to. I wanted to stay the night again. I wanted to feel her body pressed against mine as I slept. Sex wasn’t even on my mind in that moment; I just wanted to touch her.
To kiss her.
To be next to her.
But I needed to respect her wishes.
“Yeah, I suppose so,” she said softly.
“Unless you want me to stay?”
She chuckled and looked away, but I could tell she was thinking about it. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Skyler has already seen enough, and I’m worried what she might tell Greg.” She bit her lip, and I knew there was more to her story than she was telling me.
I wasn’t about to ask after she’d respected me enough not to probe about my past, but Danielle surprised me. She continued speaking.
“Greg doesn’t like it when I see other men, and he has often amped up his threats to take Skyler away from me if I even look at someone flirtatiously. I have no idea how he’s going to react to the pregnancy - it won’t be pretty - but I need to try and break the news to him before Skyler does and mitigate the situation as best as possible. If there’s no man in the picture, I think Greg would handle it better than if I was seeing someone.”
“That’s really not fair to you, Danielle.”
“I know, and maybe one day I cannot worry about Greg, but for the time being, I need to protect myself and my daughter, and this is the best way I know how. Please respect my wishes, Mason.”
As hard as it was for me to agree to this, I nodded. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you and Skyler safe,” I said. “Even if that means I have to keep my distance from you. But please know, I will be involved with my child’s life.”
“I know, and I wouldn’t take that away from you. It’s probably better if we didn’t date or anything.”
The words felt like a kick in the nuts, but she was right. And not just because of Greg. I wasn’t exactly boyfriend material myself; I was too damaged for all that.
“Alright, I’ll get going then,” I said, moving slowly toward the door.
I hated leaving her, even though I knew I had to. She walked with me to the front porch, as if part of her didn’t really want me to leave either.
“I’ll call around and see what I can do,” I said.
I had to do more than just call the insurance company. Because she was right. What could I say that she probably hasn’t already? No, I had to do something else.
I had respected her wishes up until that point, and I would continue to do so. But I had an obligation to my unborn child to make sure he or she didn’t end up homeless. Not just that, I couldn’t imagine what would happen if Danielle lost her job.
I waved goodbye to her as I walked toward my truck.
I thought about the baseball bat, and how she broke down in my arms. She’d been so scared. That loan shark had done a number on her, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. It would only get worse. She might be willing to pay him off when she got the insurance money, but by then, the interest rate would make it triple the original loan amount. She needed that money to fix up her place and to take care of herself and Skyler.
No, that loan needed to be nipped in the bud.
I got in the truck and started the engine. My blood was boiling all over again as I pictured Danielle’s tear-stained cheeks and heard her sobs.
No one makes her cry and gets away with it, I thought to myself.
It wasn’t long before I found myself outside of a massive home that could almost be described as an estate. A Victorian-style mansion with a wrap-around porch and at least two stories. A horse barn around back. Jim King had made his millions of people like Danielle - people desperate and in need.
My stomach turned at the thought. He was a leech, a predator, and someone really should teach the man a lesson one day.
I stared at the house, going over my plan carefully.
Danielle
“Mommy?” a soft voice murmured as I walked down the hallway toward my bedroom.
I sighed as I stopped in front of Skyler’s doorway. I listened to see if she was merely talking in her