Page 67 of Breaking Conviction
“What about you? What kind of life doyouwant?”
Naomi blew out an exhale. “Well, I want a good home for Thea. I want her to have two parents who love her and adore each other—”
“No, what doyouwant? Foryourlife?”
Naomi blinked, so thrown off by the question, she answered honestly. “I… I’m not sure I’ve ever really thought about it. Definitely not since Thea was born.” She massaged her temple. “Honestly, ‘out of wedlock’ wasn’t really in the plan, so baby girl threw me for a loop.”
Wes nodded. “Same for my mom. I was a surprise... and an anchor.” His lips tightened and she suspected there was much more that he wasn’t ready to say yet.
“Well, I went to school for business, but had to drop out after havin’ Thea. Momma cut me off. My sins were too great, I guess.”
Wes growled, but she was over it. There was no love lost in that particular relationship. The mother she’d adored had loved her father more than anything. Now she only loved herself, even at the detriment of her own daughter and granddaughter, and Naomi wouldneverunderstand that.
“As for what I want now… I like workin’ for Gail. She’s an incredible mentor. ‘Pre-T’ I wanted to be a CEO. I’ve always had ideas runnin’ ‘round in my head. But I guess they slowed to a stop when it wasn’t just me I had to think about.”
He nodded in a way that suggested he might truly know where she was coming from. “Family’s important, but you have to remember the oxygen mask.”
Naomi gave him a small smile.
“Mommy, I’m done.”
Naomi broke out of Wes’s hold. She wasn’t with Thea’s father anymore, had cut him loose a lot earlier than two and a half months ago when he’d beaten her so badly, but Thea was too young to understand. Naomi wasn’t ready for the “Wes is Mommy’s special friend” conversation.
“Take your plate to the sink and let’s get you ready for bed, okay?”
Thea groaned while literally dragging her feet and her teddy bear to the sink. Wes chuckled with his arms crossed as they watched her theatrics. As soon as Thea got the plate into the sink, she looked up at them with her big hazel eyes before shoving Angus under her arm and grabbing Wes’s hand in an awkward angle to accommodate the bear.
“I’ll go to bed, but I want Wes to read me my story.”
Naomi’s eyes widened. “Oh, so this is a negotiation?”
Thea nodded, although Naomi was quite sure the girl didn’t know what a ‘negotiation’ even was, but Wes just laughed.
“Fine by me, Princess T. But you gotta listen to your mom until then, okay? After you do everything she wants you to, I’ll read whatever story you want. Deal?”
“Really? ‘Kay!” Thea jumped up and down and grabbed Naomi’s hand too before the three of them and Angus headed to their room. Wes made a quiet noise of surprise and Naomi watched as he looked down at his hand clasped around Thea’s with a curious expression on his face. After a beat, Thea looked up at him. “You’re supposed to squeeze it back,” she whispered.
Before Naomi could ask them what was going on, Wes smiled and opened the door to their new apartment.
Throughout Thea’s bedtime routine, Wes joked around at the breakfast table in the small apartment’s kitchenette and talked to them through the cracked bathroom door. When they were finished, Thea ran to the bed in herBravepj’s—the girl wasobsessed—and jumped onto the bed. She patted either side of her, demanding Naomi sit on the left and Wes sit on the right during story time.
As Wes read, Naomi grew entranced by his soothing baritone and how much Thea adored him. She was sprawled all over Naomi while flush up against Wes, and it filled an ache in Naomi’s heart that she hadn’t realized was there.
No, I realized it... I just didn’t want to acknowledge it.
Wes’s voice trailed off, bringing Naomi back in the moment to realize Thea was out like a light. Wes held a finger to his lips and pointed to the door and Naomi agreed to his silent invitation with a single nod. They gently extricated themselves from underneath Thea’s wild limbs before Naomi followed Wes out the door. She turned off the light and paused before closing the door.
Thea’s red angelic curls spread out across the pillow, shining from the sliver of light coming from the hallway. Naomi’s heart squeezed with love before she closed the door and followed Wes.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Her feet padded softly on the concrete floor, but the noise echoed against all the hard empty interior. The floor was a ghost town.
“Where is everybody?”
Wes checked an app on his phone. “Hawk’s, uh… downstairs. But other than that, looks like it’s just us. A lot of times after a mission, the crew kind of separates and does their own thing. Lets off some steam.”
“A mission?” she asked, a spark of fear igniting. That familiar need to both know everything and nothing at the same time shot through her.
