Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Which I told him.
“No.”
“One,” he ignored my outburst. “You can either tell me what the fuck is going on then I’ll fuck you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing where this was going.
“Or,” I interrupted again. “You can take me to the bus station.”
His eyes narrowed. “Or two, you can let me fuck you, and then you’ll talk.”
I was already shaking my head. “That’s not how any of this works, Baylor.”
“This is exactly how it works!” he bellowed.
I froze as he pulled over, yanked me into his lap, and put both hands on either side of my face. Then he pulled me so close that I was breathing in the air he exhaled.
He was sweaty, angry, and on the verge of cussing.
At me.
I could tell.
His body was practically vibrating underneath mine, and not only could I tell that it wasn’t just in arousal, but I could also hear it in the tone of his voice.
He was frustrated with me.
I’d never seen him so mad before.
“I’m sorry I stole your truck,” I blurted.
His eyes narrowed. “You think that’s why I’m mad?”
I nodded self-consciously. “Yes.”
He threw the truck into drive and started to motor back down the street toward his house.
I stayed silent the entire way.
The moment he pulled into the driveway, my heart started to pound.
Wasn’t it just my luck that he’d see me driving his stupid truck out of the neighborhood. Wasn’t it just my luck that he’d be running? Fuck my life.
“Start talking,” he ordered, me still firmly on his lap. “Tell me why I shouldn’t be reporting your ass for theft.” He paused. “You do know that this truck is about five hundred grand, right? That’s more than just a petty, little misdemeanor.”
I swallowed thickly and looked at the floorboard of the truck, knowing in my heart that he was mad at me past the point of caring right then.
I had a responsibility, though. He needed to know.
Likely he’d be one of the first people who Sal questioned.
He’d stood up for me with those cops. He’d protected me. He’d picked me up from jail.
It was time.
“I have a lot to tell you,” I told him, closing my eyes. “It might take a while.” I paused. “You have to make me a promise, though.”
He looked directly at me. “Anything.”
I smiled sadly. “You have to promise, once you know everything, that you’ll not step in when this all goes south.”
“What are you talking about?”
I opened my eyes, and let him see everything that I held back over the last couple of weeks we’d been seeing each other. The fear. The uncertainty. The knowing that Sal was going to ruin this for me like he’d ruined everything else.
I knew that this man was going to try to protect me from Sal, but I couldn’t let him. Sal was going to ruin Baylor, and he would stop at nothing to get me back.
“Promise.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll promise to listen to you, but I’m not going to promise something when I don’t know what kind of trouble you’re in. I l-like you.”
I looked away. There was no way that he didn’t know I’d heard what he almost said. None.
“I guess that’ll have to be enough,” I muttered.
And I prayed that the words I thought he was about to say weren’t his true feelings. Maybe, just maybe, I’d get a second chance.
“Sal is…was my husband. We got divorced.”
His eyes narrowed.
“We got divorced while I was in a halfway house for women who were abused.”
His eyes narrowed even more. They were nothing more than slits at this point.
I inhaled, trying to gain the courage to tell him the rest.
It’d be better if the truck was dark. I reached forward and took the keys from the truck, tossing them on the dashboard.
The truck plunged into darkness, and now all I could see was the light shining on one side of his face from the streetlight across the street.
He waited.
I looked up, drew a deep breath of air into my lungs, and continued.
“I married Sal when I was young. Too young to be making such decisions. But I’d found out that I was pregnant within weeks of meeting him—and sleeping with him. The choice was obvious in my mind. Marry the man with the money, have him help me with the baby and school.” I shook my head. “I was in college with a full load of classes on my plate and student loans piling up. It was a stupid, rash decision, and not a day has gone by that I haven’t fully regretted the choice I made.”
I licked my lips. “See, what I didn’t know when I met Sal for the first time, was that it was me who didn’t know anything about him. Not the other way around. Sal knew everything about me from the day he’d seen me walk out of my college dorm room. He’d followed me for weeks, watching…stalking. Then, the day I graduated college, he made his move.”