Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 107673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
He turned the car into the driveway and pushed the button to open the garage door. “We have the money I’m makin’ too,” I said, no longer willing to let my money gather in a savings account untouched.
Dash grinned and nodded, his chin hitting his chest. “We might need that. Maybe you can get me health insurance too?”
“I don’t know, but I can ask. It finally feels like we’re becoming partners.” I nodded my affirmation. Better because I hadn’t lost him yet. We stared out the front window as he pulled into the empty garage. He put the in park and he cut the engine.
“I don’t like seeing you cry,” he said, quietly, with his eyes still forward.
“I don’t like seein’ you cry either. I certainly don’t like what happened to you today,” I said, glad to be in the safe harbor of this home again. I couldn’t help but feel as if Dash still had a long way to go before this ended, but I wouldn’t walk away on my own. I was never going to be able to voluntarily leave him. “All of this happened because we were drawn to each other.”
“Hmm,” Dash hummed, and finally glanced at me. “Very true.”
The garage door began to close, a timed deal that always happened just this way. He reached for the door handle, pushing it open, and finally let go of our hold. I watched him go to the car’s hood, waiting there for me to join him. “You sure can run. You were at least seven miles in the wrong direction before I found you.”
A weighted faint smile lifted the corners of my mouth—barely. “The shoes are ruined.” I gestured to where the leather had detached from the sole.
“Probably not designed to run like you did,” he said teasingly. His arm encircled me as we walked together to the door. “Beau, listen to me. You have to listen to me this time. I love you more than the life they tried to give me. Please don’t leave me unless you can’t get past what happened under my watch.” He pushed the door open. The air conditioning poured out as I faced him straight on.
“Then you hear me. You’ve done nothin’ more than love me. What’s happened is on them and my shitty old man, not either one of us. It’s hard to learn that my father put a financial price tag on my happiness.”
Mylove gathered me in his arms, burying his face in the crook of my neck. “I’m sorry for your life. Not because I caused it, only that you suffered.”
I gently pushed away from the embrace. We had to move on. Find our way into the future. We couldn’t do that with all the negativity of the day following us inside our home. “You’re on a budget now. We can’t be air conditionin’ the entire neighborhood.”
He chuckled, likely never hearing such a remark before. A lot of new things were coming his way. We’d have tonight and maybe the rest of the weekend before his father played his next hand, whatever that scheduled I followed Dash inside, rolling my shoulders, readying for a fight I didn’t understand.
The End