Page 9 of Dark Knight

“Why didn’t you call us?” the stepmother snaps, obviously having no idea who I am. “My number is in the front of her book.” Morris mutters something in her ear that has her face reddening as the daughters attempt to slink inside.

“Whatever you’re planning, ladies, I advise against it. Bea is under my protection now,” I warn, and it’ll be the only one they receive.

“What are you going to do, hit me?” the cocky one who insinuated Bea was faking her illness last night smarts.

“Test me and find out.” I raise a brow in challenge, and I see she wants to, but Morris shakes his head at her.

Everyone waits quietly and patiently now until Bea returns from the house with a small bag in her hands and a blanket. “I meant everything,” I tell her as she descends the steps and I reach for her belongings.

“This is everything.” Her shameful words only piss me off further.

“Morris, come see me this week. The sooner, the better.” He swallows before acknowledging me. From the looks on the faces of the women surrounding him, they’ve never seen him defer to someone before. I bet he’s about to have an enjoyable weekend of criticism and questions.

Chapter5

Bea

Sitting on the swing as Nolan and Sawyer search through the weeds near the water on the hunt for frogs, I observe them. I’ve never had anyone stand up for me before the way that Nolan did, so effortlessly and selflessly. It’s almost so foreign that I wonder if I only imagined it.

Maybe I’m dreaming?

If I am, I don’t ever want to wake up.

Nolan has a way of making me feel normal. Like I’m not broken. When he kissed me in front of everyone, I felt the panic growing, the anxiety of being a burden, and I knew without a doubt that another episode was about to occur.

Usually, I blink, and it’s happened. It’s not often I get a heads-up, but today, I did.

And his kiss stopped it cold.

Nolan did what no doctor, pill, or exercise ever has.

“So…” His voice draws me out of my thoughts as he approaches. Sawyer is playing in the sand with some shovels and buckets now. “You going to explain the name?”

Pushing me gently from behind, the chains of the swing squeak. “A parting gift from my birth mom.”

“Interesting choice.” There’s amusement in his tone.

“I guess.” I drop my head a bit as I close my eyes, absorbing the faint breeze brushing across my skin. “Flora didn’t want me to have Dad's last name, so I got to keep hers.”

“But why Bean?”

I’ve asked myself that a million times.

“I think it was a parting shot at Flora. Because of her name.” He makes a humming noise at that, but I don’t ask what he’s thinking. I’m not entirely sure I want to know.

“You made it stop,” I tell him after a few minutes, using my feet in the dirt to stop the swinging so I can stand and face him. “When you initially kissed me in front of everyone…I felt it coming on. There was a buzzing in my brain, and my eyes were cloudy, but then you kissed me again, and I didn’t forget.”

“That so?” I can read his face, so I confirm. Gripping the front of my shirt, he drags me closer. “Guess I’ll have to do that a hell of a lot more, then.”

His lips drop on mine, and I’m lost in his atmosphere. Holding on to Nolan, I have no idea what I’m doing. I’d never been kissed until I met him, and I’m learning as I go. Like flicking my tongue against his. I enjoy that, and from the growl rumbling from his chest and the way he wraps his free hand around my back to hold me closer, I think he does too.

My heart pounds inside my chest, beating almost painfully against my ribcage as my ears ring, and I feel the blood flowing through my veins, pumping so hard I ache all over.

Butterflies erupt in my stomach as I register his hard length pressing into me. Rubbing my thighs together, I try to squelch a hunger I’ve never felt before. It’s foreign and delicious, and I think I want more of it. I want to know where it leads.

“You’re going to get me into so much shit,” Nolan mutters against my lips. He doesn’t sound worried about that, though.

“Why?” I don’t understand how I could.

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