Page 131 of Possess Me

“Mmm… Sounds like a match made in heaven.”

“What if I told you that’s exactly how it feels?”

“Then I’d say you were… right.”

For a beat we stared at each other, uncomfortable and awkward like two high school kids forced to endure the first dance.

Woof. Woof!

Bella broke the sweet moment, racing toward us. When she jumped on Vissarian’s legs, she did the unthinkable.

She shook.

A full body shake with her head dancing back and forth.

Then she proceeded to plant her front, very wet paws on his chest and crisp white shirt.

He threw out his arms and I thought for certain he would be enraged.

But he wasn’t.

His laugh floated through the air and he tussled with her, even kissing her on the muzzle. Something told me that there wouldn’t be another time in his life when he didn’t have a fur baby by his side.

“Oh, look. You’re all wet,” I teased and climbed off the lounge altogether. I hadn’t packed a bathing suit with me so shorts and a tank top would have to do. “Care for a cold beverage? I scoped out what you have in your tiki bar. Maybe a piña colada.”

“Maybe a cold beer. I think I need one before dealing with my father.”

“Comin’ right up, bad boy.”

A momentary thought about my apartment entered my mind.

And the attacks in Cuba.

If Antonio was behind them, he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.

At least I better understood why he’d been so angry the day he’d stormed into my parents’ house. His twisted obsession had created a family of his own. Why did I know that? Because he resented what had been formed with Luis marrying my mother. Yet even when he’d stood on the outskirts much like I’d done, the memories of what I’d shared with my real father had reminded me there were beautiful relationships.

He’d had no such good memories, his mother dying when he was a baby and his father barely paying any attention to him.

“What’s wrong?” Vissarian asked from behind me.

I hadn’t realized I’d just stopped only a couple of feet away from the chair by the edge of the pool lost in thought.

“Antonio thinks I belong to him.”

“I know, but you don’t and you won’t. Ever.”

“What if you can’t stop him?”

His laugh was so full of confidence. “I assure you that he will be stopped.”

In my mind, the thought of Antonio facing harsh punishment for what he’d done to me felt right. And wrong. Did I want him to endure exactly what my mother had? Yes. But that wasn’t who I was as a person. “Don’t kill him, Vissarian. Promise me you won’t.”

“You mean Antonio?”

“Yes. Do this for me.”

His hesitation was followed by a very long, intense exhale. “What you’re asking is to ignore all I believe in.”