Page 89 of Protector

Angel sank down to his knees and pulled me into his arms, giving me permission to fall apart. My hiccupping sobs were punctuated only by my gasps for air. This was worse than the pain I’d endured last night. This was the kind of hurt that consumed a soul.

I would’ve taken on a thousand Cobras for them; would’ve let them break my body apart again if it meant my little girls were safe. I’d thought that afternoon in the orchard was my breaking point, but it was here.

The dam inside my chest broke open, and the pain that I’d carried for six years came rushing out in the form of tears. Every drop a cruel reminder that life would never be what I wanted it to be; no matter how hard I fought.

“I got you, girl,” Angel murmured, rocking me back and forth like a small child.

“I—can’t,” I whimpered. “I can’t—lose them.”

He sniffed. “I let Jamie know… he’ll know what to do.”

The tears eventually stopped, leaving me numb again. I kept my head down, focusing on a small blue stain on the carpet left behind by Dakota’s marker. It didn’t matter how many times I said that they were only to be used at the kitchen table, any given day I could walk in and find her happily coloring on the floor.

“How do I do it? How do I tell them they can’t live with me anymore?”

“You don’t.”

I jerked my head up to see Jamie standing at the back door, chest rising and falling rapidly.

“You’re here,” I whispered.

“Got here quick,” Angel stated flatly. “It ain’t good, kid. What she doesn’t have on us, she’s willing to get her rich friends to say she does.”

“She’s going to take them,” I whispered. “And I can’t do anything to stop it.”

Angel got to his feet and stomped toward the door.

“Where the hell you goin’?” Jamie snapped.

“Ain’t fuckin’ sittin’ around twiddling my thumbs. I’m gonna reach out to Wolverine and see who we know. Then, I’m bustin’ my girls out of class and takin’ them for ice cream and a movie. Fuck what that cunt says!”

The door slammed shut behind him, rattling the glass in the picture window.

“Come here.” Jamie lifted me into his arms and walked down the hall to our bedroom. After placing me on the bed, he rocked back onto his heels. “Tell me everything.”

His blue eyes seemed to darken more with every word I said until his body was taut with fury. I scrambled back toward the headboard when he went for his gun, checking the chamber and clicking various things into place.

“Uh, Jamie? What are you doing?”

“Gonna blow their brains out, darlin’.”

I swallowed. “Well, she sort of accounted for that and has police protection—”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” he roared before shoving it back into the holster. “I’ve always had the right people in my pocket, until now. And if she had this kind of power all along, why the fuck didn’t she use it to keep you away from me?”

Regardless of what my mother thought about me, I knew the things I’d sacrificed for my daughters. I knew the lengths I would go to just to keep them safe.

Why hadn’t my parents done the same for me?

Until now, I’d been holding back my tears in my struggle to stay in control. As the severity of what she was doing hit me, I slumped against the pillows behind me, feeling myself slipping away again, back into the darkness I’d desperately fought to escape.

My mind had become a narrow hallway with no clear exit, churning my stomach with the realization that I was trapped.

“Celia?” He was right in front of me, but his voice sounded as if it was miles away.

I was pulled from my stupor when the backs of Jamie’s boots connected with my slippers, sending him stumbling into the dresser. A bottle of perfume fell to the carpet and rolled toward the wall, and I watched it curiously before looking up at him.

He carefully studied my face with an unreadable expression before storming into the bathroom to turn on the faucets above the tub.

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