“Theo?” I ask sharply.
She swallows audibly and looks back at me, uncertain. “Yeah. When everything ended, it didn’t end nicely. He hurt me, and I know you probably don’t care because you’re Bri’s brother, and that’s okay, I just—I know I kept making noises like you were hurting me, and I thought I should explain why.”
I stare up at the ceiling, suddenly wide awake. “Did he hurt you before?”
“No. It was just after I told him I was pregnant. He completely changed. Before, he was nice to me, but that made him desperate and ugly, and…” She shakes her head, falling quiet for a minute before finally saying, “I probably shouldn’t even be surprised he hoped I’d die after that. I think he thought about killing me himself.”
He did, but I don’t tell her I know that. There’s no reason for her to suspect Theo would’ve told me as much as he did, and the only thing verifying that would accomplish is hurting her feelings.
On instinct, though, I tell her, “You stay away from Theo from here on out. I don’t expect you’ll ever see him again, but if you do, you keep away from him, you hear me?”
“I will,” she answers, her voice still small.
“I’m not saying it to lecture you,” I tell her, pulling her toward me again so she’ll face me. “Roll over, look at me.”
She sighs, but she rolls over and curls up against me like she was before I made her mad.
“A cornered animal can be dangerous, and Theo knows you could cost him a lot if anyone but me found out about you. That’s another reason you need to stay put here. As long as you’re in my house, you’re in my hands, but if you get away, your fate’s up in the air. I don’t know what Theo would do if he saw you again, and I don’t think we should find out.”
Alyssa nods her understanding. “I already told you, I never want to see him again. I meant that.”
“Good,” I tell her, relaxing my arm around her.
“I’m sorry I ever let anything happen with him,” she mutters.
“Good,” I say again.
Sighing huffily, she says, “He’s such a stupid jerk.”
I crack a smile. “On that, we can agree. Useless little prick. I wish my sister would get rid of him.”
After a minute, she asks, “Do you think she would, if she knew about me?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I like to think she would, but I could be wrong. Either way, it’d cause her a lot of hurt.”
“Yeah,” she says quietly. After pondering for a minute, she asks, “Do you think it’s selfish that I want to keep my baby?”
I look over at her, at those big, pleading eyes, searching for someone, anyone to tell her she’s not wrong. “No,” I tell her, and I mean it. “I don’t think that’s selfish at all.”
Her eyes brighten a little, and a tiny smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. “Okay. I’ll let you get some sleep now.”
I let my head drift over closer until it’s on the edge of the pillow, right next to hers. “Good night, Alyssa.”
“Good night, Brant.”
4
Brant
When morning comes and Alyssa’s still asleep in the bed beside me, I breathe a little easier. I climb out of bed, careful not to wake her, and go in to take a shower, taking the key to the chest with me.
I bathe as quickly as I can, then pull on clean jeans and a T-shirt. I’m still running my fingers through my dark, damp hair when I walk back into the bedroom and my heart damn near stops.
She’s gone.
Her spot on the bed is empty.
My heart jolts back to life, racing so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t explode.
“Shit,” I mutter, tucking the chest key into my pocket and running out of the room.
I hustle down the steps, trying to think how long I was in the shower. She couldn’t have made it too far. Not only is she naked with no clue where she is, I wasn’t in the bathroom for long. As long as she wasn’t faking sleep and didn’t make a run for it as soon as she heard the water turn on, I can probably catch up to her.
“Fuck,” I mutter when I realize I forgot to grab my phone off my nightstand. Then horror dawns on me, because maybe she took it. Maybe the cops are on their way right fucking now. I never grab my phone until I’m about to leave, so I didn’t even think about it when I went to shower, but it was right there on the nightstand where she could have easily grabbed it if she woke up and I wasn’t in the room.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” When I get to the kitchen, I see the door cracked open and my heart sinks. “Goddammit,” I mutter before walking toward it.