Page 80 of Burning Your Lies

36

Xavier

My suit jacket doeslittle to protect me from the cold look Savannah is giving me. I would smile at her pain if Dr Cooper wasn’t in the room with us. Instead, I wear a pained expression and frown. “I’ve come to discuss funeral arrangement.”

She ignores me. “When will you be signing the release papers for the funeral?”

The poor bastard looks at her with sympathy, knowing he can’t do anything to meet her request. “I don’t believe it’s safe to let you out for the funeral.”

“Why not? It’s mymum.She has no one except me. If I’m not there, she will be all alone.”

I smile. “I’ll be there. Along with Ray and Mia.”

Savannah’s head falls into her hands as she cries. “I’m her daughter. I need to say goodbye to her.”

“You’re not well. You attacked me when I informed you of her passing.”

She leans forward and begs with her therapist. “Please. Just one hour. A nurse can come with me. Hell, all the nurses can come with me. Please. I am begging you.”

You’re begging the wrong person.

“I have to assess all the risk factors, and I am sorry, but there is too much of a risk to let you out. I understand—”

“Understand?” she growls. “How could you possibly understand? You’re going to walk out of here, back to your family. And I’m going to be stuck here while they bury my only family six feet in the ground! This is all him!” She points at me. “You can’t even see what is right in front of you.He’sthe sick one. He’s the one who is a raging lunatic!”

It takes all my willpower to hide my smile. The more she rants and raves, the easier she makes my job of keeping her here. “Savannah, I’m here to discuss funeral arrangements. If you’re going to sit there and start with your delusions again, I will leave and have her cremated.”

Her head snaps towards me. One second she’s sitting forward in her seat and the next she’s tackled me to the ground. Her nails drag across my skin and I feel my cock twitch at the memories of her doing that in our bed. Her hands are around my neck. “I’m going to kill you. Don’t youdareburn her! She’s not your diamond.”

Giving her a few more seconds to exert some of her understandable anger, I hold her hands. “But she’d be so pretty,” I whisper in her ear. “And you’ll always have her with you.”

Her scream is loud enough to make me recoil. “I hate you. I fucking hate you.”

The door bursts open and two security guards pull her off me while she continues to kick and scream.

I touch the skin burning on my neck and feel a layer of blood coat my skin. “This is why you’re still in here!” I snap. I turn to Dr Cooper. “And you wanted to release her for a whole day? What? So she can do this to me where there will be nobody to sedate her? Where she can make my daughter subject to such bursts of violence?”

The man looks at Savannah with desperation. “I understand your frustrations, and rest assured, she will remain within the home.”

I straighten my suit and walk out of there with the biggest grin on my face.

I freeze when she stirs in her sleep, afraid she’s going to wake up and begin her wailing again. Her lips part as she lets out steady breaths and only then does my shoulders sag. I turn the monitor on and leave the door ajar as I join Ray in the living room.

He’s already helped himself to a drink and is sipping on it while I pour one for myself. “She settled for the night?”

“I hope so.” I rub my eyes as I take a seat. “Don’t they say it gets easier the older they get?”

Ray chuckles. “You’ve still got periods, dating and boys to get through yet. You’re fucked for the next eighteen years, my friend.”

My chuckle comes out as an exhale. “I don’t know how to do this. I thought I was doing fine. I adjusted my life to accommodate a baby. But I’m drowning, Ray. I don’t know what do to do. None of this is instinct. She cries and I just stare at her, begging her to tell me what to do.”

My friend looks at me with sympathy. “Nobody knows how to parent the first time.”

I swallow my drink and hold a finger up. “Mendon’t know how to parent the first time. A woman gets all this shit done with her eyes closed.”

His amber eyes study me. Whatever floats through his mind is hidden behind his stony expression. He looks around the roombefore taking another mouthful of his drink. “It must be really lonely. A big house and it’s just the two of you.”

I don’t tell him my loneliness cannot be cured because there’s only one woman I want in my life. “It would be nice to have some company, I suppose. It would be nice to have a home cooked meal,” I laugh. “I’m tempted to hire a full-time chef.”

---