Mazie Baby Read Online Free PDF Page B

these
hands. Now my fingers are nothing but thick stumps. They’re stiff and sore. I
bet I can’t even strum a damn guitar.” He turned and shuffled to his chair, sank
into it, put his face in his hands, and wept.
    Mazie stared at him. She glanced up
the staircase to the landing above, turned and eyed the front door. Was there
time to grab Ariel and get out? Was this her moment to escape?
    But her feet were bolted to the
floor. And she’d she never make it to the threshold before he caught up with
her.
    After minutes of his anguish
filling the otherwise still room, she let go of the railing and inched toward
him. She kneeled by his chair and placed one hand on his knee, ran her other
hand through his hair. “Cullen,” she whispered.
    He lowered his hands, wiped his
nose on his sleeve and looked into her face with red-rimmed eyes.
    They shared a momentary connection.
A silent understanding.
    Neither of their lives had turned
out as they had planned.
    He wrapped his arms around her and sobbed.
    Mazie froze. Anticipation churned
in her stomach and she braced herself.
    But he just cried and held on, buried
his face in her hair. “I’m so sorry, Mazie Baby. I’m so sorry.”
    His breath was hot on her neck. She
shut her eyes and swallowed. A shiver ran through her and goose bumps chilled
her skin. She fought the urge to push him away. With a trembling hand, she
stroked the back of his head. “I know you are.”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Cullen’s snores punctuated the two-in-the-morning
silence. Mazie ran her palms down her restless legs. He hated it when she twitched
and turned. Hated to be bothered in his sleep, awakened before he was ready. But
she could find no peace. She inched out of bed, put on her robe, and tiptoed down
the stairs.
    She poured herself a rare drink of
brandy and warmed it in the microwave. Alcohol loosened her tongue. Heightened
her bravado — and her risk. Sober was the way to go, the only way to be sure
she kept her wits about her. But with him dead to the waking world, she let her
guard down, just for a moment. The warm liquor calmed her shaken nerves.
    In the dark of the living room,
stillness engulfed her. She closed her eyes against her life, but behind her eyelids
she couldn’t prevent memories of how she ended up here from invading her respite.
    Cullen had
thrown the back door open with such force that the doorstop snapped off and
skittered across the floor. There was a hole in the drywall where the doorknob
slammed into it. They’d celebrated their first anniversary the week before.
    He was
late for dinner and she’d watched for his arrival. Before he spoke, she snapped
at him. “Damn it, Cullen! That’s the second hole in the wall this month.” Two
weeks before, he’d been upset over a cancelled gig and punched the bedroom
wall. An indent in the shape of his fist remained there for weeks before he
spackled and painted over it.
    He glared
at her and tossed his guitar case onto the landing. “It’s just drywall, for
Christ’s sake.” He let out a heavy exhale, ran one hand over his head and along
the length of the ponytail that hung close to his waistline.
    “It still
has to be fixed.”
    He held
his palm toward her face. “Just don’t. Not today.”
    She had
learned when to stop talking. He was upset about something that had nothing to
do with home. Nothing to do with her.
    He pried
his shoes off with the toes of the opposite feet and kicked them toward the
rubber mat against the wall. They landed askew on the linoleum. He brushed past
her and grabbed a beer from the fridge, popped the top and drank most of it in
three long gulps. He stood with his back to the counter, one hand gripped the
edge.
    “Well, are
you going to tell me what’s going on?”
    He wiped his
mouth with the sleeve of his denim jacket. “You know that agent,” he made air
quotes, “that was going to shop my demo around?”
    Mazie
nodded. “The one you paid the three grand to for studio time and