Page 20 of Stowaway Whirlwind
I watch Davis, looking for signs that he may go careening over the edge of sanity after having challenged him. My mind flicks to the gun I stole, wishing I knew where he hid it, but then my stomach drops when I remember it would be useless anyway without any bullets.
With increasing apprehension, I ask, “You do know that, right?”
His pupils dilate to swallow his green irises. Finally, he answers. “I may have lost my mind at the hospital, but there’s no taking it back now.”
“What does that mean? You ‘lost your mind’? What did you do?”
Davis blinks fast, his authoritative and defensive demeanor slowly dissolving into something I can’t read. “You didn’t fill out the birth certificate with Colton’s information.”
“Yeah…and?” My hands fist at my sides.As if I needed the reminder.
Davis clicks his tongue, his eyes darting back and forth between mine.
I tap my foot with impatience the longer he drags this out. Finally, my blood turns red-hot. “Answer me right now,” I whisper-hiss. “What. Did. You. Do?” My muscles coil, readying to launch myself at him depending on what he says next.
Davis’s chest puffs out as he drags in a deep breath, then exhales in a rush to say, “I filled it out with my information. As far as the law goes, and until someone challenges it in court and orders me to take a DNA test, Lily is mine.” He taps his calla lily tattoo on his left pec and doubles down. “Blood or no blood, she’s mine,” he says fiercely.
“You did what?” My chest heaves like I’m about to breathe out fire like the blue dragon in my favorite fantasy book, ready to burn him alive. I sound like a feral animal when I growl, haul my arm back, and slap the ever-loving shit out of his face before either of us can blink. “Why the fuck would you do that? Are you crazy?” That last one is a rhetorical question because clearly, he is.
Davis presses his hand to the side I slapped, sets his jaw, and says the last thing I could have expected. “And it’s a damn good thing I did because now she’s covered by my health insurance.”
I stop in the middle of hauling my hand back, ready to slap his other cheek. I cock my head to the side, sucking back the fire, my belly fluttering. “She is?”Holy shit.My heart beats faster with the bizarre mix of emotions. The fury is still there…and…and what else? Gratitude?Am I just as crazy as him?“That’s…” I struggle with what to say.
“Illegal? Incredibly fucked up? I know.” Davis rubs his cheek and eyes my hand still raised in the air. He lowers his voice, losing the biting edge. “I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not. At least, not about this.”
I finally lower my hand to my side and study him, my fury ebbing. I have no idea how I’m going to pay our hospital bills yet, and something soft settles inside my chest at the thought that Lily’s portion won’t be nearly as high. “No, I was going to say that’s, um, nice of you.”
“Nice of me?” Davis has the gall to look at me like I’m mental when he’s the one who belongs in an asylum or jail for the extremes he’s taken to keep his vow to take care of us. “I tell you that I fraudulently claimed I’m Lily’s father, and you think I’m beingnice? You’re just as crazy as me.”
“Fuck you, Davis!” This time, I follow through and slap his untouched cheek. “I’m not crazy!”I totally am.
“Goddamnit, woman, quit slapping me.” Davis hauls me up with his hands around my waist and throws me on the bed beside my bags.
I suck in a pained breath when I land on my back, my abdomen still so tender. I press my hands to my lower belly and draw my knees up, rolling onto my side in the fetal position.
Davis’s face goes stark white. “Fuck, Goldie, I’m so sorry.” He climbs on the bed to sit on his knees and leans over me, bracing one hand on the mattress and hovering the other above my middle, though he doesn’t touch me. “Are you ok?”
“No, I’m not ok!” I curl up smaller and close my eyes.
“Oh, fuck,” Davis hisses under his breath before he slips an arm under my knees and the other under my back, pulling me sideways on his lap when he shifts to sit on the edge of the bed. He presses a kiss to my temple. “I’m so fucking sorry I threw you on the bed, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I’m so stunned by the roller coaster of our altercation that I don’t even try to slap him again. My emotions are all over the place as he slips his shaking hand under my T-shirt to palm my bare, sore stomach. When I tip my head back to look at him, devastation is written all over his face.
My heart aches at the sight, and I slide a hand to the nape of his neck. “It’s ok,” I say with a whisper. “It was just for a minute. I’m ok now.”
He shakes his head and sniffles as he meets my eyes. “What I did…Don’t tell me it’s ok because it’s not, baby. Nothing about what I’ve done is ok.”
Davis
I’m a cretin. A dirty, rotten bastard, because when Goldie tips her head back after slipping her fingers into my hair, consolingme, I slowly lean in and kiss her as I pull her higher up my lap. My dick twitches at the feel of her plump ass pressing down against it. She pants and wiggles side to side after discovering how my body has inappropriately responded to her.
“I…fuck. I’m sorry. I have to go,” I say with growing panic, and I slide Goldie off my lap to the side. I dart into my closet to grab my duffel bag, which I hadn’t unpacked the night before,and then throw my cell phone and charger inside before hoisting it over my shoulder.
Goldie slowly stands and twists her hands together. “What are you doing?”
“I have to leave, baby.” I can’t stand the way her face falls. I pull her in for a quick kiss and immediately let go, stumbling back. “See? I can’t control myself when it comes to you. I have to go.”
She inches forward and tries to lay her hand on my chest. “You don’t have to. Really. We can talk this out.”
