Page 113 of All Our Secrets

“Everyone knows King and I were going to get back together!” she yelled.

Blood rushed to my ears. All I could hear was my increased heart rate as my anger grew.Get back together? In her fucking dreams. My guilt had clouded my mind for so long. To think I’d ever be okay with this woman parading around Silas, acting like he was hers. He’d never been.

“If your goal is to upset me enough that I feel guilty for being with Silas, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. You’ve pissed me off instead.”

“It’s only been a year since Theodore passed,” she spat.

“You think I haven’t thought about my actions over and over? Believe me, I put a lot of time into my choices. I’d rather upseteveryonethan walk away from someone I can’t live without.”

I knew that with certainty now.

“You can’t live without King?” she asked, a sharp shrill to her voice. “You’re crazy.”

Oh, Becky had no idea. I truly couldn’t. The choices I had made just to staynearhim haunted me every day as it was. Those choices had kept me filled with guilt, kept me away from him longer than I should have been. I had made all these choices because ofwhoI assumed he was.

God, I was the cruelest woman, and no one knew but me. But a woman like me would never let a man go once my resolve was cemented.

With a calmness I didn’t feel, I said, “I hope you find happiness, Becky. I really do, but it won’t be with Silas.”

“How do you know he’s not been with me lately?” She laughed. “Do you truly think he’s been without all this time since our breakup?”

She was bating me. Even as my skin prickled and my heart raced, I refused to let her see how much she affected me. “Bye, Becky.”

As soon as I hung up, I took a deep breath, because my chest was so tight I couldn’t breathe. Of course he was allowed to do whatever he wanted when he was a single man. But he’d been in my orbit my entire pregnancy, irritating the life out of me with his bossiness. My world had shifted so drastically when Theodore died. Theonething that made sense was knowing Silas would be there at some point each day to yell at me or take control of something I could have done myself. It was in those months that I truly stopped trying to make him into MoodyKing1. He was just Silas. The confidant I pretended to dislike having around. To think that he might have gone home and lain with someone after helping me those months—I can’t stand it.

My entire body shook. I’d never known jealousy like this, a possessiveness running soul deep. Was Becky calling him even now? I already knew the answer. Dialing Silas’s number, I calmed my breathing and held it to my ear. It went straight to voice mail. Had she called him as soon as we hung up? I waited a minute, then called again.

He answered on the second ring. “Want me to grab pizza on the way home?”

His gruff voice soothed some of the tension inside me. My shoulders sagged. “Where are we going?”

“My place. Faith left this morning. Key is under the mat when you’re ready to head that way with T.J.”

I paused. “How long have you had these keys under the mat?”

Long enough that Becky knew where they were?

“I put them under there for you this morning. Why?”

“Oh…” I murmured. “I tried calling a minute ago.”

“My phone’s been ringing off the hook. I almost threw it in the trash before I saw your name flash on the screen.”

“Sounds like a problem.”

“Yeah, by the voice mails Becky’s leaving, she knows we’re together. You’d think she would have gotten the point when I stopped answering ages ago.”

I tapped my knee with my fingers relentlessly. “Actually…” The need to see and be near Silas right then overwhelmed me. “My house is freaking me out again.” It was the first thing that came to my mind.Nothing creepy happened today.And the plan was to go to his place later, but I wanted him to hold me and tell me no one would mess with our happiness.

There was a pause. “Oh? What happened?”

“The door creaked, then shut on its own.”

Creaking doors that randomly opened and closed were becoming a normal occurrence in this house, but it hadn’t happened that day. I just wanted him.Now.

Another pause. “Oh? You don’t sound scared.”

“I’m getting far too used to how creepy my home is becoming.”

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