My eyes squeezed closed as the barbed wire I thought was gone began wrapping around my heart again, tightening with each breath I took.“Jacks-”
“Tell me, Kiki,”Jackson said, grabbing my hands, his tone laced with desperation.“I need the closure. I don’t know why, but it’s the one thing I need to know for me to move on from this. Please. Tell me who it wasthatyou slept with.”
A tear rolled down my cheek, but my mouth remained closed.
A heavy atmosphere descended around us, and I didn’t dare to peek at him. After whatseemedlike an eternity, he stood from the bed and began putting his clothes back on.“I’ve got to go. I’ve got things to do.”
Before I knew it, I was across the room, standing in front of him, butt naked.“Don’t go, Jackson. Please. Can we talk?”
He paused, and when he stroked a hand down my cheek, I stupidly allowed hope to bloom in my chest.“Unless you give me a name and tell me why you threw our future away,thenI have nothing to say to you.”
He hadn’tevenfinished dressing before he stormed out of the bedroom, and a few seconds later, the slamming of the back door told me he’d left.
My legs buckled as I collapsed to the floor. More tears fell, no longer tears of happiness.
Chapter 22
Kiera
After crying myself to sleep, I woke up well after midday. Pain shot through my ass, slivering its way up my body as I dragged myself out of bed. It didn’t hurt as much as the ache in my chest, though. I’d comesoclose to believing Jackson and I could go back to what we had before.
But we weren’t meant to be. Not if it came at the expense of telling him the truth.
Forcing myself to shower, my waterfall of tears merged with the hot water until there were none left to fall. Maybe it was a good thing Jackson had walked away. He needed the closure I couldn’t give him. Maybe knowingthatthere would never be any hope for us, we could both move on,evenif it wasn’t together.
Besides, I had something else to focus on. A small smile tugged at my lips at the thought of Billie and the results we had the day before. She would always be my number one priority. It didn’t matter if Jackson couldn’t love me again; I had my daughter, and she was all I needed.
With a newfound determination, I shut the shower off and got out. Quickly dressing, a plan formed in my head. I hadsomesavings I’d squirreled away over the years. It wasn’t much, but it would be enough to pay for a hotel room for a few nights for both Billie and me.
Afterthat, I wasn’t sure, but I was certain James would help. Whatever happened, though, I couldn’t stay in this house with Alec another minute longer. Iwas done with being his punchbag, I was done with spreading my legs whenever he demanded.
I was done with him.
And I needed to get my ass out of the house before he arrived home from his work trip.
Grabbing the duffel bag from the wardrobe, I shoved a whole bunch of outfits into it before heading to Billie’s room to do the same. She had clothes with her at school, so she wouldn’t need much to start with.
Looking around for my phone charger, I remembered I’d left it downstairs the last time I used it. Ignoring the pain in my ass every time I moved, I rushed downstairs, finding the charger in the kitchen.
Unplugging it, the blood in my veins turned to ice as the rumbling of an engine sounded outside seconds before it shut off. My gaze shot up in time to see Alec climbing out of the driver’s side.
Fuck.
If he knew I was leaving, I didn’t know how he would react, but the fear lodged in my gut told me he wouldn’t react well.
Double fuck. The duffel bag was on our bed. If he went upstairs to shower, like he always did when he returned home after being away, he would see it. He would know what I was doing.
A knot of anxiety tightened in my stomach, and as thoughts raced through my head as to what I was going to do, the front door opened, and Alec called out. A tremor started in the tips of my fingers, spreading through my arms.
I needed to distract him. Find a way to stop him from going upstairs. Before I could come up with a waythatdidn’t involve getting on my knees and sucking his cock, he appeared in the doorway.
“Hi, babe.”The grin he wore slid off his face, a crease forming between his brows as he met my wide, frightened eyes.“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”My mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out. He crossed to where I stood, my heart leaping into my throat when he gently held my arms.“Babe, what’s happened?”
Swallowing the lump of dreadthatstuck in my throat, I blurted words in hope they would buy me time to figure out how to get my bag.“My dad’s dead.”
“What?”he replied after a long, intense pause, his tone laced with disbelief.“Dead?”
I dropped my gaze to the floor in an attempt to make him think I was upset.“Yeah. Last night. There was a home invasion and-”
