“We’ll see. Go find Rowan. We’ve got to go.”
“Her went outside because she can’t find her whistle. This one is mine,” she explained while showing us the shiny silver whistle. “Mommy put a O on it. Right, Mommy?”
“Yes, sweetie. I did,” I lied. Well, not lied. Just not remembered. I saw O’s and R’s on lots of things. As much as they fought, labeling their things was a must.
“Go help her,” Paxton ordered, his hand still holding my wrist. Ophelia walked away, marching to the tune of her whistle.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Paxton questioned as soon as she was out of earshot.
“Me?” I countered with a snort and a thumb to my chest. Really? He wanted to know who I thought I was?
“You think you can do whatever you want? You think that pussy belongs to you?”
“Well, yeah, I sort of do. What the hell do you expect?”
Paxton’s hand went around my throat in two seconds, my back crashed against the refrigerator, and his words were sharp, cutting me down to size. His size.
“You think you can use this to your advantage. This whole, ‘I can do what I want, because I don’t know anything’? You can’t, Gabriella Pierce. We had a deal. One that you’re not going to break. I own you. You do what I say. When I say it. If you come, it’s because I let you come. Nothing else. You need to get that, and you need to get it fast. I’m beginning to get annoyed with the whole thing. Learn your place and stay there before you get hurt.”
A tighter grip around my throat kept me from speaking. That and his lips. Paxton kissed me, sending my head into a whirlwind of emotions with a light bang against the fridge.
“Answer me, Gabriella. Tell me you understand what I’m saying to you.”
“Okay, yes,” I lied. I had no idea what the hell he wanted. I mean, I did, but I didn’t. I understood what he wanted. I just didn’t understand why.
“The only reason you’re leaving this house is because of those two little girls. If it wasn’t for disappointing them, you’d be staying right here. No more. You need to stop, and I’m not kidding when I say you’ll be staying home this evening. Screw up one time today and you’ll be home cleaning the toilet while the girls and I go to a barbeque. Okay? We’re good here?” Paxton questioned, one finger going from me to him. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I nodded my head in agreement.
“That’s my girl. Let’s get going. I need to run by a jobsite before the game.” And just like that, Paxton switched gears. From what I had learned from osmosis, I established a couple of things.
Paxton told me what to do.
I did it.
Paxton told me to jump.
I asked how high.
Paxton made my decisions.
I let him.
Paxton owned my body.
I was his slut.
Mind, body, and soul, he possessed me.
I couldn’t even open the car door by myself. It wasn’t meant to be sweet by any means. Maybe in the eyes of the beholder. Not mine. It was a power trip. I stood off to the side while Paxton buckled both girls into their seats. He may have been a horrible husband, but I had to admit, he was a very good daddy. My lips curled upward, hearing him answer Ophelia’s knock-knock joke.
“Oh, you got me. That was a good one.”
Ophelia giggled, shoulders bouncing up and down.
My smile vanished when he closed the car door and glanced at me. With one arm around my back, he pulled me toward his hard chest and grinned. “You can smile. I love your smile, and your lips.”
Of course I kissed him back. I don’t know why I did. I just did. Maybe I liked kissing him. Maybe it had something to do with my head injury. Whatever was going on was strange. Like unexplainable. The feeling a person gets when they’re in love, the newness of the relationship, and getting to know one another. Add that to a tornado of sexual tension, hate, lust, and spite. Something was bound to happen. An explosion.
Paxton opened my door and I slid in. Another kiss and he secured me to the front seat, just like he had the girls.
A hidden camera would have revealed a normal family. The girls talked nonstop with Paxton and me participating, back and forth with our daughters. Never to each other.
Even after we stopped off at Paxton’s jobsite, I still wasn’t sure what he did. The girls and I waited in the car while he walked around the back of a gorgeous coastal house. The landscaping was amazing. Exotic plants, meticulously placed to perfection.
“So, Daddy makes yards look pretty. That’s his job, right?” I questioned the girls.
“Daddy makes swimming pools,” Ophelia explained.
“And he plants stuff, too. Like that,” Rowan said, pointing to a tree full of red berries.
“Yeah, that was dumb. Why would you want a pepper tree right by your driveway?” A pepper tree? Why did I know that?
“All set. You girls ready to go hit a few home runs?” Paxton asked cheerfully as he slid behind the wheel.
“Mommy said that tree is dumb,” Rowan just had to go and say. Out loud.
“I planted that tree. Well, I had my guys do it, but it was my idea.”
“It’s dumb,” Ophelia said while giving her own two cents. Nobody asked for her opinion.
“What are they talking about?” Paxton questioned as we backed out of the drive.
“Nothing, I just didn’t understand why you would plant a pepper tree this close to parked cars.”
“Parked cars?”
“You do know what a pepper tree does, right?”
“I do. Do you?”
“Yes, they’re going to get forty feet tall and produce little red berries.”
Paxton cut me off before I could finish. “Beautiful red berries that will look awesome next to the palms.”
“And the bird shit all over the place.” My hand covered my mouth as soon as I said it. The girls giggled from the back seat. Even Paxton hid a smile. I’m sure more from their giggling than my bad word in front of them.
“I know what it does. I voiced that concern with the homeowners. They know,” Paxton assured me while taking my hand. “So you can remember what a pepper tree is, but you can’t remember who you are, or what your place is?”
“My place?”
“Forget it,” he said with quick glance to the backseat. He didn’t want to tell me my place again in front of the girls.
I didn’t need to hear it again, anyway. I’d heard it enough. Instead, I stared out the window, wondering the same thing myself. Why did I know what a pepper tree was, and how did I know birds were attracted to it? Paxton’s hand tightened around mine and I sighed, eyes shifting to our entwined fingers. Fake.
The charade continued once we’d gotten to the ball field, too. We sat in a huddle. Talk about a fish out of water. Everyone seemed to know me. I guess I wasn’t prepared to be the freak show.
“Oh, my goodness, Gabriella. I’m so glad you’re okay. I’ve been meaning to get over there and see you, but I’ve been so busy at work. You know how it is.”
“It’s okay.” That’s what I said. It’s okay. I had no clue whatsoever who this chick was. Nor did I know the guy standing beside her. Whoever he was, he gave me the creeps, staring at me. What the hell?
“Aahh, you don’t remember us. Do you?” the blonde questioned.
I smiled with a nod toward the right and admitted the truth. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”
“Candace and Lane? We live three houses from you on the right? The gray one with the burgundy shutters.”
“Oh the one with the high grass,” I exclaimed like an idiot.
Paxton squeezed my hand to shut me up. “I’ve got guys heading over there this afternoon. It’ll be mowed before you get home.”
Candace and Lane walked with us while our kids ran up ahead with their little girl. What a little cutie, and I loved her name. Chance for a little girl. How adorable was that?
Lane laughed. Like really laughed. Gut-wrenching laughed. I frowned. I didn’t get it. Why was that so funny?
“Fuck you, Lane,” Paxton said while we walked.