Relentless: Three Novels Read Free

scared. He kept opening his eyes to see if I was there and sleepily smiled every time I was. After about ten minutes, he was sound asleep and I left his room, closing the door softly behind me.
    I decided to stay up and read my new book. Even though it was late, I still wasn’t quite ready for bed. As I flipped through the pages of my romance novel to find where I had left off, I began to get the feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around quickly, expecting to see my son had awakened and come out of his room, but nobody was there.
    I shrugged my shoulders and started back on my book. As I read through a few more pages, I began to feel heavy breathing on the back of my neck. I felt the goose bumps form on my body and turned around, only to see nothing behind me. I was starting to get a little scared.
    I put my hand up to feel the air, to see if there was a draft in the room, but there didn’t seem to be. If there was, I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.
    I remembered what Ray had told me, about the former tenants who had insisted that the cottage was haunted, so I turned around quickly. There was nobody there. Deciding I was probably just overtired, I headed off to bed.
     
    * * *
     
    The next morning, I made a pancake breakfast to celebrate our new home. Trenton rubbed his eyes that were still a little puffy from sleep. “Guess what, Mom?”
    “What?”
    “There was a little boy in my room last night and we played with the toys that Mr. Ray gave me.” Trenton had a history of having imaginary friends, so this didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me.
    “That’s nice, Trent. Did he play nicely with you?”
    “Yeah, Mommy. We had a lot of fun.” Trenton looked past me to the door. “Someone’s coming, Mommy. I hear him.”
    There was a knock at the door. I got up from my seat and answered it.
    “Good morning,” said Ray.
    “Good morning. Would you like to come in?”
    “Yes, but I can’t stay long. I just wanted to see how you liked the new furniture or if you want it rearranged. I know how women are. Sometimes, it requires a few times to get everything all feng shui.”
    I laughed. “Oh, it’s lovely furniture and we are already settled on this arrangement. I can never thank you enough.”
    “It’s my pleasure. Hello there, buddy.”
    Trenton looked up from his plate of pancakes and waved to Ray.
    “Ray, this is my son, Trenton. Trenton, this is Mr. Ray.”
    “Thank you for the box of toys, Mr. Ray.”
    “You’re welcome. Nice to meet you, Trenton.”
    “Nice to meet you, too. I like the cottage.”
    “Good!” Ray said. He looked at me. “Everything working? No burned-out bulbs or dripping faucets?”
    “Nope. Everything is perfect,” I said. I didn’t mention the heavy breathing from last night. I was sure that my imagination was getting the best of me.
    “I have to be going.”
    “Okay, see you later, Ray,” I said.
    Ray left the house.
    “Come on, Trent, you need to get in the shower. We have Matt’s birthday party to go to.”
    “Aw, Mom! I thought we were done with Matt and Toni! Why do we still have to go to his stupid party?”
    “Because we already promised. It would not be nice to break a promise. Besides, other kids will be there that you like.”
    “His friend, Tiffany? The one who played checkers on the Wii with me that one time?”
    “We’ll see if she comes. I bet she will. And don’t worry, we won’t stay too long.”
    “Okay, Mommy. But if it’s fun, can we stay longer?”
    Kids!
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    I sat on the couch at Tori’s house watching the kids play “Pin the tail on the donkey.” Now that they didn’t live together and share a bedroom, Trenton and Matt seemed to be getting along great.
    Matt’s birthday party was decked out in a Spiderman theme. I really enjoyed the Spiderman centerpiece—it caught my eye. It was layer of pop-up building shapes with Spiderman hanging off them. The party decorations looked really