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But it’s all in my head.Not real.Not real.Not real.
I don’t care if it’s real or not.
Scrubbing my arm over my face, I took a step back.No sooner had I heard the distinct click of the lock I disenganged than the door pushed open.I didn’t have time to think, let alone look at Jack’s face before his arms were around me and he was lifting me off my feet.
“Thank you,” he rasped against my neck.“Ah, little fairy, thank you so fucking much.”
I fisted my hands in his hair that was out of the bun he typically kept it in so it wasn’t in his face, holding on for dear life.“Where were you?”
“Give me a minute, baby.I just need to hold you first.”
There was a slight tremble to his hands as he rubbed them up and down my back, his breath shuddering out of him in gasps as if he’d been struggling to breathe and now he could finally fill his lungs with oxygen.Closing my eyes, I soothed myself with his familiar scent.
But something was off, a new smell that wasn’t foreign.I remembered it all too well.
Blood.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE
nishia
Jerking my head back,I cupped his face, trying to look at him.“Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No, baby.”
“But I smell blood,” I whispered.The lamp across the seating area was still on, and I saw something red in his hair.“Jack!D-did you hit your head?”
Lungs heaving, he shook his head.“It’s not mine.”
“Wh-who?”
Instead of answering, he carried me into the bedroom and sat on the end of the bed.My legs were still wrapped around his waist, and when I tried to untangle them, he grabbed my ass in both hands, locking me against him.“Does it hurt your leg to be like this?”
I shook my head.
“Then don’t move.”Lowering his head, he pressed his ear to my chest.“Morgan had someone working against us.My IT person helped me figure out who, and my aunt Raven helped me end her…employment.”
I stiffened at the mention of my dad.“What do you mean, against you?”
“Deborah gave your number to him, that was how he called you.But before that…it wasn’t Amy who tried to overdose you.Deborah did it.”He tightened his hands on my ass.“They thought they could get you addicted and you’d be more easily persuaded to help his cause.The goal wasn’t to kill you, although it wouldn’t have bothered either one of them.”
I shuddered, the realization that my father had tried to turn me into a junkie just like my mother—like him—hitting me hard.“Bastard,” I hissed.“I hate him!”
“The feeling is mutual, baby,” he grumbled.
“But…Deborah?Really?I thought Amy did it because she thought I was a threat for your affections.”
He exhaled slowly.“No.Deborah just made it look like it was.”
“But why?”I cried, not understanding anything.It made zero sense to me.“She was so nice to me.There haven’t been any issues since Amy was fired.”
“Because everyone was watching too closely after what happened when she overdosed you.If Marcy hadn’t come to check on you…” His entire body trembled.“It was Deborah.”
“Why would she help my father, though?”I struggled to wrap my head around it.I didn’t understand why anyone would work with him toward any goal.He was nothing but a slimy piece of shit.Anyone with two brain cells would realize that within seconds of meeting him.
“She thought my mom stole my dad from her.Her reasoning was that if she helped Morgan follow through with his plan, she could step into Mom’s shoes afterward.”
“That sounds insane.I mean, it’s obvious your dad is crazy about your mom.Even if, God forbid, something did happen to Gracie, he would never—”
