AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He has, and that led you to look away from the regret in his eyes. From the pain, turmoil, and guilt. But trust me, darling, there’s more to him than that. I’ve raised this boy since he was twelve years old when his and Ethan’s parents died in a car accident.”
My heart stopped. He’d lost his mother in the same way I’d lost mine. The sympathy I saw as I told him that was real. He’d lost his father, too. He knew the pain.
“What he feels is not hate.”
Trouble moved, distracting us both. Mud-stained white paws—proof that his flower-digging habit hadn’t been laid to rest—and a very bushy tail circled on Trix’s lap.
She angled a small black remote to a corner of the room, and flashing lights of song names stared back at me as I looked over to the media station. The volume of the song increased, and she sat back, delivering affection to Trouble, who loved this song...
And so did I.
It was my favorite.
And having something in common with the animal made me want to bond with him.
I moved a little closer.
Trouble’s opera-loving ears flattened to his head as Trix smoothed over them. His little face and the beady eyes I recognized from a few nights ago smiled up at me, trusting me before knowing me.
His judgment was shit...as he trusted Mercer, too.
Though, I didn’t doubt Mercer’s devotion for Trouble…just everything else about him.
I guess Trouble’s judgment was good, after all.
And he chose to be here when freedom was his nature. Chose to live with these people over his own family.
I guess we have more things in common because, in truth, I secretly wanted to do the same.
I wanted to stay here, never to return home.
I touched him, and he got excited by me or the song playing. I couldn’t tell, but his little noises made it sound like he was trying to sing along. My hand caught my chuckle, keeping the sound low, not wanting to interrupt Trix’s enjoyment of the music.
The tenor picked up, sending shivers down my spine. The master of the song’s pitch dragged me under a spell, hypnotizing my mind and making love to my body. I grew wet, the voice strumming me in the most perfect way, and I found myself drifting from the animal.
I stared at nothing, the room around me becoming a blur. A love story played in my head. A princess was trying to warm the cold heart of a handsome prince and trying to survive the riddles surrounding him.
She would surely fail...
I interrupted my own fantasy, “I love this song. Whose rendition is it? I’ve never heard this one before.”
Trix’s eyes widened, her gaze dragging over me and yesterday’s shirt, disbelieving that I didn’t know. “It’s Mercer, dear.”
My back straightened, my eyes rushing to the music player as if he would magically appear there with a mic in hand, proving her right.
“He was a singer?”
“No. Last year, just before the trip, he finished school to become a doctor. He had so much love to give back then. He wanted to help people, and he was gifted. Born for it.”
A doctor...someone who could drug another, knowing the correct dosages without killing them. He’d done it to me, and I’d fumed over him risking my life, but he hadn’t...because he knew exactly what my body could handle.
It was never all that risky to him, too confident in his abilities.
“He sang because he enjoyed it. It broke my heart when he couldn’t anymore. And then, somehow, like his grandfather, art called to him, too.” Trix’s lips curved into a proud smile.
“He was amazing.” At so many things.
“He was...these recordings were from competitions in his teens. He came second on this one. He was robbed.”
