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“But this is where we grew up.”
The protest was born more of a sense of responsibility than any real attachment to the house. I felt like Ishouldwant to keep my childhood home, but the idea of starting somewhere new without the lingering ghosts of the past made my heart beat harder.
“This place holds memories, and some of them were good, but we will have those good memories no matter where we are. There’s so many more here that are painful. This house is… suffocating. I’ll never be able to be here and not expect to see Momma, and…”
Michael trailed off, the shine of tears filling his eyes again as he swallowed.
“There were more bad days than good the past few years. Days when she wouldn’t interact, or thought I was Daddy, or plain didn’t know who I was. Days when she was so upset that she was incoherent and angry at everything.”
His head turned until he looked me in the eye.
“That’s the person I expect to see when I come down the stairs each morning, and that’s not how I want to remember her,” he whispered.
My heart clenched again, and I stood to pull him into a hug as my own tears coated my cheeks. It wasn’t Momma’s fault she had developed Broken Bond Syndrome, but I knew how hard it was to keep the resentment at bay. I didn’t want Michael to feel guilty for admitting he’d been unhappy, I only wished I’d known how bad it was sooner so I could have tried to do more.
“You’re sure?” I asked him as I pulled back and looked at him.
“I don’t imagine you want to sleep in Momma’s room, but you need space for the baby, and it doesn’t make sense to have an empty room. I think you should find something in a better area, with a good daycare and school nearby.”
I had to sniffle at his thoughtfulness. My smile was shaky, but I did the best I could as I nodded.
“I’ll look into it.”
He returned my smile and gave me another quick squeeze before turning back to his lunch. I knew a new house wasn’t going to get rid of the pain caused by Momma’s loss, but it gave us a hint of hope. Something to look forward to and help us move on.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Leo
Ibarely kept from slamming the bathroom door behind me, my growl filling the space around me. Leaning my back against it, I clenched my fists at the ridiculousness of having to run and hide in my own parents’ house, yet that was what I’d been reduced to.
Tasia was relentless.
My aversion to her had grown beyond the reluctance to move on after Cadence. I still had issues withthat, but even more, Tasia herself was becoming too much.
After her hints hadn’t worked to get me in bed, she’d moved on to being more blatant. Casual brushes against my thighs escalated to openly groping me, leaving me ready to snap her wrist, and doing everything I could to avoid her.
Unfortunately, I was supposed to be helping her plan our wedding, so I couldn’t make an excuse to refuse when my mother told me Dimitri and my bride-to-be were coming to dinner to show me what they’d arranged so far. I felt bad pushing Tasia off on my mother, but she’d seemed to enjoy it despite Tasia’s ridiculous demands.
“Leo? Is everything okay?”
The knock on the door behind me made me jump away with a snarl before I realized it was my mother’s voice on the other side. Thinking only to quiet her before Tasia found me, I jerked the door open and pulled my mother inside before closing it again behind her.
I held my breath, listening for sounds in the hall as my mother’s wide green eyes stared up at me.
“Sorry, I…”
I ran a hand through my hair, unable to explain the writhing mass of revulsion the blonde instilled in me. I was an alpha, damn it! It was absurd!
I could only imagine this was what prey felt like when it knew a predator was nearby.
“Leo, are you okay?”
My mother’s hand on my cheek pulled my attention back to her. Swallowing the impulse to blurt false assurances, I squeezed my eyes shut as I sucked in a deep breath of her calming scent and shook my head.
If I couldn’t admit my problems to her, who did I have left after pushing away the woman I loved?
Her arms slid around my ribs, pulling me closer so she could give me a hug. I sighed, relaxing into her embrace for a moment before forcing myself to pull away. I couldn’t let her see how bad things really were.
