Page 93 of Frenemies

“I’m sorry, Honey.” Mother cuddled in closer to my side. “I thought I could protect you from your father.”

The ridiculousness of that statement made me snort. Fathers were supposed to tuck their children in at night and teach them how to ride a bike. They shouldn’t be the thing their kids needed protection from.

“Did you know what he was doing?”

“I knew he was a bad man.” Mother dropped her head back and let out a sigh. “I should’ve tried harder to find someone to protect you.”

My forehead furrowed. “What do you mean find someone?”

Her explanation was not what I expected.

“I tried to form relationships with a few men who I thought could keep you safe.”

Was that why she slept with all those men? Did my mother sell her body to protect her child?

“Huh?” Tanner grunted and tipped his stare up to the roof. “Is that why you asked me to kill your husband? I thought you were just some rich broad looking to inherit.”

What?

“You slept with my mother?”

“I fucked your mother,” Tanner corrected with a sharp finger point. “Couple times.”

I might’ve slapped him if I didn’t think it would kill him. The term motherfucker just took on a whole new meaning for me. Mother, on the other hand, her I wanted to hug.

All those years I spent hating her while she was the parent I should’ve been giving all my love to—she slept with Tanner to keep me safe. Fucking Tanner! I couldn’t think of a higher price someone could pay. That kind of devotion was unparalleled.

My hand flattened on my stomach. I wanted to give that to my child. I wanted to look into my baby’s eyes and watch them grow up.

Desperation filled my eyes as I looked over at my mother and whispered, “We have to get out of here. My baby deserves to be born.”

Mother’s eyes weren’t the only ones that went wide. Bailey gawked over at us like she’d just been slapped in the face.

Even Tanner raised a brow. “Does Chase know?”

I nodded.

He shook his head and grumbled, “You guys better buckle up.”

“Why?” Bailey asked with a curled lip.

“I knew he’d come for her,” Tanner said while shifting his gaze my way. “But now he’s going to bring hell with him.”

Like some divine intervention, chaos erupted then. Hurried footsteps echoed overhead while a loud roar rumbled through the ground. That was followed by the sound of gunfire.

Bailey jumped around the room like a rabbit searching for a way out of its hole, and Mother clung tighter to my arm. But it was Tanner whose eyes mine locked with—neither one of us needed to say a word to know what the other was thinking.

He's here.

Two seconds later, the door burst open, banging loudly off the wall. Mother shuffled in front of me while Bailey screamed at the gory man that sauntered in.

Logan shook his head at Bailey’s hysterics. “Clam down pigtails. It’s not all my blood.”

I was with my roommate on this one. Logan looked terrifying. His clothes were soaked in blood, as were parts of his blonde hair, and I’m pretty sure he was holding someone’s fingers in his hand.

Bailey’s wide eyes grew bigger. “Did you just survive a horror movie?”

“Sweetheart,” Logan shot her a wink. “I was the horror movie.”

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