Hidden by the Dad Bod by Reina Torres
Author:Reina Torres [Torres, Reina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-04T16:00:00+00:00
BAM!
April's eyes flew open and she froze, her eyes and ears searching the world around her.
It was dark.
It was warm.
No one was screaming.
No one was bleeding.
No one was dying.
She was safe.
She was alive.
Then why, she wondered, did she feel as if she was paralyzed by fear?
Her heart pounding in her chest.
Her mind whirling with thousands of horrible pictures and memories she hoped that she could purge from her head.
The feeling of Princess' fur under her hands and cheek, warm and wet with blood.
The memory stole her breath from her lungs and she felt tears coursing down her temples and into her hair.
She felt it as if each cell of her body had suddenly come alive.
"Why?"
She couldn't stop herself from speaking.
Nor could she keep that quavering sob from coloring her question.
WHY?
She mouthed the word, unable to catch enough of a breath to make noise.
"April?"
She heard her name from a million miles away.
Maybe that's where she wanted to be.
A million miles from her own head.
From those horrifying memories.
"April? Hey."
More tears, making her vision swim.
"Hey."
She felt something on her shoulder.
A hand.
She tried to pull away, but couldn't move.
DON'T
She mouthed the word, but it did no good in the silence of her head.
A scream makes no difference if it can't be heard.
DON'T TOUCH
"April, it's me. Amos."
Amos?
Those thoughts, the crazy pattern of flashing lights in her head, and the booming sounds of death, disappeared in a single word.
A single thought.
Amos.
"Can you hear me?"
YES
She swallowed and wanted to lift her hands to wipe away the tears.
She couldn't move them.
She couldn't.
And the tears flowed faster.
"Oh, shit. Come here."
April felt herself lift up, roll to the side and stop against a wall of pure heat and comfort.
"God, April. You're scaring me."
It was Amos.
Yes.
She was alive and warm in his arms, her chin resting on his shoulder, rocking along with him, melting into his heat.
"Shit." He strung together a few more colorful words, but his embrace didn't change.
He didn't grow impatient or try to pull away.
"I should have asked you more questions. I should have found out more about what happened. I guess..."
He eased up on the tight hold he had on her body and let her lie back a little.
The room was nearly dark, but there was enough light from the moon outside in the night sky for her to see the look in his eyes.
Concern, verging on panic.
He didn't deserve that.
Not at all.
And then... he broke her heart.
Broke her heart and put it all back together.
He wiped the tears from her cheek. His thumb swept across her cheek. The rough scratch of calluses only made the sensation more earth shattering for her.
April was used to being the girl who was on the go.
The girl hustling and moving forward.
The girl who stood on her own two feet.
But in that moment, she was the girl protected.
Warm and safe and cared for.
"I should have known to expect this." He pulled her tighter into his embrace.
She wanted to argue with him. To give him the plucky, beaming girl who could handle anything, but it was just too easy to lean into the safe shelter of his arms.
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