Reign A Romance Anthology - Nina Levine Page 0,13

warm my chest. It’d been a long time since I’d seen her this comfortable and this happy. She’d found a group of friends, I had a job she could be proud to tell them all about, and now a boy?

The pieces of our puzzle were falling into place finally.

Things hadn’t been easy for us.

I was put into witness protection before she was born. A teenage girl, alone, scared, and hiding from a world of people who I knew had the money, the resources, and the reason to hunt me down. It meant I couldn’t get a real job because the government refused to give me a new social security number, and the little bit of money they gave us was nowhere near enough to survive.

I managed to get a part-time job at a strip club, waiting tables and working only for tips, but it meant Blair slept out the back in the dressing room the girls used to change in. They all adored her, taking turns watching her between sets.

It wasn’t the life I wanted for her.

And the risks I took to get where we are today could have backfired time and time again.

So seeing the way she was blooming reminded me that the choices I made were right. I couldn’t help but smile as I dropped my towel beside the pool, my heart already beating excitedly at the idea of breaking through the surface and submerging myself beneath. It was a different world down there, the chaos of the world above me seeming like it disappeared the moment I took that deep breath.

The water was my safe place.

My solace.

It was the place I went to escape an abusive father.

The place I felt like he couldn’t touch me.

Like nothing could touch me.

I sucked in a sharp breath as I launched myself from the edge and into the water, my hands pushing through the liquid to make way for my body. I needed every part of a second I could get, so breaking the water was important. The rest came naturally—the way my lungs conserved air, how I turned my head to catch a breath.

Time melted away the moment I got into the water. I could swim for hours without realizing but my body wasn’t quite what it used to be. My lungs began to burn, the work out they were getting was pushing them to a limit they hadn’t reached for years. One more lap and I knew the finish line was only a few seconds away. So I pushed a little harder, a little further, trying to fight my body’s natural urge to fight for breath.

Swimming was often mind over matter.

Convincing yourself that you weren’t going to die if you just held on for those few extra seconds.

It was mental, just as much as it was physical.

My fingers brushed the concrete wall, and I pushed through the top of the water, gasping and wiping the droplets from my face.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite piece of ass.” My heart stopped, and I felt the blood in my veins freeze. That voice. “It looks like it’s just gotten that much better with age.”

Paul Mathison.

“Always a pleasure.”

I fought the natural urge to cringe away as he caressed my jaw, his fingers trailing down to my chin, which he pinched tightly, forcing my gaze to meet his. There was something there, carefully disguised in his fake smile.

A veiled threat.

A silent language that I spoke fluently.

Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll shut it for you.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t good at following orders.

“I’d say the pleasure was all mine,” I goaded, a smirk curling at the corner of my mouth. “But we both know that’d be a lie.”

This was where I got my thrills, seeing that sudden fear in their eyes. It was almost intoxicating, a way for me to take back a little ounce of the strength and dignity they had just robbed me of.

Men were so easily pleased. So eager to climb into bed to satisfy their sick little fetish. But when the ecstasy faded and the realization set in, they’re suddenly acutely aware of just how easily I could fucking ruin them and everything they had worked so hard for.

His hand slipped from my face, a low, raspy chuckle filling the air before he swung. I stumbled, catching the bedpost and gripping it hard as I fought to stay on my feet. The pain radiated through my cheek, instantly making my face throb. If I had been a cartoon, stars