Free Eye of the Storms (Eye of the Storms #1) by Lisa Gillis Page A

about that. About being an ass when you called. But you just dropped something like that on me out of nowhere! What did you expect?”
    “I kinda expected most of it! I just didn’t expect to get hung up on like a bill collector!”
    The words flew from my lips without any thought. When they reverberated in my head, it embarrassed me to the extreme to have used that analogy. He would never understand collectors calling after a stressful workday or the degrading calls interrupting Tristan’s sweet chatter during dinner.
    “I sure as hell didn’t expect to get re-routed to your lawyer like some stranger!”
    “You kinda are a stranger…”
    Until now, I had thought the term ‘seeing red’ was just that. But at this moment, the room seemed to shade with my fury.
    “Get out!”
    “Were, I mean. Not are. Were.” Jack hastily attempted to correct the obnoxious answer but epically failed.
    “Get out!” The scream ringing from the depths of my soul sounded exorcist-like as it reverberated off the walls.
    Always I had been a strong person through everything thrown at me. Through my less than ideal childhood; through losing my college scholarship; through catching a cheating fiancé in the act; through a pregnancy with a rock star’s child; through the physical problems that child was born with; through cheapening myself by repeatedly looking for some sort of nirvana I never knew existed until experiencing it with a man who I could never be with– the same man who had just pushed me to this breaking point.
    As the mother of his child, I had never felt like a stranger, even while living separate lives. Yet, apparently, I was. Any connection between us beyond a small child was all in my fantasizing mind.
    “No.” Arms folded over his chest, he stood, daring me to say those two words again.
    “Please go…” It wasn’t my intention, but the plea was dangerously close to a grovel.
    “I gave you a chance to be more than a stranger and—”
    “You gave me a chance?” Derisively, I parroted the self-inflated words.
    “I wanted you to come to LA and you wouldn’t…” His hands fell to his side, but his gaze remained strong and slightly challenging.
    Truly, I must have cracked, because the hysteria faded, and a quiet calm pervaded my emotions. Imitating his stance of a minute or so ago, I crossed my arms and sent him a smug smile. “Did you? How badly did you want me there?”
    “Pretty bad.” His admission was hushed and humble, and his eyes held mine.
    Movement registered in my corner vision, and unwillingly, I dragged myself from his hypnotic brown gaze to the door, which eased open. Not surprising, my mother’s head slipped through just before the rest of her. “Marissa darling, is everything okay?”
    “Yes, thanks mom.” It was possible my parent had lingered outside the door long enough to hear our raised voices, but more likely, my mother sought an explanation, and still an introduction. I wanted to turn pointedly away until she left. But, after the initial shock and condemnation of the wild ways that made me an unwed mother, my parents had both stepped up. So, I remained patient with my mother’s nosy nature. “Could you give us a few minutes more?”
    The door fell shut, and in unspoken agreement, neither Jack or I immediately picked up the conversation until a safe half-minute passed.
    “Think about it. How badly would you have wanted me there?” Softly, I repeated the question to make the point.
    “I thought about it a lot before inviting you, and a lot after you said no…” Comprehension caused his jaw to go slack, and his astonished gaze rested on my face before dropping to my stomach. “You were pregnant then.”
    “Very.”
    Intently, I studied his expression. The trail had forked at this point five years ago, and I had taken the path of least resistance. Had my fears to reveal the pregnancy been justified? Would he have flipped? Or was I wrong; would he have actually wanted to share