Unexpectedly, an image of Andie and me with a baby slams into me, and the beauty of it almost makes my knees buckle.
I’ve never thought about having kids or starting a family, never hoped for it. Never really believed that I could have it, or have any right to bring anyone else into my messed-up life, worried that I’ll turn out like my father. And nokid deserves that.
I’d rather die than become like my parents and bring a child into this world knowing what their future holds.
Nonetheless, now that I watch Andie watching the family with longing, I dare to hope of having a family of my own. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I ever go down that road, it’ll be with this woman by my side.
I can only hope she wants this life we could have with me, too.
When the family passes us by, Andie cranes her neck and looks at me, the same desire for the future reflecting.
Or am I projecting?
Before I can get an answer, though, we reach the apartment building. My steps freeze when I see a figure hunched over by the wall next to it—a figure I would recognize with my eyes closed.
Dread washes over my body like a tidal wave, drowning me, my ears ringing as the flashbacks of my past start playing at once, each one starring his monstrous face as it gets uglier and uglier with every memory.
It feels like I’m underwater when Andie’s voice finally pulls me out. My breathing turns ragged,and it’s only her presence that’s keeping me from having a full-blown panic attack right here on the road.
Unfortunately, Andie’s voice also catches his attention, and he stubs the joint he has been smoking on the ground, grinding it further with the heel of his worn-out shoes. No matter how much money I give them, they never make good use of it.
I protectively nudge Andie behind my back as he starts toward us, his gait less intimidating than it used to be. Even the usually feisty Millie cowers behind my legs, smelling the danger rolling off the stranger. But this man is no stranger to me, so I know exactly how I have to deal with him.
“Son,” he says, his voice rustier than I last remember. “Why the hell have you not been picking up your phone?” he snaps, barely holding himself back from pummeling me into the ground. He stopped hitting me the day I towered over him, but his undignified attitude never changed.
Andie’s hold tightens on my sleeves, her body stiffening against mine. I scoff at the man and his way of greeting his son.
“Your mother and I haven’t been receiving any money in our accounts. Mind telling me why that is?” Henry Miller demands as if he has any right whatsoever.
Like it’s notmymoney that’s keeping his cravings sustained.
Before I can tell him exactly that, Andie pushes me to the side, stepping forward in between us, glaring at my father with all the wrath of a woman he can’t handle.
“Because you don’t deserve a single penny,” she announces, her body vibrating with tension as she clutches onto Millie’s leash until her knuckles turn white.
My body stiffens and turns cold the second Henry looks down at my Andie. “And who is this bitch?” he sneers.
An unrestrained growl rumbles in my throat and emanates as my forearm covers Andie’s front, pulling her flush into me. “Hold your tongue before I cut it off.”
Shock registers on his face at my curt words. I understand why, though. I’ve never spoken to him like this ever, not even when I couldn’t bear to open my eyes the next day after he was done beating me.
No matter what shit he thought he could pull, or whatever I let him think that he could, there will always be one limit no one in this universe or the next is allowed to cross, and that is talking shit about my Andie.
“Listen to me, you waste of space,” Henry snaps, taking a step forward as he glares at me from above her head.
Andie puts a hand out, stopping him in his tracks. “No,youlisten,” she commands his attention. “If you ever call, threaten, extort, or harm Noah, I’ll call the cops. You have abused and hurt him enough to last a lifetime, and for that alone, you should be fucking locked up,” she spits, rage radiating off of her in waves.
Seeing her defend me and take a stand for me stirs a foreign emotion in me. I’ve never had anyone on my side, fighting for me, believing in me. To see Andie do that for the man who told her he doesn’t know how to love makes me want to fall to my knees and worship her.
With everything this woman does, she carves herself into my heart, my skin, my fuckingsoul. I’m sure that if you rip apart my chest, my heart would be beating to the rhythm of hers.
If I didn’t already love her, this moment wouldirrevocably make me fall in love with her. I feel that truth seared into my bones.
Right now, though, I need to get rid of the parasite that has leeched off of me my entire life. I can’t let him taint her life too. “Leave,” I sneer, detesting his eyes on her for even a second.
“You dare speak up,boy?” Henry’s brow arches, his head tilting to the side. The condescending and intentional use of the word‘boy’doesn’t escape my notice.
Andie doesn’t cower at his domineering and intimidating display of superiority. In fact, she levels him with a glare that could make a grown man wither under the intensity.