Page 78 of Severed Rivalry
My arm is asleep. It’s numb and on fire at the same time, but I say nothing. She’s in my arms. Phase one is done. Fifteen years from start to finish.
I’ll wait that long for phase two, but I really hope I don’t have to.
She’s fallen back to sleep. I only know because her mouth popped open like children on television do, or like baby pictures on the internet.
Women who are faking it put a soft, pretty look on their faces. This is not that. It’s deep and restful and, thank fuck, real.
Liam hasn’t left. It’s not invasive. Two weeks ago or two months ago, it would’ve been, but now I feel safe. Sariah isvulnerable and so am I. My brother stepping up is what I didn’t know I needed.
Mom never returned. I don’t know whether Dad would deign to show. He had his own hospital visit followed by a return to normalcy that included blowing up my phone with messages on why he was locked out of the business computers and accounts.
I can feel my blood pressure rise, so I take deep rolling breaths and fight to regain my peace and focus on what matters… Sariah’s face on my pec, her shoulder burrowed under my arm pit. Her arm wrapped low on my waist and her knee cocked on my quad dangerously close to my balls. Her breath moves in and out across my chest.
Peace.
Fucking heaven.
I make eye contact with my brother and he grabs his phone, tapping the screen before mine vibrates and I reach for it.
Liam: Happy for you. Been a long time coming.
Me: Too long.
One handed texting is tough, and I won’t risk waking the woman in my arms.
“Is Renée safe?” I ask as quietly as I can.
My brother stares at his phone, pushes his fingers across the screen, and lifts his chin. “She’s playing on her phone. The grandmother is cooking. Nothing else to report.”
I allow another deep breath and exhale in acute relief. Sariah will need to go soon. I hate to lose her, but duty calls. At least I know all’s well.
And because of that, I rub her arm that’s wrapped across my body. “Angel?”
“Hmm?”
“Baby, wake up.” I say it gently because I don’t want to scare her.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Talk to Liam, okay?”
I slide out of bed in my gown and sleep pants and stumble tothe bathroom hoping I get feeling back in that dead arm. I’ve never experienced this level of asleep before.
I relieve myself but not until after I settle from the image that looks back at me from the mirror. I’m black and blue again, though more brutal in appearance. One eye stares back at me.
I fight not to pity myself, though it toys with me.
I’m a fighter.
I’m a survivor.
I choose to rise above.
Right here, right now, I choose it—Phoenix Consulting. From the ashes of my dad’s burned-down reputation, from the ruins of this family, I will rise.
I might as well hear theRockytheme music when I’m walking out, because I’m on top of the world.
Until I see Sariah’s face, blanched of all color, fear dancing malevolently in her eyes.
