Free A Secret Vow: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance by Zoey Parker

here.” Every word is slow. “If you’re here, he can’t hurt you. I’m here. I’ll protect you.”
     
    I watch her chest rise and fall as she starts to breathe deeper. My words are working a little bit at a time to calm her down.
     
    “Breathe, Kendra. Think about what I’m telling you. I’m here. You’re safe with me.” I see the fight go out of her. Her whole body softens. “Come here,” I tell her, patting the bed next to me. Gradually, she slinks over to me and huddles against my torso. I can feel her trembling.
     
    I wrap my arm around her to pull her close. I need her to feel the physical truth of what I’m saying. That’s the only way I’ll get through to her. “Trust me,” I say. “I made you a promise. I don’t care what the rest of the world wants. This is my promise to you: you’re safe here. As long as you’re with me, you’ll always be safe.”
     
    Kendra burrows deeper against me. Her body is so light and tiny. There’s part of me that wants to break it, ravage it, but there’s another part that wants to keep anyone else from ever laying a finger on her. I’ve never had two voices saying such different things to me at once. My head is swirling.
     
    But I push away the thoughts. For now, that doesn’t matter. Nothing does. We fall asleep, my arm around her, with nothing but a promise between us and the world.
     
    * * *
     
    The morning sun stabs through the curtains. It’s early, but my bedroom window faces east. I always liked it that way. There’s always work to be done.
     
    Well, there is usually work to be done. For the first time since I can remember, I’m content just lying in bed. There’s a beautiful girl curled under my arm. I feel her stir and see that she’s awake, too. The yawn that rips across her face is nothing short of adorable.
     
    It’s a shame that I have to tell her what’s coming.
     
    Not yet, though. There will be plenty of time for that later.
     
    Kendra traces a wandering fingertip over the outline of a fresh tattoo on my ribcage. “What’s this one?” she asks. Her voice is still thick with sleep.
     
    “It’s a Penrose triangle,” I answer. “A twisted triangle that can only exist as a drawing on paper. You can’t make it in real life.”
     
    “What does it mean?”
     
    “Shows that some things aren’t meant to be real.”
     
    She falls silent, not sure what to think of what I’ve just told her. “That’s a sad thing to have on your body forever,” she says after a while.
     
    “I guess you could think of it like that.”
     
    She looks up at me, eyes searching my face for an explanation. “Is there a reason you got it?”
     
    I wonder what I can tell this girl. If I can trust her. Not just with the reasons, but with what it meant to me..
     
    Hell, I still can’t say for sure what it meant to me. I don’t even want to think about it.
     
    “For my brother,” I answer eventually. “He’s dead.” I leave it at that.
     
    “I’m sorry,” she murmurs instantly. “That’s awful.”
     
    “Yeah.”
     
    “That’s nice of you to commemorate him, though. It’s good to be remembered by family.”
     
    What is it with this girl’s ability to say just the right thing that triggers all the thoughts I’d rather not think? Family, memory…she harps on it without even knowing that it’s something that’s been gnawing at me for so long.
     
    “I’m the only one he had to remember him.” I don’t want to look at her while I say this. I keep my eyes on the ceiling. Inside my head, thoughts are spiraling out of control. It’s the same broken record that is has been for weeks: Who will remember you? Who will remember you? Over and over, endless, fucking incessant.
     
    I’ve been trying not to think about my scheme, too. It feels almost wrong to be planning how I’ll use Kendra at the same time that she’s curled up in my arms. But I can’t worry about things like that. I need what I need, and this is a golden