I peeked in at Frankie. I had to stifle a laugh when I found her facing the opposite end of her bed, sprawled out across it. She had one arm thrown over the side and a leg bent at an odd angle so her foot rested against the wall.
Not even sleep could keep that rambunctious child tamed.
My heart thrummed.
Love. Love. Love.
Pulling her door closed a fraction, I continued to edge down the hall, eager to start the day. Milo would need to be taken out.
On top of that? I figured Rex would love to have a fresh pot of coffee waiting for him when he woke.
Or maybe . . .
Maybe I would have one of Pepper’s breakfast pies ready. The kind my gramma had been known for most. It was close to a quiche, but the entire thing was topped with a flaky, delicious crust. People had come for miles to have it start their days.
A grin gripped my entire face when I thought of Rex’s reaction. The way he’d look at me when he stood all rumpled and sleepy at the end of the hall, finding me in his kitchen.
That man and his pie.
When he heard me approaching, Milo scrambled to his feet. Nails scratching at the wood floor, he scampered over to me. His tail and hind-end wagged all over the place, his whole body shaking.
“Morning, sweet boy,” I said. I scooped him into my arms. “I bet you need to go potty, don’t you?” I cooed, nuzzling my nose against the top of his head. He licked my chin.
I slipped on the flip-flops I’d left by the couch and grabbed his leash.
Right as I was reaching for the knob, light knocking sounded against the wood. It stopped me short. Ears perking up, Milo twisted in my arms, his attention trained that direction. I fumbled my fingers through his soft fur. “It’s okay, sweet boy. Let’s see who it is so they don’t wake up the whole house.”
I glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even seven in the morning. Frowning, I quickly and quietly twisted the lock, careful as I eased it open.
Confused, I blinked, trying to see through the bright sunlight that poured in from behind the figure on the porch.
A blazing silhouette just on the other side of Rex’s door.
I attempted to shake myself from the hallucination. To focus clearly. Desperate to find who was really there and not what my mind was taunting me into believing.
Bewilderment stirred through my brain, nudging at the recesses of my mind, prodding at every hurt I’d triumphed. Every fear that had attempted to hold me back. I could feel the trigger being squeezed. Shooting me straight into the worst kind of dream.
No.
I blinked at her.
No.
Movement at the end of the hall tore my attention from the figure standing on the porch. My mouth flapped open, questions wanting to pour out when I found Rex standing there, wearing only his jeans.
But I couldn’t say anything.
His own shock had frozen him in place, those sage eyes wider than I’d ever seen.
“Janel,” he finally rasped. Her name was barely audible, but it struck my world like an atomic bomb.
Detonating.
Exploding.
Destroying.
Slowly, I looked back at her. My knees went weak.
And the entire world dropped out from under me.
32
Rex
I could barely see through the fog. Through the haze of my mind.
Clouded.
Confused.
Hurt and hate. They spun through my spirit, a goddamned cyclone that blistered my blood.
I stood at the end of my hall staring at the woman who couldn’t be anything more than an apparition.
A fucking ghost. A demon cast from hell to torment the living.
Or maybe that was just where I’d been condemned.
Hell.
Punishment for giving up and giving in.
Because Rynna stood there, as shocked as I was, her knees going weak when Janel’s name finally tore through my lips like lead.
It might as well have been a bullet.
Rynna fumbled back a step. Her hand shot out to the wall to keep her from falling. Janel stared at her. Shocked. Angry. Jealous. I didn’t fucking know. All I knew was she finally said her name.
“Rynna?”
She said it like she knew her.
“What are you doing here?” Janel all of a sudden demanded, words a harsh breath.
Guessed that was what finally knocked me from the trance. The fact she had the audacity to come into my house and make any kind of claim. I angled forward, head cocked to the side as I stalked across the floor of my home.
My home.
Frankie’s home.
The home I had every intention of becoming Rynna’s, too.
“You really gonna fucking stand there and demand to know who’s in my house? Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?”
“Rex.” Janel’s blue eyes found mine. Wide and innocent. The way she’d always looked at me when she wanted something most. Which was usually about all the time. Maybe I didn’t recognize it until then. But there it was, the truth of it glaring back at me.