Page 85 of Like Fathers, Like Son
He turned wide eyes to mine and mouthed ‘oh shit’, which made me wonder if he hadn’t wanted her to know at all. That’d be weird though, right? Still weird seemed to be his family’s thing, so who the hell knew for sure?
“I uh… we were gonna tell you today, mum. I just had to move my stuff out of Seth’s place first.”
Seth. That name rang a bell, but I couldn’t figure out why it did, so I shrugged it off and stood up, going over to Blaze as he dropped his bag. I let him draw me into a hug, murmuring the word ‘help’ at him as he did. A low chuckle rumbled through his chest as he kissed my head.
“Mum, we kinda have some stuff to do here, so uh…”
“You want me to go away,” she said with a laugh, heading towards us. I really thought she’d just leave, but first she slapped the back of Blaze’s head.
“You told your dads before me, didn’t you? For shame, Blaze,for shame.”
He released me to hug her and accept multiple congratulations, and then I had to accept another hug too before she left.
“Was she giving you trouble?” Blaze asked as he dragged me to the kitchen with him, so he could grab a coffee. He waved the pot at me, and I shook my head glumly.
“Apparentlypregnant women shouldn’t drink coffee,” I said in a high pitched voice, like I was mocking someone, but it was silly and childish, and didn’t even sound like his mother. He snorted, pouring his own drink, and then making me a tea when I confirmed I could drink that.
“So I saw your mum while I was moving out.”
What? Moving out of where? Oh god.
“Wait, when you mentioned Seth, you meant the guy who lives next door to my mum? Jesus Christ, Blaze! You were staying there and spying on me, weren’t you? That’s insane!” It was typical of him though, wasn’t it?
He was laughing as he watched my outrage and shock warring with each other. Why had I been so surprised? Why did it feel so damn intrusive?
“You act like you’re surprised by the lengths I’ll go to so I can have you, babe. You’re mine, and I might have let you ‘escape’ but I never intended to let you be away from me for long. You belong with me, and now so does our baby.”
The baby was yet another trap, wasn’t it? Another way to force me into what he wanted, and I hadn’t been smart enough to see that for what it was before. The miracle of life, albeit years before I wanted to be carrying it, had blinded me to just exactly what I was letting myself in for.
“Babe?” Blaze seemed to catch the change in my mood, as the sobering reality crashed into me like a ton of bricks. I’d been blithely accepting being Blaze’s property, like somehow it was okay now because he’d saved my life, and filled me with his child, but it wasn’t, was it?
What the hell had I agreed to, and how was I supposed to get out of it now?
50
Blaze
Iwasgettingfuckingwhiplash from the way she kept changing her mind about me. I could read it all over her face, but I didn’t understand why it took knowing I’d moved back in next door to her, to set it off.
“This is all because I moved in with Seth?” I knew it wasn’t, but I had to push her for the answers, while I figured out how to force things back to my way.
I’d just fucking told her mother I love her, so now that was out there, this wasn’t going any other way than with us together. She was already starting to fidget as she stood there, wearing way too many fucking clothes, her hands twisting together.
“Anneka, look at me,” I snapped, catching her attention as my tone seemed to break through the cloud of whatever the fuck crazy she was now spiralling into.
“This is wrong,” she whispered. “You coerced me somehow. You made me want this, but I don’t think I do. How can I? You kidnapped me, raped me, stalked me, impregnated me, and you murdered my own father! How can I look at you with anything other than revulsion, Blaze?”
Fuck this shit! I stalked around the counter, and she let out a panicked hiss, lifting her hands between us as I approached.
“No, Blaze! Stop it, stop trying to intimidate me into doing what you want. My god, I must have been out of my mind or something.” Her hands suddenly went up to her mouth, and I knew some new crazed fucking realisation had just hit her, but was it a real one, or some bullshit she was making up in her own head?
“Talk to me, Anneka. Nothing’s changed in the last five fucking minutes, but you’re acting crazy. Think about what you’re doing, you’re suddenly running from me because you’re afraid of commitment. That’s all this is, and it’s natural. It’s normal to be afraid of committing to one person for the rest of your life, but I’m here and I’ll look after you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she muttered, backing away again as I approached. When I stopped, so did she, but I needed her in my arms, because when I held her, she tended to relax and realise it was where she belonged. In my fucking arms. With me. Under me.Mine.
She suddenly turned and ran for the door, flying past me like a rocket, but like a weird flash of precognition, I saw the accident before it happened, like my mind caught on even as we both moved.
Her foot caught the step up from the living space, and even as she was falling, I caught her and rolled with our momentum, taking the painful brunt of our fall against my back and shoulder.
