Page 86 of Possess

Zeke crossed over to her and pulled her into his arms. “What is scaring you?”

She shook her head but didn’t step out of his embrace.

“Does my family scare you?”

“A bit.”

At least she was talking. “I don’t know why Josie was on such a kick about your childhood.”

“She wants to make sure I’m good enough for her big brother.” A tremor went through her body, and Zeke tightened his arms around her.

“You are more than good enough.”

“Am I?” She leaned back in his embrace.

“Of course you are.” How could she think otherwise? Something wasn’t right here.

“I’m an only child. I have no idea what it means to have a brother or sister.”

“That makes no difference to me. Besides I would say you and Dani are sisters of the heart. Sometimes that’s better than blood.” He gazed down at her, but he could see the skepticism in those blue eyes. “Since I’m the oldest, do you know how many times I wanted to be an only child?”

She shook her head.

“Countless, but as we all grew up, there were advantages. We all have very different personalities.”

“Your sister is like you. She wants to protect you, as you like to protect others.”

“Maybe, but at times, she’s driven to the point of ignoring everyone and everything else. And Ben, he loves the military. He likes being of service in some form, and that’s his way of helping people.”

“You are the responsible one, but not so much you don’t know how to have fun.”

“Guilty.” He played with her hair. “I see you as someone who is trying to be tough but really wants someone to be there for her. Someone to belong to.”

* * * *

Allyson stared at him as her heart pounded. How the hell had he figured that out? Oh, this was so not good. There was no way she was good enough for Zeke or his family. They deserved someone who had a childhood.

Not her, who grew up with swingers for parents, there was nothing wrong with them swinging, but neglecting her as a child was the problem. But for Allyson, sex was one thing, and making love should mean something. It did with Zeke. It meant a lot to her. Others wouldn’t see it that way once they found out about her past. They’d have an issue with the neglect. Josie would take issue. For an enlightened young lady, she was acting immature. Zeke loved his sister. Heck, he was head over heels for his whole family. What would he do if he knew how screwed up her family was? She didn’t know how to love. She was stupid to think she could have a relationship with Zeke. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Sweetheart,” Zeke started.

“No, Zeke.” She pushed against his chest, and he let her go. “You’ve had loving parents your whole life. You don’t have any idea what it’s like to be unwanted. You’ve never had to come to terms with the fact that your parents don’t care about you. You don’t know anything.” She turned and hightailed it to the front door, pausing only long enough to grab her shoes and purse.

“Allyson!”

Zeke called her name, but she didn’t look back. She fumbled to get her keys off the ring on her purse, finally opening her door with them still attached to her purse. She got in her truck, tossed her shoes and purse in the passenger seat before locking the doors.

“Allyson, sweetheart.” Zeke’s voice penetrated the glass. She ignored him and finally got her keys free. Jamming the key into the ignition, she turned the vehicle on.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you,” she said, before backing down the driveway slowly. Zeke stood there with his mouth open. Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not until she got home. But she couldn’t go home; Zeke would look for her there.

She turned onto the freeway. A couple exits later, unable to see because of the tears blurring her vision, she exited and pulled into a park. Allyson sat there clutching her belly, trying to find a way to stop the hurt. But there was no way to mitigate what she’d done.

Her entire body ached. What was she going to do now? She needed to clear her head. Pulling out her phone, she checked a special website she hadn’t looked at in a long time. After inputting her member name and password, she found what she wanted. She was going to Seattle. She needed to lose herself at a party so the pain wouldn’t find her. It was Sunday, and they’d party from noon until late tonight. And she knew she could lose herself there and hide her pain.

Chapter 10

Zeke stood in his driveway, dumbfounded, as Allyson drove away. What the hell happened? He jogged back into the house, found his keys, and slipped on his shoes. She had a head start on him, but that didn’t matter.

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