Page 56 of Fate

Chapter Thirteen

Kathleen

Sometimes in life,people have out-of-body moments that shock them straight down to their core. The ability to move is gone. Each breath is harder to drag in than the last. Stars blink and fizzle like a halo of Christmas lights in their peripheral vision. Then, slowly, the ability to function comes back, yet speech is practically impossible.

“Who are you?” A petite blonde with messed-up, just-fucked hair, sharp dark-brown eyes, and tits the size of cantaloupes greets me at Carson’s door. I know their size because they are on full display under a miniscule cotton teddy with a matching robe that’s hanging wideopen.

I blink a few times, take a few steps back, and look up at the house. Carson’s house. Yep, still his house.

“I’m, uh, here to see Carson.” My voice doesn’t even sound like my own as the air pushes past mylips.

The woman narrows her eyebrows and purses her lips. She nonchalantly quirks her head over her shoulder. “He’s in bed. Had a long night.” Her voice lowers in timbre, echoing a deep, more sultry sound.

What in the world is this woman suggesting? That he’s been with her all night when I know for a fact he was with me? And yet, here she stands, scantily dressed in the entryway to Carson’s home, making no effort to invite mein.

“Yeah, I know. He was with me,” I spit out, venom coating every word, ire rising heavy in my chest.

She sets a hand on her hip and juts her tits out like a shield, putting those fake melons on display like a stripper standing in front of man holding up a handful of twenties.

“So, you’re the homewrecker.”

Homewrecker.

Homewrecker?

Home. Wrecker?

I open my mouth but no words come out. The woman sizes me up from my loose flowy skirt to the tank and cardigan I’m wearing. She notices my scarred hand and her eyes squint enough to punch me out of myfunk.

“Who the hell are you?” I demand.

She crosses her arms, pushing her tits up to maximum height, and leans into the doorjamb. “I’m Misty. The lady of the house and the mother of his child.”

Lady of the house.

Mother ofhis…

Just as the words hit me like a sledgehammer to the face, Carson comes around the corner from the hallway that leads to his bedroom. He’s wearing a pair of pajama pants and nothing else. His hair is also mussed, but that’s not what freezes me to the concrete where I’m standing. No, it’s the blond-haired, blue-eyed toddler cuddled against my man’s chest that makes ice coat my heart andsoul.

“Carson…” I whisper, my eyes glued to the child with the most startlingly familiar baby blues. I’d know those eyes anywhere. I’ve looked into them countless times and confessed my love. Did so again just this morning as I bared my body and soul tohim.

“Misty, hold her.” He hands the toddler over to Misty as if he’s a professional at caring for a child.

Carson, with ababy.

Hisbaby.

Herbaby.

Notmine.

I step back and stumble down the stairs, shaking my head. “No, no, no. This can’t be. What is happening?” I put both hands into my hair and turn around, not capable of looking at the visual of the three of them together, one happy family.

Carson’s arms come around me from behind. “Kathleen, it’s not what it looks like.” His voice is desperate against myear.

The words rip through my consciousness, bringing out the lioness ready tokill.

I spin around in his arms and back up so he can’t touch me. “Then what is it, Carson?” I point to the entryway, where, thankfully, the door is shut and Misty and their baby are no longer visible. “You have a family! A fucking family. My God…I can’t even…” My footing falters as I head toward my car, but I catch myself. No fucking way am I stayinghere.

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