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“With you and Reid in this house, I’m gonna get fat.”
She pauses with half of her sandwich almost at her mouth.
I know what she’s thinking. I can see the words clear as day swimming in her eyes.
You’re assuming I’m staying.
Picking up my own sandwich, I take a bite and instantly groan as the mix of flavors hits my tongue. But as incredible as it is, I have to fight to swallow it. The lump of fear clogging my throat from the thought of her leaving the second she’s told her story is just too large.
I cough, trying to deal with the situation, and when the front door slams and heavy footsteps thump closer, I’m still practically choking.
“What the hell are you doing?” he barks, his eyes jumping between the two of us.
“Dying,” I choke out.
“You’re going to ruin your dinner,” he chastises.
At that, I finally manage to swallow, stopping me from spraying the room with half-chewed sandwich.
“Jeez, calm down, Dad,” I tease the second I can talk while Alana just stares at him like he just sprouted an extra head.
“You really are a barrel of laughs to live with, huh?” she deadpans, making Reid’s lips press into a thin line.
“Pet.” He nods. “Nice to see you wearing your own clothes for a change,” he says, marching into the room with grocery bags in his arms. Fuck knows why, the kitchen is already fully stocked.
“Nice for someone to supply me with them.”
“Good to see he didn’t fuck the sass out of you.”
“Good to know you were listening,” she counters, leaving me chuckling under my breath while Reid’s shoulders lock up tight.
She falls silent, leaving him to fume as he puts the food away.
It’s not until he’s pulled out a beer, uncapped it, and downed half that she finally speaks.
“I think it’s time we talked.”
Reid freezes, his body turning to stone as he stares at her in disbelief.
He recovers fast, his face hardening as he readies himself for her to laugh, to tell him that she’s joking.
But she’s not.
I’m not sure what got her here. Mav being downstairs with a gunshot wound, or the way Reid started bleeding her truth yesterday, letting her know what he knew, hinting at what he wanted in the long run. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Everyone is about to get what they want. Reid is going to get the truth he craves, and then hopefully, he’ll let Alana downstairs to see her husband.
Something wraps around my chest as I think about her leaving me behind and jumping into his arms. I fight to drag in the air I need as the pair in front of me continue their stare off.
The tension in the room ramps up, but it’s not in a good way. There are none of the ‘I must have you now’ tingles. Instead, it’s dread.
What is about to happen is going to be painful. Talking about it is going to wreck Alana, and it’s going to make Reid blow.
I’m terrified.
She’s already been through enough. She doesn’t deserve to be forced to talk about all of this. And Reid… well, he’s spent so long searching for this extra thing that’s going to help take his dad down that he should be relieved, but something tells me that it’s going to take a while for that feeling to override everything else that he’s about to experience.
He might not want to admit it, but he cares about my little dove. More than he can even admit to himself. He might want her to suffer, to cry, to submit. But he wants those things on his terms and under his control. Whatever she has to tell him, he has no control over. She had no control over it. It’s going to make him lose his shit. I can already see it in the way his jaw tics.
“Grab some more beer,” Alana finally says, breaking the silence. “Or maybe something stronger. We’re probably going to need it.”
