Renee’s POV Eric places a steadying hand on my bouncing knee. He gives me a gentle smile and I try to return it, but I’m sure it looks forced. I look at Debbie. She has her headphones in and is typing away on her new phone that I got her. I wouldn’t normally get her one, but after two kidnappin
Renee’s POV I don’t turn back to look at Jasper. I can’t. I don’t look anywhere except at my feet. I watch as my left foot picks up, moves forward, steps down, and then the right foot do the same thing. It’s like I’m watching someone else walk, someone else is moving my body. I keep wondering i
“Sit down Deborah and put your seatbelt on,” I say sharply. I hear Debbie plop onto the seat and yank the belt over her. Eric gives me a look, I feel it but I can’t see it. I don’t bother to look. I keep my eyes trained on the window. Eventually Eric gets the hint that I’m not going to look at h
Renee’s POV I finally build up the courage and step outside the car. “Mom look! There’s a fountain,” Debbie shoots from the top of the driveway. She poises her body like the fish spouting water. I turn towards the trunk to get the luggage and see Eric already bent over shoveling out the suitcases
She’s probably plotting her revenge as we speak. We reach the top of the stairs and I stop to look around. The walls are barren except for the decorated paint molded into the wall. Theres no pictures or anything personal. Just like when I lived here there was nothing of mine hanging up and now I
Renee’s POV It’s been a couple of weeks living at Eric’s, and while it hasn’t been horrible it also hasn’t exactly been home either. We mostly keep out of each others way, only talking if it involves Debbie. It’s weird, it’s like five years of me being Renne hasn’t happened and we’re hitting pl
One thing I still haven’t gotten around to doing is bringing all my clothes from my apartment over. Part of me is still holding onto the idea that maybe I’ll be able to go back. But with these small comments Eric makes it known that won’t be happening and it’s in my best interest to move all my stuf
Renee’s POV “Can you take Debbie to school today?” I ask, placing my bowl in the sink. I avoid eye contact with Eric, he’d be able to tell I was up to something. There’s a pause. I buy more time by opening the dishwasher, rinsing my bowl, letting the water swirl around, then placing it in the r
fancy but I never was one who enjoyed to get all glamours and I did warn him that I wasn’t going to be the old wife that he once had, the one who would’ve dressed in the most elegant and fanciest clothing just to appease him no matter how out of place I felt. So, I decide to where what I like.
I’m pulled from sleep by something brushing up against my thigh. My eyelids flutter open, light filtering into my vision. “Good afternoon,” Eric whispers into my ear, it’s then that I realize it’s his palm making soft strokes against my upper thigh. His touch callouses scratch against my bare
just as unhappy with the attention as I am. “I should have called Andrew,” he says and reaches in his pocket I presume to do exactly that. I sink down in my passenger seat as if I could make myself invisible. The excitement grows among the crowd, body’s squirming against one another like a pac
I wake up with a gasp. “What time is it?” “Almost six,” Emily says from the other side of the living room. I rub my eyes. At some point I must’ve fallen asleep. “Did you sleep at all?” I ask. “I couldn’t sleep with a hundred people outside my house,” Emily says with a bit of a bite to her
that I’m about to learn it’s not. I toss my phone aside and go for my laptop tucked inside my work bag. “You’re working?” Emily asks. I don’t answer her, I can’t. I’m too focused. I sign into my works database and pull up our network that tracks our global ratings. “No,” I gasp. “Well, if
It’s late. I’m tired. Yet the crowd outside Emily’s house continues to buzz with energy. The closer I get to the window, the more I can pick up on the undercurrent of anticipation, so I stay far away from the window. The crowd rotates through a series of chants. Each other be more annoying tha
The man approaches Eric, who remains in his seat, clearly not seeing the man as a threat. Though I can’t hear what they’re saying, I can gather the conversation well enough based off their loose hand gestures towards the house. Just then the stranger looks up and smiles knowingly at Emily and
This is not like Eric. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the tiniest bit impressed, still it’s not fair of him to do this. I haven’t moved from the couch, despite Emily’s efforts. “Just hear him out,” she says stifling a yawn. By now we could have watch both of the movies we wanted to. I sha
this out for him so he can hear how crazy it all sounds. Eric nods. “Like I said, I’ve realized my mistake and besides I thought she was dead before. That doesn’t mean a day didn’t go by where I didn’t think about her, where I had to shove the ache in my heart way down,” he locks his eye son t