He pulled his hands down enough so that I could see his eyes, "But you don't have issues with commitment."
"No and no one beat me either."
"But you were abandoned. By a man who was too stupid to know what an awesome daughter he had and even though your mom was there she wasn't, not really." Larissa's little face today as she cried because I was leaving her came back to me and a tear rolled down my face.
"Hey," he reached out and caught my tear, "What's this? I didn't mean to make you cry."
I shook my head and grabbed his wrist. "No, you didn't. It's I shook my head and grabbed his wrist. "No, you didn't. It's Larissa," I stopped myself. I needed to tell someone. I needed to talk about this. And Cage knew. He knew what I'd lived through. He'd understand.
"I met her father today."
Cage's eyes opened wider.
"Really?"
"Yep, and he's married and old. Says he's leaving his wife and going to come take Larissa and Tawny away from it all."
Cage didn't ask me what was wrong with this. He didn't have to. He'd held me when I'd found out my father had skipped town with his real family.
"Aw, damn," he whispered.
I nodded.
"Maybe he will Low. Maybe he won't do to her what your dad did to you."
I shook my head, "No, don't you see. If he leaves his wife then Tawny has broken up a marriage. Someone else is heartbroken. He'll hurt someone either way. He's married.
He's already promised God he'd cherish his wife. Now he has not one but two families. One of those families will suffer."
Cage blew out a long breath.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. I looked past him toward the door and thought of Marcus sleeping out on the couch. I didn't want him to catch Cage in here. He still didn't understand the relationship Cage and I had. This would upset him.
"Thanks for listening to me. But," I nodded toward the door hating to tell him to leave.
He gave me a sad smile and stood up.
"But I need to get out of here before lover boy catches me."
"Something like that," I replied.
He nodded and blew me a kiss before leaving the room.
I lay back down and closed my eyes this time. Saying my fears out loud had helped. Sleep slowly found me.
Fluttery kisses trailed down my face and I turned to the warmth beside me. When Marcus's clean scent reached my nose I opened my eyes. He wasn't under the covers with me. That was my first observation. He had on a t-shirt. That was my second observation. His breath smelled minty fresh and with that observation I tucked my head against his shoulder so he couldn't smell my morning breath.
His chuckle sent shivers through me.
"Why're you hiding," his fresh breath tickled my ear.
"I haven't brushed my teeth," I mumbled He laughed out loud this time.
"I'm sure your morning breath is just as sweet as you are."
"Um, no, trust me it stinks like the rest of the world's," I assured him refusing to tilt my face back and look up at him.
"Okay fine hide your face from me but I'll tell you I don't like missing out on your sleepy look."