Longer Be 87

Posted by Adminj, ? Views, Released on July 25, 2025

Chapter 87

“I’m going to kill them,” he muttered, but I could see the life returning to his eyes. “I’m going to absolutely murder both of them. Slowly. With my bare hands.”

I was fighting back laughter at the mortified expression on his face. “Oh, Aaron. You do have a lovely family.”

We settled into comfortable silence, and that’s when I actually noticed what was playing on the television. “Are you watching cartoons?”

I felt him nod, his cheek grazing my forehead slightly. “Zootopia. It’s actually my second favorite.”

“Second favorite?” I raised an eyebrow, settling more comfortably against his side so I could look at him. “What’s your first?”

He looked down at me, his signature devilish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “There’s this character named Jane. She’s pretty great.”

We stared at each other for a second before bursting into laughter. “You’re ridiculous.”

We watched the movie in silence. Judy Hopps was chasing some criminal through the streets when Aaron spoke.

“You can ask me questions, you know. About… about today, about what happened. I know you’re wondering.”

I turned to study his profile. He was stiff again. The easy smile from earlier had left his face. “I don’t need to know anything you don’t want

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to tell me,”

“I want to tell you. I just… I need you to ask. I can’t seem to start on my own.”

There were so many questions I could ask, but only one kept gnawing at me. “How did he die?”

His jaw tightened, eyes hardened, but he didn’t look away from me. “Car accident.” He paused, took a deep breath, then continued. “He was only three. Three years old, Jane.” His hand clenched into a fist against the bedsheets. “Someone was driving drunk. Yve had him in the car, but she didn’t put him in a car seat. Didn’t even have him buckled in properly.”

My heart stopped. Lucky whined in my chest. This was hurting her too.

“He fell out of the moving car,” Aaron continued. “Fatal head trauma. He was… he was gone before the ambulance even got there.”

I couldn’t find the words. What could anyone possibly say to make sense of this?

“The strange thing is, most of the year, I don’t even think about it at all. I can go months without the memories really hitting me. But then this day comes around, and it’s like…” he paused to suck in a breath. “It’s like a dam breaks and everything comes flooding back all at once.”

I didn’t say anything. I just let him talk.

“Cathe says it’s a psychological defense mechanism. She’s studying to be a therapist, so she’s full of all these technical terms. Call’s it repressed memory or something like that. My mind’s way of protecting itself from trauma it can’t process.”

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Chapter 87

Before I could respond, there was an urgent knock on the door. I untangled myself from Aaron to unlock the door and pull it open.

248 Wouchers

Cathe, Bonnie and Diana were standing in the hallway looking like soldiers of bad news.

“What’s wrong?” I heard Aaron ask from behind me. “Did something happen to Mom and Dad?”

Cathe stepped forward. “Mom and Dad are fine. But… she’s out on parole.”

“She?” I asked, turning to glance at Aaron whose face has gone oddly pale. “Who’s she?”

Cathe looked me dead in the eye. “His ex–wife.”

*Aaron*

She’s free, Fen growled again.

That woman was more than just my ex–wife. Yve was a drunk driver, child killer, the woman who stole my son’s future… and now, they just let her out.

“She’s out on parole,” Cathe added as if that made all the difference in the world. But couldn’t she see? Yve didn’t deserve to ever see the light of day again.

I’d been a fool to think time would dull the pain… the rage. Even after years of preparing myself for the moment, I still had no idea what to say, how to act, or the version of me Yve would get if we ever came face to face.