Page 307 of Phobia

Ant turns on her, pointing in her face, and it takes all I have not to jump in my car and race over there. “This wouldneverhave happened if you hadn’t fucked him!”

Naomi steps forward, her rage matching his. “No, Ant. This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had to save your pathetic arse! I only met Dom because of you.”

“Max called you. Not me.”

“Because Max knew you were in the shit.” Naomi runs her hands through her hair and steps away, the tension, or most likely the fear I planted, taking its toll.

“Max only called you because he wanted to see you.”

Oh, Ant. Just admit you’re a cunt.

“If you’d have left with him like he wanted-”

“Fuck you!” Naomi jumps forward and shoves Ant, knocking him off balance. “You are such a selfish prick! Did you hear what’s going to happen?”

“I heard you moaning his name while he shoved his cock in you so hard the walls were shaking.”

Whack!

The room stills as the sound of Naomi’s palm connecting with Ant’s cheek reverberates off the walls.That’s my queen.

Naomi’s shoulders rise and fall rapidly with her breathing. “If you could take your head out of your arse for five seconds and think about anyone but yourself, I’d fucking appreciate it.”

Ant says nothing, but I can see the heat in his glare.

“I just swapped my life for yours.”

“That’s just your stupid brain,” Ant grinds out. “You’ll be fine.”

“And yet those words mean nothing to me, Ant… Nothing! You can tell me it will be fine, Dom can tell me it will be fine, but all I’m going to see is a gravestone with my name on it.”

My gut twists on hearing her admission. I’ve looked into Tokophobia, but it doesn’t exactly come with a rule book. She’s scared, and I also know why, but history isn’t going to repeat itself. Not on my watch.

“Pregnancy means death to me.” Naomi exhales the words as if she’s running out of breath. “It doesn’t matter what the statistics say. It doesn’t matter what makes sense or that your mum survived it twice… IknowI won’t.”

I exhale a deep breath of my own as something that resembles guilt scratches at my conscience. Doesn’t matter; the balls are already in motion. I can break through to her; I know it.

Ant lowers his head and moves forward, finally ready to comfort the cousin who’s saved him. He stops a few steps away from her and cups her face. “Good thing you can take it up the-”

“Get out!” Naomi yells before he can finish his sentence. Storming to the door, she yanks it wide, and Ant limps out.

If I hadn’t just made a deal that kept him safe, I’d have his tongue out, the ungrateful shit.

Slamming the door closed behind Ant, Naomi leans against it for support before storming to the other side of the room. She stops, turns, walks, and then stops like she has no clue what to do.

“FUCK!” she screams, stumbling to her knees.

My instincts have me reaching for my phone to have Ron take me over there, but I refrain. It wouldn’t help. She'd hate me even more if she knew I’d been spying. I’ll make things right when she’s with me. Make her see what she can be.

Naomi stares at the floor like it holds the answers to her problems for another two hours. Occasionally, she mumbles something I can’t make out, but it sounds like she’s saying the same thing on repeat. Eventually, she rises and enters her room, emerging a few minutes later with a large shoulder bag. Zooming in, I watch as she tips the contents out: her passport catching my eye.

Naomi’s doing the only thing she can think of—going through the motions and sticking to her plans. She checks everything three times, then picks up her phone. I reach for the burner Billy gave me earlier, which is now a clone of Naomi’s, thanks to his quick fingers and tech ingenuity.

I can’t manipulate her phone, but I can see every app she opens and every word she types. All she does is set an alarm for 5:30 am, plenty of time to get to the airport for her morning flight.

Setting my own alarm, I down my drink before turning to the laptop as a tired and defeated Naomi heads to her room. “Sweet dreams, Treacle.”

Chapter 21