Page 114 of Hold Me Until Morning

Looking like a sea of temptation and a barrel of regret.

Maddie hugged Princess Verona closer to her chest and wiggled beneath her covers. “Do you really think so?” she asked him.

Cody lifted a tattooed arm and leaned it high against her doorframe.

So casual, though the movement hit me like pure devastation.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been to a ton of parties, but never one quite like that.”

Pride filled Maddie’s face, and she shifted her head on her pillow so she was looking directly at me. “I think it was a very good idea that we came here, Mommy, because I think Mr. Cody was lonely and needed us to be neighborly, and now we get to go make even more friends on Saturday and I love it here the best. I don’t ever want to go back to Texas.”

Her expression dimmed, though hope lit beneath it.

My spirit cramped.

That ache that knew she hadn’t been immune.

I brushed back a wild curl from her forehead. “I have no intention of ever going back, either.”

I wanted to state it with confidence. Make her trust in it, to claim it like an oath. Still, my soul shook with the terror that lingered at the edges of my mind, lingered right outside the door, far closer than I’d ever wanted to allow them to be.

Maddie’s voice went soft like a secret, uncertainty dimming her blue, blue eyes. “Texas is bad.”

Dread swept in. “Why do you say that?”

Maddie hesitated, then hid her mouth beneath her covers when she confessed, “Because that’s where my daddy lives.”

My heart clutched. “And you think your daddy is bad?”

I was treading carefully, not wanting to shut her down but also not wanting to inject my own vitriol into the situation.

“Only when he whispers at you like he’s really mad.”

Those whispers echoed through my mind.

“You really think you can just leave?” Pruitt had hissed, his hand at my throat as he’d had me pressed to the hallway wall. “You keep forgetting who I am.”

“Mommy?” I’d looked to the right to find Maddie standing at the end of the hall, her rabbit held to her chest, eyes wobbling with tears.

“It’s okay, Maddie. Go back to your room and go to sleep. I’m fine.”

How long had I been saying that?

I’m fine.

I’m fine.

I felt the floor shift as the man slowly approached, like he couldn’t remain at bay for a second longer, persuaded by the sudden call of my daughter’s fear. Or maybe he’d been compelled by mine, too, because Cody slowly eased to kneeling beside me.

After dinner, I’d bathed and changed into sleep shorts and a tank, and one of those big hands went to my waist, his fingers dipping just beneath the fabric while his other hand splayed out wide over my daughter’s chest from over the blanket.

A covering.

A shield.

“You don’t have to worry about that any longer, Maddie. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.” Cody grunted it in that low voice.

Don’t make my daughter promises you can’t keep.

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