Page 80 of Twilight Tides
That made me giggle harder, even though there was a part of me that wanted to cry with joy too. Because I was getting to see the funny girl Kelly was before her mum hurt her beyond imagining. “I appreciate that. Thank you.”
I think she’d replied something along the lines of “No, thankyou.” But it was hard to tell around another mouthful of baked goods.
Murray leaned over the island and bit into his muffin. As I put the tray of shortbread back in the fridge, he shot me a confusingly heated glance as he wiped chocolate hazelnut sauce off his mouth.
“Well?” Kelly demanded.
Her dad’s hot gaze remained on me. “Aye. Delicious.”
The way his voice rumbled around that word and zinged off all my erogenous zones, he might as well have said something sexual.
I flushed, breaking our locked eyes to cool myself in the refrigerator.
“Something wrong?” Murray asked, a tinge of laughter in his words.
“Nope.” I squeaked and then cleared my throat. “Just checking the … stuff.”
Nice. Good save. Not.
Rolling my eyes, I closed the fridge and set about clearing what I could from the island to the counters over by the window. The whole time Kelly and Murray chatted away. I asked how her first three days of school went and it seemed to have been an overall positive experience, which would also account for her good mood. It was a lovely moment, really. I felt included, and more than that, I feltwanted. But there was something about Murray’s demeanor that seemed different.
I didn’t know what was going on, but there was a change in the air for sure.
Not long later, Murray started dinner and suggested Kelly do her homework since she had a ton to catch up on.
“Okay, fine.” Kelly pushed off one of the stools at the island. “Just don’t talk about anything interesting when I’m gone.”
Murray leaned over and kissed her temple. “Good girl.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, and Murray shot me a quizzical look as Kelly left the room.
Trying to purge those words from my mind, I offered to cook.
Murray shook his head. “I’ll cook. Will you sit and talk with me instead?”
Honestly, I liked watching him cook. It was hot.
He’d brought home fresh salmon from the smokehouse, and I forced myself not to ask him about the owner Shona and if she still had a crush on him. Since the salmon didn’t take long, Murray worked on cutting up potatoes into chips and preparing fresh veg. As he moved around, he spoke. “So, Nick texted you and you had a panic attack.”
Not really wanting to think too much on what Nick said in case it brought on another, I opened the text chain without looking at it and slid the phone over the worktop to him.
Murray frowned as he leaned to read the screen, and his expression tightened and tightened. He lingered over it, rereading the texts. For so long, in fact, I grew uncomfortable and reached for the phone. “I want to delete them, but Ramsay said we should hold on to them just in case.”
“He called you a good girl.”
Nausea roiled in my gut as I lifted my gaze to meet his worried one. “Y-yes.”
“It upsets you when you hear it.”
Feeling vulnerable, I nodded slowly. “E-every time he said it was after he was abusive in some way. When I complied, he’d call me his good girl. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
Something like wrath flashed quickly over Murray’s face before he controlled it. “I won’t ever say it again.”
“You shouldn’t have to do that. You said it to Kelly, not me.”
“I’m not going to say it again.” Murray gave me a reassuring nod. “Are you okay now? After that …” He spat the wordthatas he gestured to my phone. “I could kill him.”
The corner of my mouth lifted as warmth eased across my chest. There was something different about Murray today. “Getin line. But Ramsay said his whole family is going down. I don’t know the details yet.”
