothing slut who isn’t worth pursuing any longer. I have no idea if it will work, but at this point, I’m willing to try just about anything.
I retreat into the bedroom, soothing Matty as best I can even though my entire body is trembling. I hate that Thom can still have this kind of effect on me, casting me into full-blown panic mode at the barest hint of his presence. But this time, I’m not facing him alone. This time, I have someone at my side who actually wants to help me, someone who has shown me over and over again that he’s willing to protect me and do what it takes to keep me safe.
Once I have Matty settled, I crack the bedroom door open an inch so I can see what’s going on out there. Martin is standing next to the door as Thom yells profanities through the wood, thedoor flexing in the frame as he continues to rain down blows on it. Martin takes a deep breath, and then, finally, he pulls the door open.
For a second, the two of them just stare at each other.
And I know something is not as I thought it would be. The way they’re looking at each other, it’s not just the shock of being confronted with someone they weren’t expecting to see. It’s something more. It’s something deeper.
Like they know each other.
And then, Thom speaks.
“Dad?”
The world spins, nausea spilling out of my stomach and into my throat.
What the fuck?
I wait for Martin to laugh in Thom’s face for trying to pull something like that, but he doesn’t. I can’t see him face-on from here, but I can see the way his skin has paled.
“Thomas, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for her!” Thom exclaims, jabbing his finger past Martin and toward me. I figure there’s no point hiding in this room anymore, not if what he has just said is true.
But it can’t be, right? There’s no way Martin can be…
There’s no way he can be Thom’sfather.It just doesn’t make sense. The apartment feels as though it’s closing in on me, everything I was trying to cling on to spinning out of control faster than I can get a handle on it.
Thom goes to storm past Martin, but Martin’s arm flies out and stops him in his tracks.
“Don’t go anywhere near her,” he warns. His voice is low, but there’s something more than just anger there. Shock. Horror. Like he can’t believe this is happening.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Thom demands again, rounding on his father, giving up on getting close to me. “What, did you come here to try and tell her that I was looking for her? Or…?”
And then he looks at me, and he seems to realize that I’m wearing nothing but a long tee that I grabbed after our hook-up last night. His eyes flick back and forth between Martin and me, calculating just what it is he’s seeing right now. And then his cheeks darken.
“What the fuck?” he exclaims, loud enough that I’m sure the entire apartment block will hear him.
Martin seems frozen to the spot, calculating what’s happening here. And I’m doing everything I can to wrap my head around it too, because there’s no way this can actually be happening. No way I could have wound up having kids with the father of the man who abused me for years, without knowing anything about it. Martin didn’t even tell me he had children, let alone that he…
“You’re fucking her?” Thom spits at Martin, who snaps back into reality, turning on him once more.
“We need to go. Both of us. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you give me some fucking answers!” Thom roars, and he makes another move toward me again. I draw back into myself, blocking the door to the bedroomas best I can. I can hear Ross crying in there, and I know I need to tend to him, but right now, there are bigger threats to deal with than his rumbling stomach.
“Tell me the truth,” Thom demands as he turns to his father, his eyes blazing with a wild fury I don’t think I’ve seen before, not even on him. “Are you seeing each other? Sleeping together? Are you fucking her?”
Martin falls silent. But his silence is all it takes for Thom to fill in the blanks. His face twists into a smile, though there’s nothing close to actual happiness in it. His gaze finds mine once more, and he shakes his head slowly.
“I always knew you were crazy, Lila,” he snarls at me. “But this—this is low, even for you!”
Tears spring to my eyes, and Martin moves to my side, trying to stop him getting any closer to me. “Don’t talk to her like that?—”
