Destroy For Her - R.B. Hilliard Page 0,22

a brave face and keep it together, just until she got things settled with Lucy and Alex, and then she could fall apart.

A quiet moan slipped from her lips as she crawled into bed beside Petal. How long had it been since she’d slept? Too long. After swallowing two of the pain pills Dr. Harvey had prescribed, she nestled in and tried to relax. They were safe, for now.

While waiting for the pills to kick in, she put a timeline to her plan. She figured she had about a week before Carlos came for her, maybe less. This meant she had a lot to do and barely enough time to do it in. First, she would talk to Lucy. She knew Lucy wouldn’t hesitate to take Petal. Yes, she would hate the circumstances, but she would never tell Sage no. Alex was a different story. He would argue. He wouldn’t understand—would want her to fight—but he didn’t know Carlos. He didn’t know the lengths Carlos would go to or the levels to which he would stoop. She was a possession, not a person. Carlos would take her leaving as a personal affront. She had no doubt that he would find her. When he did, he would kill everyone she loved. She was putting her friends, her family, in danger. Because of this, she had to hurry. Lucy could take care of the legal stuff. She and Alex would raise Petal, they could manage the money until Petal was of age, and Sage could return to Carlos knowing that her daughter was safe. She thought of Alex and his damned sense of honor. Funny how the same honor she’d once despised, she was now counting on.

Her mind wandered to Carlos. He would be furious over her leaving. She dreaded just thinking about it. She would do anything for Petal, including making a deal with the devil. If he agreed to leave her daughter and loved ones alone, she would go back to that hellhole and give him whatever he wanted. The whole thing made her sick.

Tears fell as she gazed at her precious baby girl, her heart lodged so deep in her throat, she was surprised she wasn’t choking on it. She deserved to choke on it. She deserved everything she was getting and more.

Tomorrow she would tell them the rest.

She slept through dinner that night and brunch the next morning. By the time she made it upstairs, she was angry—angry that no one had woken her, angry that Montana and Petal had to wash her freaking hair for her, angry that her face still looked as if she’d encountered a meat mallet—but most of all, angry that she’d wasted a day in bed, which meant she now had to speed up her timeline.

On her search for Lucy, she came across LuLu, Reyn, and Aimee in the kitchen. LuLu took one look at her face and broke into tears.

Reyn dropped what she was doing, marched over to Sage, and pulled her in for a gentle hug.

“Don’t mind her; she cries at the drop of a hat,” Reyn said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I do not!” LuLu wailed, which, of course, made them laugh.

Sage had missed having them around. Her eyes darted over Reyn’s shoulder to Aimee. Having some of them around, that is. Some she could do without.

Aimee was Sledge’s Ol’ lady. They’d been friends until Sage discovered that Aimee knew Gibbs was stepping out on her and didn’t tell her about it. Aimee pretended to be hurt when Sage stopped hanging out with her. She also pretended not to know the reason why. About a year after Gibbs was gone, the bitch finally gathered up enough nerve to confront Sage. She admitted she knew Gibbs was cheating but claimed that Sledge made her promise not to tell. Whatever. Sage didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, once the friendship code was broken, there was nothing left to say.

Reyn took in Sage’s face, her lip curling in disgust. “I recently read somewhere that men who feel the need to beat their women have abnormally small penises. Carlton had a small penis, didn’t he?” Aimee let out a squeak and LuLu a muted snort.

Sage fought back a laugh. “Carlos,” she corrected while thinking that sadly, his penis wasn’t all that small. Gibbs’s cock was short and fat. The bigger his gut, the shorter it got. In the end, it was practically invisible. Carlos’s cock was longer and skinnier than Gibbs’s;