Side Chick Era... Over

Loving Mom 29

Sharon tried to push past the reporters, but their encirclement felt like a wall of steel.

“Sharon, please answer my question!”

“Sharon-”

“Sharon-”

The voices buzzed around her like a swarm of wasps, piercing her ears.

And then, someone shoved her–hard.

Caught off guard, Sharon hit the ground with a painful thud.

She struggled to rise, palms stinging, knees burning, when a sudden cry pierced through the noise.

“She hit someone! Mrs. Biggs just hit someone!”

+25 BONUS

It was impossible to tell who shouted it, but the reaction was instant. Every flashbulb turned on her, bathing her in a storm of strobing lights.

The noise, the strangers‘ faces crowding in with hungry eyes, felt like masked demons closing in. She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs burned with the weight of it all.

came a voice from outside the chaos–low and cold, cutting through the

All of

crowd turned in unison. A tall man stood at the

Sharon’s pupils contracted.

Xavier.

just enough time. He crossed over to her, noticed her twisted ankle, and his

hospital,” he said, lifting her gently

soon as Xavier came into view, the reporters surged again, like bees drawn to a bloom. But something about him–his presence, the cold force of it–held

relationship with Sharon? Are you

had been hurling insults at Sharon moments earlier–pushed

gaze on her, his black eyes cold and

“Are you questioning me?”

in

something about him–his aura and the weight of his silence. Under his gaze, her

“It’s sprained. I’ll take you to the hospital now.” Before she could reply, he scooped her

voice–equally low but tinged with frost–broke the

“Oh? What a crowd.”

D

Chapter 29

was clear and cool, like water trickling