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A sick knot formed in my stomach. I didn’t want to go there in my head, but right now, I wasn’t coming up with any other explanations. All things pointed to something that I didn’t want to believe.
“Who … are you?” I asked her.
The gleam of satisfaction in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed. She’d wanted me to know. That was why she’d brought the items here. She had known I’d be here.
“Winter,” she replied. “I’m one of Kye’s … friends. Anyway, I work tonight and need to get to the club. It was nice to finally put a face with the name.”
I couldn’t get a word out past the invisible clamp that was currently around my throat. The text messages. I said nothing as she placed sunglasses on and sauntered down the walkway and climbed into her yellow sports car. I managed to turn away from her and go up the steps, unlock the door, turn off the security system, and finally inhale some oxygen in a loud gasp.
My gaze fell to the bag in my hand. I reached inside and pulled out the black T-shirt I remembered Kye wearing when I’d worked earlier this week. It now smelled like that woman’s perfume. The alligator was something Chloe had brought him two weeks ago when she came to visit. Its bright colors drew his attention, and she was right. He loved it.
I felt numb as I carried the items to the sofa and dropped them. Gripping the edge of the sofa, I stared straight ahead, trying to think of a scenario that made sense. Any reason that woman would have Kye’s shirt. Jagger’s alligator. I was getting nothing. Instead, the graphic text messages she’d sent to Kye that I’d read were all I could see. They taunted me. Every single word of them replaying in my mind.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there when I heard Kye’s voice behind me.
“Why is the door unlocked and open?” he asked. “That’s not safe, Baby Doll.”
I couldn’t look at him. My head would not turn to make eye contact. I feared that if I did, I would end up falling apart.
Why had I allowed myself to believe him when he said I was all he wanted? I knew Kye better than that. How stupid could I have been? At the rate we’d been having sex, of course, he was tired of me already. He hadn’t been able to tell me that he needed variety again because he didn’t want to hurt me.
I placed a hand on my stomach. It hurt so much worse than I’d thought was humanly possible. This was excruciating. My mom had been wrong. I couldn’t survive this.
“Baby Doll?” Kye’s voice was right behind me now. He touched my waist, and I jerked. “You’re scaring the shit out of me. What’s wrong?” he asked, grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face him.
I kept my eyes down. I couldn’t look into his eyes.
Jagger was asleep in his car seat. Kye had set him down beside us. I wanted to sob. Wail at how unfair this was. He had let Jagger be held by that … woman. Another woman had not only been with Kye, but she’d also held Jagger. She’d had her hands on what was mine. Both of them.
But they weren’t mine. Not really. I’d been kidding myself.
Kye took my face in both his hands and forced my head back. “Look at me.” His tone sounded desperate. “What happened?”
When I finally allowed myself to see him, it was as if I had been punched in the gut with a sledgehammer. I sucked in air, and my eyes watered. I wasn’t going to be able to say words. It hurt too bad to simply breathe.
“Baby Doll, I need you to talk to me,” Kye said. I felt his body tremble as he searched my face. “I’ve never been this fucking scared in my life. Please say something. You’re killing me here.”
I was killing him? Did he have any idea how he had destroyed me? Death would be easier than this. How did I find a way to heal from this kind of pain? There was no way I would ever be the same.
“Jesus Christ,” Kye swore as he stared down at me. “I am going to kill whoever did this to you. Just give me a name. Nothing more.”
I let out a long, jagged breath and locked my eyes on him. “You,” I whispered.
He frowned, his eyes studying me as if he had heard me wrong. Then, he shook his head. “I don’t understand. What did I do?”
I swallowed hard, then winced. The tightness in my throat wasn’t easing. “Winter was here when I got home. She … she brought back your shirt and”—I closed my eyes and inhaled through my nose—“Jagger’s alligator that I couldn’t find.”
