Imposter

Chapter 19

"Look at this!"

A random object was thrust in his face, and Nix squinted.

"Look at it!" the little girl demanded again before placing her thumb back in her mouth.

Nix took the odd toy from her chubby fingers, pretending to examine it before handing it back.

"Cool," he said halfheartedly.

"I'm hungry." She let it fall to the floor and forced her way onto his lap. "Can we go get food?"

While Zaxby was right about the two children being easy to watch, he hadn't warned Nix how talkative Lissy was.

Nix held back a groan of pain and picked her up, placing her back on the floor.

The second day of his punishment was complete, and he couldn't move without reopening his wounds.

Already, he could feel blood trickling down his back.

The six-year-old, Troy, walked over and tugged his little sister away.

It seemed like he knew the reality of Nix's pain and was intent on making his job as easy as possible.

Nix would have appreciated it. . .if he wasn't so busy wishing he was as far away from the kids as possible.

It wasn't that he hated children. Who hated children?

He just hated being alone with children. Unsupervised.

A chill crawled up his spine.

Uncle Travis's laugh echoed through his brain.

"You're sick, but it's not my fault."

The door open, and Nix sprang up.

He bit back a curse of pain, his eyes stinging.

"Just checking in on you," Penny said. "You doing okay?"

No. "Yeah."

She laughed at the look on his face. "You look horrified," she said. "Have you never babysat before? These two are wonderful."

He couldn't be alone with children, alone with his thoughts.

But he couldn't tell her that, because then he'd have to tell her why.

He didn't want her to think he was a terrible person. He didn't want her to think he was disgusting.

He was—all that and more. But he didn't want her to know.

"So, one of the kitchen maids sent me up with this on Zaxby's request," Penny said, holding a sack in the air. "Said it's their lunch. After lunch, it's naptime for Lissy."

"And Troy?"

"He's too old for naptime," she said. "He'll be content if you entertain him, or he'll play quietly."

Oh, shit. Nix pressed his fist in his mouth, biting his knuckles.

Penny's eyes widened slightly. "Let me take a look at your back," she said. "You look like you're about to cry."

She had him sit down and she gently bunched his shirt up at the back of his neck.

"Gross," she muttered. "It looks really bad."

Troy and Lissy came to stand behind him, staring at the torn, bleeding skin.

"Can I touch it?" Lissy asked.

"Don't be stupid," Troy said.

"Get them out of the room," Nix said impulsively. "They don't need to see this."