Glimmer (Glimmer and Glow 1) - Page 93

He shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

She nodded, recalling all too well what he’d told her about his mother.

“I know you never knew your father,” she said in a rush, as if to get it over with. “But your mom? Is she still alive?”

“No. She died of liver disease five years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Alice whispered, peering into her coffee cup. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all, thinking of Dylan being so alone in the world. “Was she”—she swallowed thickly—“proud of you? For all you’d accomplished in your life? I hope she was, because you’re an incredible success story.”

She looked into his face when he didn’t respond immediately.

“No.”

“Oh,” Alice said, her shoulders slumping despondently.

He grimaced. “It’s not like that. I never expected her to be proud. My mother never wanted me to begin with. I was a burden to her from day one,” he said in a hard tone. “Why should she care what I was doing with my life? I’m not even entirely sure she knew what I did for a living, let alone had the wherewithal to be proud. It’s not a tragedy, though. I had someone, like you had Maggie.”

“Alan Durand?”

He nodded. For several seconds, both of them sat silently and stared out at the coming dawn. Alice could clearly make out the shape of the tops of the trees now against the backdrop of a pinkish gold sky.

“Was your mother an alcoholic? Or a drug abuser?” Alice asked softly, thinking of what he’d said about his mother dying of liver disease.

“Alcohol was her poison.”

Alice nodded in understanding. “I’m waiting for Sissy’s liver to give out any day now. It’s a miracle that woman keeps walking, the things she does to her body …”

The hand on her shoulder rose to her chin when she faded off. He nudged her slightly and Alice looked at his face.

“Do you love her?” he asked.

“My mother?”

“Sissy.”

Alice just stared for a moment. “I don’t want to love her. Most of me hates her.”

Her blunt words only seemed to highlight the other part. Alice wished like hell she didn’t cringe every time she witnessed or thought of Sissy destroying herself bit by bit every day, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it. A fiery glow bathed Dylan’s rigid features now.

“What about you? Did you love your mother?”

His mouth tightened. “I didn’t want to love her,” he repeated her words after a pause.

A small spasm of emotion coursed through her. She brought her feet up next to her on the swing and curled into him, her cheek pressed to his chest, her hand on his abdomen. He cupped her shoulder, bringing her closer against him.

Together, they watched the burning dawn in a full, compassionate silence.

AFTER the orange ball of the sun had risen over the tree line, Dylan stood and wordlessly took her hand. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but Alice’s chest felt tight and achy as he led her through the house to his bedroom. There, he began to undress her, his actions deliberate and unhurried. When she finally stood before him, trembling and naked, he whisked both of his hands down her sides, cupping her hips.

“You’re a living miracle,” he said quietly. Something in his somber stare made her throat ache, making speech impossible. Was it reverence? Gratefulness? How could that be?

How could any of this be?

It was, though. There was no denying it, no matter how much she might want to try. Emotion swelled in her, uncomfortable and unstoppable. The truth hurt. It erupted in her, tore at her, like the Alice she’d been wasn’t big enough to hold it anymore. Is this why people rejected or sabotaged love, because they knew it would destroy what they were, that it’d shatter that old shell of identity and force them into being something different, insist that they transform?

She was falling for him. So hard.

Dylan held her stare as she lay on her back on the bed a moment later and entered her. The monumental fullness overwhelmed her. It broke through her brittle, hard-won armor.

Tags: Beth Kery Glimmer and Glow Erotic
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