The Illicit Revealed by Brittani Marí

Author:Brittani Marí [Marí, Brittani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brittani Marí
Published: 2018-11-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Mia

I FELT THE SHOCK travel through my body as the words sank in. I had been making my way around the beautiful cabin, taking in everything I could, when I paused near the room Wesley had disappeared into, hearing the angry whispers. He was turned away from the door, the phone to his ear, his free hand brushing over the stubble on his chin.

“I wasn’t aware we were playing a game, Stinson.”

The name brought up the image of the last night I had seen my father. The same aggravation, the same dismay had been displayed on his face. This man who made proud men uncomfortable was on the phone with Wesley, and the burning question was why? That was partially answered when Wesley spoke again. The words on the other end of the phone clearly upset him. Maybe Stinson was the root of all our problems. I knew he was at least a part of mine.

“And if I don’t?” Wesley seethed into the phone, his hand tightening around it. I saw the veins in his neck strain. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. I couldn’t hear the answer on the other end of the phone, but I knew it was upsetting because Wesley simply hung up, ignoring it when it rang again. The angry expression on his face couldn’t mask the hurt underneath.

I didn’t have enough time to back away from the door before he looked at me. His anger slowly began to fade when our eyes met. I let out the breath I had been holding, relieved I had that kind of effect on him. The alternative didn’t actually scare me. It made me sad, concerned for a man I knew fought his own demons. Demons that were clearly starting to get ahead of him.

I guessed we had more in common than I thought. I knew how it felt to mask your own emotions, covering something up that started eating you alive, only to realize it was a losing battle. How could you win when the outcome was inevitable? That knowledge scared me more than anything else because no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being used. Not only by the man I vowed to love for the rest of my life, but also by the man I called my father. The man who abandoned me, yet still somehow had a hold on me. It was disappointing and intensified an emotion I’d felt in many instances–helplessness. Now that I knew those feelings were real and my father was lurking out there somewhere, I was scared for the moment I would have to face him.

“I was just looking around. I wasn’t—” I started, stopping when he waved his hand through the air dismissively. His anger remained at bay as he watched me, studying me the same way he had the night we met. It hadn’t concerned me at the time, but with everything I had learned, it made me curious about him.

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