Page 8 of Breaking Conviction
“It’s on the house,” Ellie’s soft voice and smile interrupted her, like that was the answer to the problem they were causing. Thea alternated between laughter and shrieks as she jumped up and down on the beanbag, barely keeping her balance.
The insistence stabbed at her pride and she almost opened her mouth to object with, ‘We don’t need your freakin’ charity.’ But just as soon as the self-righteous, misplaced anger flitted across her mind, Naomi stopped, almost laughing out loud at her ridiculousness. She was quite literally using the services of their nonprofit, aka charity.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at herself and her Santa-sized mixed bag of emotions, she still objected, because they obviously didn’t understand where she was actually coming from.
“No, Ellie, that’s not the issue—”
Thea’s cut-off scream interrupted them, and Naomi locked her gaze on her daughter. Snake was crouched over, groaning like he’d been somehow kneed in the crotch and T was scrambling across the play area on her hands and knees, her eyes wide and lips trembling as she cowered away from Snake. Her terror had Naomi instantly in momma-bear mode against the man, even though he hadn’t done anything to deserve it.Yet.
“Sorry.” Thea’s voice came out uncertain, like it did every time Dean was about to blow up about something.
Naomi took a step to protect her daughter from whatever wrath this man was about to bring. He was doubled over as if in pain, but God help him if he snapped at her little girl. Getting kneed in the balls would be the least of his problems.
A low rumbling escaped him, halting her mid-step at the odd reaction.
“Oof, you got me good, princess.” The pained chuckles continued, and when Naomi met T’s eyes, she had no doubt that Thea’s expression was a mirror image to her own confused look. Naomi tried to smile to ease Thea’s mind, and it must’ve worked because soon, giggles tinged with nervousness bubbled from her before she stood back up.
“Okay, but Wes has to come!”
Wes? Wow, I like that much better…She cringed.No, better stick with Snake. It’s… easier.
The thought tickled her mind and she locked it down before letting her shoulders rise and fall with frustration. It didn’t matterwhatshe thought of his name. She shouldn’t think anything about him at all. If she allowed a man with his charm into her life, there was no telling what she would do or the repercussions that came with it.
She wanted to object more, but hell, she hadn’t seen Thea that excited in a while. Even at the tender age of four, the girl was a certified shopaholic, and would be inconsolable if Naomi told her no. There was no way Naomi could handle seeing a look like that on her baby’s face again today.
Maybe I can hide the stuff in the trunk… would he check there?
She had to figure something out because Dean couldn’t know where they’d been. She’d said she just needed a drive to clear her head. The shopping cover might work for other people, but her injuries looked so bad, he’d know something was up if she told him they went shopping. Nora had to understand, right? So why had she suggested it? Was there some other motive?
Thea’s squeal snapped Naomi from her mental spiral. Not everyone was out to get her, for chrissakes.
When did I stop trusting everyone? This is ridiculous.
Thea launched herself at Wes again and took him by the hand, totally ignoring that the man was still slightly hunched over in pain. But Wes’s smile was wide and Naomi felt her lips attempt to mirror his before she schooled her expression. The extra-strength Advil that Devil had left her before they went into the office was thankfully kicking in. The emotion on her face only hurt slightly rather than unbearably, but still, she couldn’t let him—or Thea, for that matter—know the effect Wes had on her.
“All right, let’s go, Babs.”Babs? I thought her name was Jules…“I gotta get my favorite boss ass bitch back to the office before your fiancé decides to unalive me for keeping you from him.”
Thea led the parade quickly down the back halls, leaving Naomi to blindly stumble on as she navigated her way with her hand against the wall. She followed T’s spirited chatter until she finally reached the thrift store.
It was nicely laid out, brightly lit, with tons of options for clothes and household items. She absentmindedly ran her hand along a sleeve of a soft sweater and if her blurry vision was correct, found what looked to be a brand-new tag.
“What do ya think?”
Naomi jumped and clapped her hand against her chest. Nora was in no way intimidating—at least not size-wise—but she’d rounded a clothing rack without Naomi realizing it and being snuck up on, even unintentionally, always set her on edge.
“You got this, Nora?” Jules asked cryptically before walking away like she already had the answer. “I’ve gotta check something real quick before we go.”
“Yeah, Babs, I got this. So… what do ya think?” Nora asked again, but Naomi was still confused.
“Uh, what do I think about what? The store?”
Naomi’s pain might have lessened, but her sight was still poor. She tried to analyze the look on Nora’s blurry face, but thankfully, Nora shared her thoughts.
“Yeah... sorry about getting Thea all riled up, but I wanted a chance to chat with you more privately. I didn’t realize she loved shopping so damn much.”
“The girl’s got an addiction. She’d live in the mall if she could.” Naomi’s chuckle was strained as she tried not to dwell on the fact that there had indeed been an ulterior motive. Although, ulterior didn’t always mean abadmotive.
“We’re always lookin’ for volunteers, ya know. Sometimes I have to twilight as a sales associate on the floor, so I’m tryin’ to recruit all the talent I can get to help a sister out.”
