re jealous because he had chosen her. She had heard the rumors about him though. Rumors that made her fearful of him. She had overhead her mother arguing with her father about her marrying him. She didn’t want it for Disa. They didn’t need for her father to become an elder. She turned her face to mine. “And I wanted you.”

I kissed her nose and tucked her safely into my side, letting her continue to talk about him and her life at the compound.

“Men had all the power,” she said. “I still remember what my father told my mother. “Remember your place woman.” A tear escaped Disa’s eye and I wiped it way. “She tried, Ben when Daddy died. She tried to protect Merci from him and he killed her for it. I have no proof of that but Merci thinks he did too.”

She sobbed against my neck. Her tears rolling down my throat. I tried to comfort her, but I had no words that would take away her sadness right now.

“I know you don’t want to stay home right now but it might be best. You could spend the day with Mom helping her watch Asia and Jeremiah.”

She nodded. “That’s what she said.” She sniffed back her tears.

“I missed everything a normal teenage girl gets to do. Football and basketball games. Homecoming and prom. I thought when I left the compound, finally I would have a normal life.”

“I know baby. I know.”

She pulled back from me. Her eyes, those beautiful crystal blue eyes of hers were filled with determination. “Ben, I won’t let him take away the life I’m building with you. I won’t let him make me a prisoner.”

I touched her cheek. “It’s just for a little while until we are sure you are safe.”

She huffed at me. Then she got up from the sofa and headed down the hallway to our room. I took Asia from Seth and finished giving her the bottle that she was taking when they came home. He sat down on sofa where Disa had been sitting.

“Well, how bad was it?” I asked.

“Just like she said. He just watched her all night,” Seth replied. “He’s a creepy bastard.”

Asia finished her bottle while Seth turned on the television. When she was done, I burped her and got up to carry her to bed. I thought one thing we could do that would help Disa was work on Asia’s bedroom this weekend. Maybe that would help her mood.

“Night Seth.”

“Night Ben.”

I carried my daughter to her room and laid her in her crib. In two weeks, I had a court date for her temporary custody appearance. Life needed to settle down. I didn’t need any drama before then. I didn’t need anything that would cause me trouble in court.

I kissed Asia on the forehead and laid her down. Then I walked out, leaving her door open not that I didn’t have the monitor. I just felt better knowing that there were no doors separating me from my child.

Disa was lying across the bed in her underwear when I went to our room. I didn’t shut the door again because I wanted to be close to Asia if necessary. Seth would watch television for a while possibly falling asleep in the living room. I didn’t think he could hear anything from the living room.

I slid across the bed beside her and laid my hand on her belly. “Are you, all right?” I asked.

She shook her head no.

“Do you want to decorate Asia’s room this weekend? That would take your mind off your troubles,” I told her.

She nodded yes.

“Talk to me,” I said.

She rolled to her side facing me and my hand slid to rest on the curve of her hip before it dipped to her slender thighs. She laid her head on her bent arm and her other arm rested in front of her.

“Ben, all I could think of all night long was that he is watching me,” she said. Her voice was shaking when she responded. She tried not to cry. “Why?”

“I don’t know baby. Maybe for this very reason, to unnerve you. He’s pissed. He lost Lilah and Merci.”

She moved closer to me and wrapped herself around me. I held onto her like she needed me to. Her lips against my shoulder made me inhale. I stroked her bare back above her bra strap wanting her to feel comforted and safe.

“Ben, make love to me,” she whispered near my ear.

I didn’t think it was a good idea. She did. She rolled me over and straddled me rubbing her palms across my nipples then her lips caressed my chest. I gripped her hips.

Tags: Lee Wardlow Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net