Page 57 of Freed By Fire
Silence settles between us.
A pair of footsteps sounds in the distance, and Oliver shakes his head before he turns his back on me. I turn to face Katia, whois in the shadows, her face giving nothing away. I give her a look before I wrench the door open and step inside. London is curled up on the bed, her chest rising and falling evenly.
I leave my clothes in a heap on the floor, kick off my shoes, and crawl into bed next to her. When I squeeze my eyes shut and press my face against her neck, the smell of her eases some of my anxiety. But not even London stirring in her sleep is enough to keep the fears at bay.
I don’t need one more problem, but I can tell that I need to keep an eye on Katia and Oliver.
It’s my job to protect my brother from things he doesn’t understand, including himself.
Chapter Eleven
London
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else?”
I blink and force myself to look up from the half-empty glass of water. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Miss Deveroux wipes the counter, inching closer to me. “Have you given it any more thought?”
I sag against the bar. “I have.”
“And?”
I shrug and down the rest of my water, carefully avoiding her gaze.
Guilt gnaws at my insides as I think of Mason and the look on his face over the past few days. I know it isn’t fair to cast him in a negative light without giving him a chance to defend himself, but I wonder if it’s for the best.
I haven’t decided whether to keep the baby.
I still have weeks left.
Sixteen weeks to make one of the biggest decisions of my life, and all I can think of is how much I want to crawl into my parents' bed and have my mom stroke my hair while my father makes me tea.
I miss them so much that my chest aches.
In another world, my parents and I would be shopping for baby clothes.
I have no idea why my mind keeps going back to them and the future I walked away from.
I hate feeling like I’m betraying Mason just by thinking about it.
He didn’t make me stay; no one did.
I chose to commit to Mason, knowing full well the risks involved, but it was before I learned about the life growing inside of me.
Would you really have walked away if you had known you were pregnant? Come on, London. Who are you kidding? The fact that you haven’t said anything to Mason tells you all you need to know.
I hate feeling like I’m being pulled in two directions.
After everything Mason and I have been through, don’t we deserve to be happy?
Grow up, London. No one has it all, and you’re not the exception. The sooner you wrap your head around that, the better.
I still have weeks to make peace with whatever decision I make, and as Miss Deveroux pours me some more water, I realize I’m no closer to deciding.
Staying with Mason means giving up the baby.
But the thought of parting with my baby makes me sick.
