Page 63 of Midnight Mooring

Day four of living with Forde and there were still no updates from the police. It was like whoever had broken into my house had disappeared into thin air. Or was hiding in plain sight, which was creepy as hell. As frustrated as I was by my lack of mobility, it did force me to hide out from the rest of Leth Sholas. I think if I was out and about all the time, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from looking for slightly built men who were somewhat shorter than me to see if they matched up with the perpetrator.

According to Forde, though, it wouldn’t be long until I could get my stitches out and walk around again.

Part of me dreaded it. Because it meant I’d have to go home, and I didn’t think I was ready to yet. More than that, staying with Forde was like some weird, sexually charged extended sleepover that I was strangely addicted to, despite my confusion over us.

I was kind of avoiding dealing with any big emotions, including the heightened moments of sexual awareness between me and Forde, and I still hadn’t talked to Quinn to smooth things over between us. Taran and Heather had even group texted me about it.

Taran

Please talk to your brother. He’s babyproofing everything to distract himself from your fight and I mean everything.

Heather

Talk to Dad and save Taran.

Taran

I can’t get into the cutlery drawer. I just ate noodles with my fingers. It took me three hours.

Heather

Surely you could have chosen something easier to eat?

Taran

I eat whatever your baby brother/sister wants me to eat.

Heather

I’ll text Dad and tell him to release the cutlery.

Aunt Cammie, talk to him. He’s pretending he’s fine, but I know he’s not. He called me three times yesterday to ask me to “elaborate” on the stories I posted on socials.

Taran

I would have stopped him the third time, but I was too busy trying to de-childproof the toilet seat so I could pee!

Cammie, I’ll name the child after you if you talk to your brother.

Heather

All joking aside, he loves you, Aunt Cam-Cam. He’s sorry.

Taran

Quinn would move mountains for you, Cammie. We all would. Love you.

Heather

Love you all. Miss you all. Talk to Dad!! Xoxo

Despite my sister-in-law’s and niece’s pleas, I desired a break from heavy emotional crap, especially after my own mother had said such hurtful things. I loved my brother, but I needed time to process.

Usually, I’d spend the day working in Forde’s office at the garage, but I’d decided to stay in the house because I wanted to screen mirror my designs for a client to his TV. It allowed me to work on my tablet and refer to the software programs I used for my 2D and 3D modeling. The job was a referral from a previous client and had come in before the attack. I didn’t want to give it up since work had been slower than I’d hoped upon my return, and I’d eaten through a lot of my savings for traveling.

As I swung down the hall from the kitchen toward the living room to get set up, I jolted with fright as the letterbox snapped open and the post shot through, falling to the floor.

I bit back a curse at my jumpiness, wondering if that would fade anytime soon. It was a pain in my arse. Huffing, I awkwardly bent to swipe up Forde’s post and nosily shuffled through his mail. The sight of an envelope with a handwritten address pricked my curiosity, but I wasn’t so far gone in my obsession of him that I’d read his damn post.