Limitless Love (Lotus House #4)(39)

“You were a good-for-nothing boring bitch of a wife. I hated every day of being married to you. I have more fun in the sack with your sister than I ever had with you. You disgust me. And the second you leave your house and you’re all alone,” he taunted, “I’ll get you back under me. Only, this time, I’ll be having all the fun.” His promise slithered up my spine and clenched around my heart so tight I could barely breathe.

A sob tore through me. “No.” I shook my head and fell to my knees, the cold tile and harsh fall barely registering.

“Fuck, babe!” Clayton was there, curving protectively around me and trying to grab for the phone.

I shook my head and shivers racked my frame violently.

“Yes!” His tone was confident, bordering on arrogant. “And when you’re dead, Matisse will get your child and all the money she should have had. Sleep with one eye open, Monet. I’m coming for you,” he sneered and laughed hard before the line went dead.

I dropped the phone, and it clacked to the ground and bounced, a piece flying off it. Strong arms came around me from behind.

“Monet, baby, please. Get up.”

I couldn’t move. The tears poured from my eyes, my fingers grasped for anything to hold on to, but instead there was nothing. Nothing but the cold, hard tile below my palms.

“He’s going to get me. He’s going to kill me. Oh my God.” The words left my mouth on a screech. But Clayton was there. He pulled me into his arms so we faced each other. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he lifted me off the ground as if he’d had practice doing it. He moved smoothly, taking care not to jerk or jostle my body too much.

“Moe…” Mila said, her hand grasping for mine.

I pulled my hands away and fisted them. “No, he’ll get you too. Don’t touch me!” I cried out, attempting to kick and push off the steel bands that had me wrapped up.

“Stop struggling. Stop it, Monet. It’s me. Clayton. Beautiful, I’m here. I’ve got you.”

I shook my head, his words not hitting their mark. “No. He’s going to kill me.”

His head pressed against mine so his lips were touching my ear. I shivered.

“Atlas, see to our guests while I take care of Moe and put her to bed.”

“Got it,” he called out.

“He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me.” The words fell from my lips over and over as Clayton held me and walked through the house and down the hall.

His hand locked around the nape of my neck while he rested his head alongside mine. “No one’s going to kill you. No one is going to so much as touch a hair on your head. I fucking swear it!” he growled as he pushed open my bedroom door and kicked it shut.

With harsher strides than he’d used before, he stomped over to my bed, turned, sat down, and pushed back until we were against my pillows, where he laid us both out flat. Me on top of his body. I shook uncontrollably, every word Kyle said running through my system like hot lava. Clayton tugged the side of the comforter up and covered us with it. A blanket of warmth shrouded over me, and I tucked my body in tighter, bringing up my knees alongside Clayton’s hips and cowering into his body.

Clayton whispered words of comfort, caressed my sides, my arms, and head as I shook.

“You’re okay, beautiful.”

He ran a hand down my side. I trembled, trying to let go, but failed.

“I’m here.” A promise.

I shook my head against his chest as tears leaked out and wet his shirt. The sobs tore through my lungs as Kyle’s words shredded my battered psyche once more.

Clayton held me through it all, allowing me to get it out.

I’m not sure how long I lay there and cried while he comforted me. I didn’t even hear everything he said to me until the following words entered my emotional haze.

“You’re safe.” Another promise I couldn’t dare to believe.

He pressed his lips against my temple as I gripped his ribs and focused on his heart.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

“I’ll protect you.”

A long, heavy breath left my lungs as I warmed, the tears drying up and Kyle’s words fading out while Clayton’s seeped in. His heartbeat, his caress, and his words lulled me into a dreamlike state until I finally relaxed. The trembling stopped, my muscles twitching and easing along with the rest of me.

Clayton paired his breathing with mine and I nuzzled into his form, rubbing along his solid frame. He was safety. As long as I stayed with him, I had nothing to fear.

“What did he say to you?” he asked after what had to be at least thirty minutes of us lying there.

I mulled over the conversation, trying to use a blind perspective as I would when giving therapy to my clients. Remain separate from the equation, don’t step into the client’s shoes, be thoughtful but considerate. Give the client something to think about, tools to figure out their own problems and manage their lives in a healthy way. That’s what I was supposed to do. Needed to do in order to get through this and find perspective.

Do not let Kyle control you. You are in control of your reactions.

I cleared the scratchiness from my throat after my mental pep talk. “He said he was going to kill me.” Just the facts, Monet. Don’t put yourself in the picture. I continued. “Promised to take my baby and all of my money.” The agony at the mere thought of losing Lily shredded my therapeutic approach, and the tears formed again.