Avenging Angel (Pounding Hearts 5)

Shaking her head, she starts to walk back, and I look at Casey. “Be nice.”

“Of course, I’m not a total jerk,” he says before he gives me a smirk. “But I’m not calling her Dad.”

“What?” I ask, confused. “Why the hell would you call her Dad?”

“Cause you’re my mom,” Casey laughs.

“You little fucking…” I trail off as Bree’s eyes widen even more at the way I start to swing at Casey’s head.

“Don’t let him hurt me, Bree!” Casey cries out before he runs back into the room, acting like I beat him or something.

“What the hell?!” Bree asks, looking between Casey and me as if we’re crazy.

Reaching out, I try to grab her hand, but she snatches it away before I can make contact.

What the fuck?

“Bree,” I say, “What are you doing here?”

And why the fuck can’t I touch you? I want to ask, but I keep my question silent. I need to know what the fuck is going on and looking desperate to feel that connection we shared is not going to help.

“You’re hitting Casey?” she asks, staring at me with accusing eyes.

“What?” I blink

“He is!” Casey wails from the room behind me.

Ah, fuck.

“No, I’m not. Well, not with any real harm. He keeps calling me Mom…” I say, and feel like a fucking idiot.

But what the fuck? She doesn’t need to know this shit. She doesn’t have any say in what Casey and I do anymore.

“Why is he calling you Mom?” she asks, the anger in her voice slowly abating.

“Why the fuck are you here?” I ask, and fuck, now it looks like I slapped her across the face.

Those might not have been the best words to use. From the way tears instantly appear in her eyes, I can tell she’s already hurting as much as I’ve been.

“I… I…” she stutters, and then looks around the room.

She looks like a scared rabbit ready to bolt at any second.

“You what?” Casey asks as he comes to stand beside me.

I want to gather her up in my arms. I want to sweep her up and kiss those plush lips with every ounce of my being. But I need to hear her words, I need to understand how she could leave us.

I have to restrain every single instinct to take her back because I saw what she did to Casey.

She looks at Casey and me. I know she can see that she fucked us both up and that she’s gotta win us both back. If she’s even here to do that. She could have come back just to tell us to fuck off and leave her alone…

We all just stare at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Someone starts pounding on the door behind Bree, causing us all to jump.

“Five minutes, Angel!” Chase shouts through the door.

“Angel?” Bree shakes her head at the name. “Who’s Angel?”