Slut - Woodruff Jettie - Страница 18

I flipped on the light just to see if there was power and flipped it off. That meant the water was on, that’s all I cared about. I didn’t need to see. At least I could take a shower and use the toilet.

I turned in a circle, one big open room with an amazing ocean view. A rice-paper divider separated a king sized bed from the living room and kitchen, a closet with a squeaky hinge held a broom, and the door next to it was the tiny bathroom. A small shower and no bath tub. I hated trying to shave standing up. I smiled when I realized I didn’t have to do that.

I walked right to the glass doors and stood when I heard the trucks coming in. I’d looked in these doors many times, trying to see in. You couldn’t do it. Not from the outside. Paxton could have been standing right in front of me and he wouldn’t have known I was there. The other three windows weren’t one sided like the doors, but they were too high to see in. Therefore, I wouldn’t be using the lights. I definitely didn’t need a visit from Paxton.

I watched him with crossed arms, walk toward me, pacing back and forth while he talked on his phone. Just his actions were enough to tell me the conversation was about me. His arms flailed and I could see the anger in his face. The smile, taking over my face was uncontrollable. Paxton’s plan wasn’t going as planned, and it was eating him up. I sort of took pleasure in that. Paxton Pierce needed a taste of his own medicine.

I would love to say I upped him one; that I was the smart one and I didn’t need him. I did need him, but not the way he required me to need him. I watched Paxton walk to his truck, pissed off and backed away, wondering who was taking care of my girls. Had to be Tricia. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit. None of my neighbors were worthy of my girl’s. Not one.

I spent my evening looking up to the house, hoping to catch a glimpse of them playing outside, or swimming. God, I missed them. My eyes stayed on the house the entire evening, waiting for a preview. It wasn’t until the tide had come in that Paxton fired up the grill. Tears instantly welled in my eyes when I saw them, just a glimpse. The slope in the yard kept me from seeing them the entire time. I could see them perfectly when they slid down the slide, but I could only see the top of the two chains, swaying back and forth. An occasional, foot here and there, high into the air, but that’s it.

My eyes narrowed when I glanced back to Paxton, swearing he had a smirk. I retrieved the binoculars from Vans little backpack and zoned in. Sure enough, Paxton was smiling. His hips even moved a little to the music playing outside. Okay, maybe that was the sexiest thing about Paxton. I loved it when he swayed his hips like that, flipping his spatula like he was all that and then some. It was one of the very few times I’d seen him being playful. I gasped and dropped the binoculars when I saw him look directly at me and toast his bottle of beer like he knew I was there.

I instantly spun around, looking for a camera. “Fuck—fuck—fuck,” I said out loud when I saw it. Barely visible, but there. A normal person would have never known it was there. I on the other hand knew exactly what to look for. Perfect view, right in the center of the ceiling fan. Paxton knew I was there. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d been watching me the entire time. My heart pounded hard, drumming in both my ears while I debated on what to do. I had no phone to call Mi. She was the only one that I trusted, and she was crazy.

I quickly gathered my things, trying to concoct a plan. I had no idea what to do. Did I stay? Did I run? Where would I go? Nick hated me, I couldn’t stay there. Just when I thought about sleeping in my car, my heart stopped, hearing the knuckles on the glass.

“Open the door, Gabby.”

I tossed the transformer backpack over my shoulders and froze, stopping with my heart. My eyes stayed glued to his body while my body refused to move.

“I know you’re in here. Open the door.”

Once the dry lump moved down my throat, I gathered my bearings and straightened my posture. The little lever clicked loud in my ears when I raised it and opened the door, my eyes looking up to his. I don’t know how I looked on the outside, but the inside was insane, adrenaline pumping quickly through my veins.

“Let me guess, cameras?” I said in my best strong voice. The strong voice that sounded meek and cracked.

Paxton smiled down at me and crossed his arms. “Of course there are cameras, and I knew you would come here. Where else you going to go, right?”

“What do you want?”

“Dad, Rowan throwed an apple in the pool,” Ophelia yelled down from the bank.

All other thoughts suddenly disappeared. I didn’t care what he wanted. I didn’t care about anything but Rowan, Phi, and now Vander Delgardo.

“Can I go to them?”

“Of course.”

I stepped one foot out the door and his body stopped me. “After I get some answers.”

I chuckled and spit the sarcasm right at him. “You want answers? Try being in my shoes.”

“Dad,” Phi called again. “Watcha doing?”

Paxton stayed strong in front of me, keeping me from sidestepping him with a stiff posture. He called over his shoulder, but never took his eyes from mine. “Hang on, I’m coming. Stay there.”

“I have a right to see them.”

“You can’t just run up to them after leaving them. They don’t understand you disappearing like this again.”

I frowned, wondering if he was insinuating that it was my fault I’d left them. “What did you tell them?”

“That you were sick. You sort of are. I mean, I don’t even know what the fuck to call you.”

“The same thing you’ve always called me.”

“Slut? Or did you mean Gabriella? Which do you prefer, love?”

“Fuck you, Paxton. I’m not your doormat, and I’m not doing this with you. I have just as much right to them as you do.”

That thing about being strong and standing up to him dwindled to nothing when Paxton stepped inside. I was forced to take a step back, too, but I didn’t falter. Not on the outside anyway.

“I’ll let you come up after they go to bed. I will tell them you’ll be home when they wake up. This is over, Gabriella. You’re playing my way from this point forward.”

“I’m not staying in that house with you,” I said, again with my strong, crackly tone.

“Oh, but you are. You’re staying in my house, and you’re going to do everything I tell you to do. Just like old times.”

“What are you going to do, Paxton? You gonna call the cops? Maybe have me arrested for trespassing? Go for it, baby boy. I dare you,” I said while I watched the veins in his neck pop with the clenching of his jaw. My hand was patting myself on the back for my brass balls in my mind while my mind bragged. I did that. I stood up to Paxton and it felt good.

I yelped, taken off guard, when Paxton grabbed my throat and shoved me inside. My lower back dug into the counter and I grimaced in pain, dropping my left shoulder for relief. “Don’t fuck with me, slut. I don’t even know what the fuck to call you. You’ve been lying to me since the day I met you. I’m calling the shots, just like I’ve always called the shots. Stop with the fucking games. You understand me? Do you Gabriella?”

The grip he had on the back of my jaw kept me from responding with words. I moaned an incoherent yes and nodded with wide eyes. Paxton smiled and kissed my lips, releasing the firm hold he had around my neck and jaw. With a prominent smirk, he removed my cell phone from his pocket and dropped it into my hand. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t beat any faster, Paxton leaned in and whispered sultry words, kissing my neck and throat as he spoke, proving me wrong. “I’ll call you later. I like the fringes on these shorts. I can’t wait to see you bend over in front of me in them. Have a good evening, Mrs. Pierce.”

“What are you doing in there, Dad?” I heard Rowan ask as the door slid closed.