Page 208 of Lawless God

I have to squeeze my eyes shut and look again as I freeze on the spot. A tattoo. There’s a freshly wrapped tattoo just below my boobs. Exactly the same place as where Nate’s sunflower tattoo and scar are on his body.

And then a detail comes back. His hand pushing more pills into my mouth after sex.

He drugged me.

He tattooed a fucking sun on me.

I walk into the girls’ room, worry eating at me when I don’t see them. I can’t help but jog down the hallway, and when I storm into the living room, panic grips my chest.

They’re not here.

What was I thinking? Letting him drug me with the girls in the house. Just because I felt I could trust him. With my life? Yes. I know with certainty Nate would do anything for me. But he just met the girls.

I hear an excited shriek coming from the kitchen. I run there, wanting to see my daughters like nothing before.

“Again!” Lia screams.

The smell of salty bacon and the sweetness of pancake batter hits me. Nate is topless, only wearing his jeans from yesterday, his countless tattoos on display against his golden skin. His muscles bulge as he holds Lia in one arm, propped on his hip. Stepping to the side, he keeps her away from the stove, and extends his other arm before flipping a pancake.

She shrieks again, clapping her hands. “Again!”

“Well, we have a whole stack ready. Don’t you want to eat it before we make some more?” The way he says it sounds like he’s pointing out the obvious. We will have to work on that.

But Lia doesn’t notice. “Ooookay,” she drawls, pretending it’s a chore to eat pancakes.

“Are you hungry, Livie?”

Livie is sitting at the table, her back to me like the other two. She’s simply watching them.

My heart swells, skipping a beat when I realize Nate includes her like I do. Even if she doesn’t reply, he insists on talking to her anyway.

He turns around and finally sees me. “Good morning, little sunflower. Did you sleep well?”

The corner of his mouth tips up, and I clench my teeth. “You tattooed me.”

He nods, putting Lia down in her seat next to Livie. He kisses me, his hand cupping the back of my neck, and smiles against my lips.

“Actually, Sam did. He finished the tattoo during the night, but I couldn’t sleep so he stayed until I fed him some pancakes.”

“Is that why you drugged me even more?” I whisper-hiss, making sure the girls can’t hear. “So you could tattoo me?”

He goes back to the counter, finishing two plates, and puts them in front of the girls. The pancakes have eyes and a smile made of blueberries on them, and they are covered in maple syrup.

“I did it because the occasion presented itself, and it might never again. It looks beautiful, by the way.”

And weirdly, it doesn’t even bother me that much.

“It’s insane.” But I smile as I say it.

“Insane is my middle name.”

“My name is Celia!”

I look down at my daughters and realize that, for the first time ever, Lia didn’t scream my name when I entered the room, and Livie didn’t run to hide against my legs.

As if they’re in a completely trusting environment with Nate.

“So, baby,” Nate starts as he goes back to the stove. “Should I put a smiley face or a frown on your pancakes?”

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