Free Breathe by Sloan Parker Page B

for a smile, but it wasn"t real. She
    couldn"t fool him.
    “He"s never been scared of me.” Lincoln glanced at the kitchen doorway. “Is it
    "cause of the jail thing?”
    “No.” She slumped into the chair. “Before you, every guy who"s lived here
    scared him.” Lincoln sat next to her. He reached for her hand, but she pulled away
    from him. “I can take care of my kids. And myself.”
    “I know you can.” He went for her hand again and didn"t let her get away from
    him. “I want to help.”
    “I appreciate it. I do. I appreciate that he"s got one man in his life who isn"t a
    piece of shit. But I"ve got to fix things with him. It"s part of the reason I wanted Mel
    to leave. I saw the signs. Adam was changing. The anger, the fights. Mel wasn"t
    good for him.”
    “He wasn"t good for any of you. Adam wasn"t like this before I left.” Somehow
    the asshole stepdad had managed to change Adam from a typical looking-for-fun
    teenager to a scared-in-his-own-home kid. If only Lincoln could show Adam… What?
    That life fucking sucked sometimes? Maybe moving in with them wasn"t a great
    idea.
    “I"ve made mistakes,” Nancy said. “And I need to fix it.” She patted Lincoln"s
    hand. “And you can"t spend all your time worrying about me, or my kids. You"ve got
    to get back to your life. See your friends. Meet someone new.” She grinned. “Have
    some hot, kinky sex.”
    He snorted. The night before at Sonny"s had been hot. A damn handjob had
    never had him so undone. If only the kid hadn"t freaked. It wasn"t easy figuring out
    you were gay in small-town America.
    “You never had trouble finding guys,” she said with a laugh. “Even in
    Edgefield.”
    He wanted to find the kid again. The one person who made him forget
    everything else. The one person who hadn"t looked at him with contempt or pity.
    The one person he"d connected with who knew nothing of what he"d done or
    where he"d spent the last six months.
    “Mom!” Davy sprinted into the kitchen, a Hello Kitty backpack dangling from
    his right hand. “Jessica can"t breathe.”
    Nancy jumped out of her chair. “Where is she?”
    “Outside. We were just walking home like you said we could.”
    Lincoln headed for the open door. Jessica stood on the top rung of the porch
    steps, wheezing, a tiny black-and-white kitten in her hands.
    “She ran.” Davy sounded as if he was about to cry or scream or both. “I told her
    not to, but she wanted to catch it.”

    Breathe

    47

    Shallow gasps punctuated Jessica"s words. “She"s…too small…to be…alone.”
    Lincoln scooped her up and carried her into the house. He lowered her feet to
    the floor and knelt next to her. “Breathe deep. Nancy!”
    She frantically searched through the backpack. “It"s not in here. Davy, go get
    the one by her bed.”
    Jessica"s entire upper body heaved with each hitch of her breath. Lincoln
    rubbed her back, whispering in her ear. “Breathe. Slow. Easy. Just breathe.” Her
    wide, brown eyes watched him, her tiny hands still clasping the kitten.
    Davy returned in a hurry. “Not there.”
    The backpack hit the floor at Nancy"s feet. “Not there?”
    “We"re taking her to the hospital.” Lincoln didn"t hesitate. He picked Jessica
    up, pried the kitten from her hands, and dropped it to the couch. “Your new friend
    stays here.” The stupid little thing could fend for itself for now. Maybe Sparky
    wouldn"t eat it before they got back.
    Nancy followed him to the door. “She just needs her inhaler.”
    “We"re not waiting. Get your keys.”
    “All right.” Nancy called for Adam and asked him to stay with Davy. Despite
    their argument, the kid didn"t complain once he took a look at his sister.
    They were in Nancy"s car in no time, Jessica on Lincoln"s lap, her back to his
    chest, her every struggle for air obvious. A five-year-old should be able to do
    something as natural as breathing. Life fucking sucked sometimes.
    Nancy seemed to agree. “I wish she hadn"t lost her inhalers.