Page 70 of Lethal Weakness

“Yeah. Grandma said I can wear them at her house.”

“I’m sure she did.”

“She hanged them in my room.”

I choke on my next breath. “Grandma showed you your room?”

“Yes.”

I’m going to be sick… They’re really going to try to take her from me. Those bastards.

She is my child. And they can’t even take her from my cold dead hands. I’ll be sure of it.

* * *

After Avery fell asleep for the night, I snuck out of the room to drown my sorrows in a pint of ice cream. I gave up any real drinking after I had her. It never seemed safe to be intoxicated in any way when I was the only one she had to depend on.

And, honestly, I haven’t missed it. Doing what’s best for her has always been the easiest decision for me, but sometimes I do miss the numbness that a drunken night could bring.

Instead, I’m sitting alone in the dark while tears stream down my cheeks.

I need to make a choice. Either stay here and wait for the Scotts to take me to court for custody, or take my daughter and run.

All I want to do is run, but the reality of that is scary. And it means thrusting my daughter into chaos again.

But losing her to her father’s family is an even scarier reality.

A light tap on my back door makes me jump, but it’s easy to see who it is with all the lights off in the kitchen. The moon illuminates his features so perfectly, you’d think its glow was painted on.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, opening the door just a crack.

Jack doesn’t say anything, but his haunted eyes tell me everything. He’s sorry for something, but he won’t be able to tell me anyway.

I open the door to let him in, mostly because I don’t have the heart to send him away when all I want is to be less alone.

I go back to my seat at the table and continue picking at my ice cream silently, though, because I can’t make myself admit that out loud. I don’t even bother wiping the tears off my face.

He kneels to one knee beside me, gripping the back of my chair. “I know I haven’t made it easy for you to trust me, but I need you to know that you can.”

I scoff, stabbing my spoon into the top of my Ben & Jerry’s. “Yeah, and where were you today? You wanted me to tell you when my ex showed back up, and I did. But you ghosted me.”

He flinches slightly at my words, and despite my frustrations, I exhale slowly, trying to rein myself in. Jack isn’t my boyfriend. He owes me nothing.

“I might not have responded, but I saw your text. I was–”

“Let me guess? Busy doing whatever the hell fills your time.”

He grabs the leg of my chair and pulls me closer, until my knees are kissing his chest. “You might not believe this, Linden, but all I think about is you and Avery. All I want is to be where you guys are. So, no, it’s not easy for me to ignore you. It’s the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.” His thumbs swipe at the moisture on my cheeks as if he’s been dying to do just that.

“Then why ignore us?” I lean in, gripping his shirt in my hands. “Why won’t you let me in?”

He shakes his head painfully. “I can’t…”

My hands drop from his chest, and I stare at them in my lap. “Please, just go, Jack. I have too much going on to be mind fucked by you.”

He nods solemnly, but stands and walks towards the door. “Pack your necessities, and keep them ready in a bag.”

“What did you just say?” I ask his back.