I leaped for my cabinet where I knew my special sat.
“Don’t bother, momma bear, I took that one off your hands.” I pulled at the cabinet anyway and felt my heart sink when I found it empty. He’d climbed up the goddamned balcony. I turned to see Amber paling rapidly as she snatched Joseph from the highchair and hugged him to her chest.
Laz glared at her with disgust, his voice filled with the promise of punishment. “I fucking knew it, you lying bitch.”
Amber started rambling nervously as Joseph looked at his father, clearly sensing the tension. “Da!”
Amber began rambling quickly. “Laz, I just got him. I just wanted to get him used to me again.”
“So, you had to lie about it?” Laz dipped down to be eye level with Joseph, who gave him a sideways smile before burying his head in his mother’s chest. Laz ignored his son’s dismissal and lifted accusing eyes at Amber. “You think I didn’t know the minute my son crossed state lines? Fucking stupid.” It was if the devil himself had walked into my house. Dressed in blue jeans, a T-shirt, and boots, he towered over my sister in silent threat. His menacing presence pushed my fear into the back seat as I braced myself for his wrath.
“It was my fault. I told her to lie to you.” Laz turned his volatile eyes in my direction. He looked sick. His skin was gray, and his hair was a slick mess. He was beauty hidden behind his disgusting drug. The best years of his life had been wasted, as was he.
“Of course you did. We’ll get to you soon enough. That’s a promise, Red.” Laz moved toward Amber and gripped her chin. “Get your fucking shit and get in the car.”
Amber’s first tears appeared. “No, Laz, please, we’re happy here. Please, we can work this out!”
“This isn’t his home, Amber. And if you think for one fucking second I’m about to let this happen, you’re wrong.”
“Please,” she pleaded. “I have a job here, and Joseph loves the water.”
“Get. Your. Fucking. Shit. Amber.”
Amber glanced my way with fear-covered features as the light in her eyes dimmed.
“They aren’t going anywhere.” Laz’s head snapped to me as I made a move to my kitchen drawer, grasping at straws for anything I could find. I managed to find a meat mallet before I felt his fingers grip my neck.
“Laz, don’t!” Amber shrieked, and a startled Joseph jumped in her arms and began to cry.
Laz spun me to face him, the ominous twist in his lips a preview of what he had planned for me. All the scenarios that Cedric and I had prepared for slipped through my open fingers like sand because I’d let my guard down for a moment to live in it. I didn’t know why I hadn’t learned my lesson.
I was never supposed to be happy.
I was never supposed to have a family.
I would never have a second reality. My mother’s words hit me like bricks as dread filled me. I looked over to Amber whose face was twisted in horror. She loved me, despite my failure to save her from a living hell. She still loved me. And her little boy had the possibility of a future without a trace of Dyer in it. Maybe I was never meant to have family or a second reality. But I would make sure Amber did. Even if it cost me my last breath.
Laz’s grip tightened on my neck as he eyed the metal in my hand with a devilish smirk. “What are your plans for that, sweetheart?”
“Bury it in your skull, asshole.” His fingers tightened as Amber screamed out another plea. Joseph wailed as I looked over at a helpless Amber, who clutched her son.
“Go, Amber.” She shook her head, our argument pointless. “Go, get your stuff.”
“Yeah, Amber,” Laz said, his focus solely on me, his nicotine-tinged breath hitting my face, “go get your stuff.”
I faced Laz, who had me tight in his grip, my back folded over the counter top. “Your move, Red.”
Fury raced through me as I did my best to push him back to swing the mallet. Laz laughed, and my stomach rolled as he kept me pinned tightly.
“How will this end, Taylor?” Laz leaned in close, our eyes locked in battle. I pushed my fear down, my need to protect Amber and Joseph outweighing any thought of self-preservation.
“You’re going to have to kill me to get them out of this house.”
His fingers cut the rest of my breath as he spoke. “And you think I won’t?”
I flailed beneath him and brought my knee up between his parted legs. He managed to move before I could land a blow. He gripped my forearm and slammed it against the counter top until I dropped the mallet. “Just so you know, baby, I took the liberty and ended your relationship for you. He’s resting peacefully in your favorite elevator. Bay Street, right?”
No.