Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(26)

“I’ll do that. We’ll discuss it tomorrow,” Rock replied, walking over to him. “You ready for the math test tomorrow?”

Brent nodded. “Yep. I’m gonna kill it.”

Rock bent down and kissed the top of his head. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Once Jimmy was in bed, I went to his side and ruffled his hair. Sometimes I felt like I was raising a good version of Preston. I remembered the wild child Preston was in high school, and Jimmy was nothing like that. But his facial expressions and mannerisms were so much like Preston’s. “Sleep tight,” I told him, and kissed his forehead. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” he said in a whisper. That was new too. He’d just been replying with his own “I love you” the past few months.

Once we had both boys tucked in, we cut the lights and closed the door.

Rock stood there with his hand on the doorknob once we were in the hallway. “That never gets old,” he said in a whisper.

He didn’t have to explain. I understood. Two years ago we were told that we could never have children. Having a family was something we both wanted. We wanted to create a world we ourselves had been cheated out of. We wanted to have a house full of love and safety to give to our kids—what we had always dreamed of having ourselves.

We had that now. We were not only able to have a family filled with all those things we had longed for, but we were able to give it to kids who had been living a life of hell much like the ones we had been raised in. They were here now, though, and they were ours. And never again would they suffer or fear or go hungry. We would love them always.

“We’re very blessed,” I agreed quietly.

Rock smiled at me. “Yeah, we are.”

Trisha

Eight years ago . . .

It was three days before Fandora came home. I had a doctor’s note for missing school, while Rock made Krit go every day while he stayed home with me. No matter how much I begged him to go to school, he just ignored me and acted like I hadn’t spoken. He was missing football practice, and he didn’t have an excuse for all the classes he was missing.

I was selfish to enjoy sleeping without fear and feeling safe. But Rock being there gave me both those things. Relying on that scared me. I didn’t know why he was doing this or when he was going to grow tired of it.

When Fandora had come into the house to find me on the sofa tucked in with a blanket watching television, and Rock sitting in the recliner, she had been furious. The shades of purple her face turned were impressive. I didn’t move. I just lay there in horror, waiting for her to lose it.

“You need to go buy groceries,” Rock informed her as he stayed relaxed in the chair beside me.

I stopped breathing. What was he doing? Did he not know this woman was crazy?

“Get out of my house or I’m calling the cops,” Fandora screamed at him.

Rock didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch. He couldn’t stay there forever, and at some point I would be left alone with this woman again. She would take this out on me.

“Rock, don’t—”

“I’m not going anywhere. You call the cops and I’ll be sure that they know you haven’t been home to check on your kids for three days. They’re running out of food. Trisha can’t take care of herself right now. So please, Fandora, call the motherf*cking cops. I’d love to talk to them.”

Fandora was frozen. She was furious, but she was also unsure how to handle this. No one had ever been here to correct her or demand anything of her before. As for threats, she wasn’t used to those, either. Except for Krit threatening to run away if she kicked me out.

“You will not stay in this house,” she hissed.

Rock shrugged. “Don’t see how I can leave. I leave and you will end up killing Trisha, and I won’t let that happen. ’Cause I swear to God if something happens to her, I’m going to the cops. And let me warn you, they love me. This town loves me. I think you got a taste of that at the hospital.”

Fandora looked at me and pointed at the door. “Out. Get out. I’m done letting you mooch off me. I’ve let you stay too long. Krit won’t leave me—he can’t, he’s a minor. But you get your ass out of my house. I’m done with you.”

Rock moved then. He was up so fast Fandora flinched. “You kick her out and Krit will leave too. Don’t f**king kid yourself, woman. That boy adores her and you know it. He hates you, though. He’ll leave too, and when they’re both gone you won’t get that monthly check from the state.”

Fandora threw her purse on the floor and screamed. “I hate her! She’s a slut and I want her out of my house!”

Rock scowled at her, then just looked disgusted. His gaze turned to me and softened. There was reassurance in his eyes. “I’ll go pack your clothes. You rest.”

Where was I going to go? What about Krit? Rock was right that he would leave. He’d demand to be where I was, and I didn’t know where I was going to be.

“Don’t speak to her. Don’t touch her. I’ll have you behind bars so damn fast you won’t know what hit you. When Krit leaves too, I won’t have anything keeping me from having your sorry ass locked up. I can get both your kids to go to the police and incriminate you enough to get you put away for a while.”