Page 27 of Test the Ice
I inch toward my apartment door. “Have you been having someone follow me around?”
My legs are heavy as I take another step away from him. The knot in my stomach tightens when he clicks his tongue and smirks.
There is no fear as powerful as the thought of someone taking your child from you.
“I asked you who he is. Is he a one-night stand? I sure hope you don’t get pregnant again.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat and open my mouth. “What if I tell you he’s my boyfriend? Would that make you leave me alone?”
Anger brews in his eyes, the blue becoming as dark as a midnight storm. “You think just because you call him your boyfriend that means anything?” He laughs sarcastically. “How long have you known him? An hour? That’s how long you knew me before you were opening up those legs.”
This bastard.
“I’ve known him for years,” I lie right through my teeth. “You’d know that if you actually knew me.”
Benedict’s upper lip rises with obvious irritation. He takes a step toward me, and I panic, but at the last second, the apartment door swings open, revealing Zoe holding Charleigh. She’s in her pink footy pjs with her wild dark hair hanging in her eyes. I smile when our eyes lock, her expression matching mine.
She babbles while bucking against my sister’s hip. “Ma–ma–mama.”
“Hi, sweet pea,” I coo.
“You need to leave.” Zoe pops her hip out with an edge of anger to her tone, and I take Charleigh from her.
I glance over my shoulder at Benedict. He’s glaring at Zoe, and surprise, surprise, he completely ignores Charleigh.
“You going to make me?” he asks.
A challenge flashes over my sister’s face.Oh no.
Benedict knows that Zoe and I come from a different background. When he was opening presents on Christmas morning from Santa, Zoe and I were cleaning up our father’s vomit on our living room floor from his drunken rage the night prior. When someone knocked on our front door, it wasn’t a delivery man with a package of goodies; it was someone demanding money—or worse, CPS.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him or me when Zoe disappears for a moment and pops back up with a baseball bat in her hands.
“I can definitely make you leave.” She twirls the baseball bat in her hands, and all I can think is,where the hell did she get a baseball bat?
“You’re fucking crazy,” he mumbles.
Zoe hauls the bat up higher with Charleigh eagerly reaching for it.
Benedict slowly backs away, shifting his gaze in between us. “A baseball bat when I’m just trying to see my daughter…” He acts appalled, his head shaking back and forth.
“You are not here to see your daughter,” Zoe argues. “You know it, I know it, Reese knows it, and it won’t take Char long to figure it out too.”
“Zoe.” My heart pounds with the realization that Benedict is cataloging every last interaction between us so he can compile it all into a nice and tidy folder if he ever decides to follow through on his threat. “Stop.”
My sister’s steps falter, the bun on top of her head bouncing from the sudden movement. “Please tell me you’re not siding with him.”
Of course I’m not.
She knows me better than that.
I give her a look, stressing my quiet thoughts. She eventually rolls her eyes before putting the bat back where she found it and disappearing into our small living room.
I move Charleigh to my other hip and glance at Benedict once more before quickly shutting the door and fumbling with the lock.
Zoe flops onto the couch and puts her long legs on the Goodwill coffee table we snagged weeks prior. An empty babybottle, binky, and three toys are scattered on top. “Is it bad to wish death on someone?”
I sigh. “Yes.”
