Page 121 of Please Open Me
“Fuck!” I screamed, snatching my phone off the counter and hurling it at the tub.
Plastic cracked against porcelain, too loud in the bathroom. My palms pressed into my eyes, breath sputtering in shallow bursts.
Dale was far away. Hartwood. Not here. My property was fenced, locked.
I wasn’t alone. Lucian was in a guest room, sweating through his second shirt while battling a panic attack. Sophia was–fuck.
Sophia was a glorified serial killer.
And I didn’t know her motives. She was furious with Lucian. And while I hated my brother, I didn’t want him dead.
My breath came faster. Shallow. My mind spun like a tire stuck in mud; no matter how hard I revved the engine, it would only turn in circles.
Okay. Good thoughts. Cameron was with Mason. Talking things out. He was good with words. The restraining order and emergency custody plan hurt, but he was fixing it. He would fix it.
Unless Mason made it worse.
Cameron was smooth, but Mason was convincing. Her emotions bled into people. It was what made her music so powerful.
What if she turned him against me?
What if I lost him?
What if I lost the kids?
What if?
What if?
What if–
My back hit the wall. Knees buckled. I slid down fresh white paint–fuck, white paint–and remembered the dye in my hair.
I’d just redone the bathroom. I was going to stain the wall.
Lucian was going to die.
Sophia would kill him.
Cameron would leave.
Mason would die.
Dale would kill her.
My chest ached with each inhale. I forced my gaze to the marble tile. Too clean. Too reflective. My wide, crazed eyes stared back from the polished surface.
I couldn’t breathe.
No, worse, I was breathing too much. My lungs dragged in air until my ribs ached. Each greedy inhale hurt.
My hands clutched my throat. My pulse hammered against my fingers.
The walls pressed closer. Footsteps echoed in the distance, slow, heavy, deliberate.
Dale.
His voice slithered through the static of my thoughts.
