Drowning to Breathe by A. L. Jackson Read Free Book Online Page B

take you around the world. We’re going to show Kallie all of it, and you and I are gonna make love in every country we step foot in. And at night? I’m going to be singing about it…about what you do to me and how you make me feel.”
    I knew I was dreaming, doing what I could to fill Shea with hope for an escape from this hell.
    Eyes shimmering, she choked over the emotion in her throat. Still, she played right along. “It seems like Kallie and I might cramp your style.”
    I grinned at her, needing to lift her spirit. Our chins touched as I smiled at my girl. “Got a new style, baby.”
    Shea tightened her hold. “Is that so? And what is this world you’re going to be singing about me to going to say?”
    “I’m sure they’re going to be saying all kinds of things. But I don’t give a shit, Shea.” My tone grew serious. “Tomorrow they’re gonna know what you and Kallie mean to me. They’re going to know I will be fighting for you both, and I won’t be backing down.”
    “I’m so scared, Baz,” Shea quietly admitted as her mouth quivered with another round of sorrow.
    “I know, baby. I’m scared, too.”
    Yeah, I wanted to fill Shea with hope. But I figured honesty mattered, too.
    “I can’t believe he has her.” She said it so softly, I barely heard her. Misery seemed to steal her breath. “What kind of a monster would come in and rip a little girl from her home? I think somewhere inside me, I had hoped he had changed.”
    All the questions I wanted to ask Shea about how she was tied to Martin Jennings bubbled to the surface, forced up by the seething anger burning in my veins at the thought of the two of them together.
    I started slow, a little bit of awe weaving into my words. “You’re Delaney Rhoads.”
    “No.” The word flew free with vehemence. “Martin Jennings made Delaney Rhoads. I never wanted to be her, Sebastian. Yes, I love to sing…love to play…but never at the cost of being her . I’ve spent so much time pretending she didn’t exist. Please believe me. I never meant it to hurt you. But I’ve never told anyone about it. Charlie and April are the only ones who know because they helped me through that time. All of us have pretended she didn’t exist…that Martin didn’t exist…since the moment I returned to Savannah.”
    Shea hesitated, then continued, “You can imagine now why finding out who you were affected me so much. I’d had that lifestyle and I wanted as far away from it as possible. But in the end, what I really wanted was you.”
    She gave me a wobbly smile. “Wanted you to love me and hold me, and all of a sudden none of that other stuff mattered. All that mattered was you. I was ready to let you in, the first person I’d ever told the truth to. The first person I trusted . I wanted you to know it…to share it with me…to understand, because I was pretty sure there was no other person in the world who would understand it better than you.”
    Her face pinched. “But you ran…and…and you broke me. I’ve never hurt more than that night until…”
    She trailed off. It was as if I could hear what she thought. Her daughter’s sweet voice echoing through my mind, mixing with the brutal agony of her cries as she’d begged for her mommy when Martin ripped her away so violently.
    Begging for someone to save her when we’d been completely helpless. Hands tied. Knowing using them would only make it worse.
    “Until tonight,” I finished for her.
    “Until tonight,” she agreed. “I knew before we went public, you had to know, and I was ready. Tonight…what we shared…”
    Meeting my eye, she reached out and brushed trembling fingertips down my jaw. My eyes dropped closed as I let myself lean into the promise of her touch.
    Her voice was a soft rasp. “I knew you would forgive me for keeping this from you. I knew you would accept me because I knew you’d always seen me the same way I see you. We see this .”
    Pulling back, she placed her hand over her