Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“I have a dog now,” Gabe says. “We need to get home.”
“Bring him with you,” Cat offers. “We love furbabies. We babysat Reid and Carrie’s cat and dog while they were gone.”
“What if my dog eats their cat?” Gabe challenges and despite all of this, I laugh.
“He named him Dexter,” I explain, “and he did so because, despite all his friendliness, Gabe is certain that he’s a killer.”
Cat gives her brother a dubious look. “I’m certain that comes from a deep-rooted distrust of pretty much the entire world. Bring Dexter for a playdate. It sounds fun, and I think the baby wants pizza so we’ll order pizza.” She places her hand on her belly, considers a moment and then confirms. “Yes. Pizza. Non-negotiable.”
I laugh but it comes out choked, my emotions masked but not buried. “Thanks, Cat, for everything. You two—or—” I glance at her belly, “three, have been nothing but wonderful to me, and even my mother. I know it’s about protecting Gabe, but you’ve made me feel like an old friend.”
“A new friend,” she says. “You’re one of us now and our clan protects our own, except for the father who would eat his own children.” She hugs me I suspect to hide the emotions radiating in those words. “You’re good for him,” she whispers next to my ear. “You just don’t know it yet.” She releases me, and as she hugs Gabe, I’m quaking inside.
I’m good for him.
I want to be, but she’s right. I really don’t know it right now. Cat hurries back to court while Reid joins us. “Party at Cat’s house. I heard.” He eyes Gabe. “We need a minute.”
“Because you want to talk about me and you can’t when I’m with you?” I ask, because he couldn’t get more obvious.
Reid’s eyes dance with unfettered amusement. “You have a mouth on you, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Gabe says. “She does.” He steps into me and cups my face. “Use it to get all of my secrets later when we’re alone.” My cheeks heat with the comment that Reid has to have heard, but Gabe is already kissing me. “Give me two minutes, baby.” He releases me and walks away with his brother, that endearment of “baby” doing funny things to my belly.
I turn away from the two brothers, and stare down the long hallway, watching people hurry past, headed toward the courtrooms that hold destinies for both those who are on trial and those affected by the trial. I feel as if this is where I’m going to end up, with Reese defending me. I just have to make sure Gabe and my mother don’t end up here, too.
“Ready, baby?” Gabe asks, sliding his arm around my shoulders and setting us in motion.
“What was that, Gabe?”
“Reid’s going to take Dexter out. I told him to leave him at home. It might be too much for him to come with us. And I don’t want to take any chances of us getting cornered before we can get a game plan going with your mother.”
“You’re that worried?”
“Yes. Dexter is a killer.”
“Gabe,” I say. “You know what I’m talking about.”
“I like to do things on my terms,” he says. “And that means the police get us when we know why they want us. When we have details and a plan.”
“Can’t Reid just call Jean Claude?”
“They parted on bad terms.”
“Can you call your father?”
“He’s the enemy.” He turns us right down the hallway leading toward the side door. “We can’t trust a word he says.”
I don’t have a father that I can call a father, not really, and he was really horrible to me and my mom, but to distrust him the way Gabe does his father—that’s got to hurt. That’s got to mess with you and I think of Cat’s comment about trust. Gabe doesn’t trust. I’m just thankful that I told him what I did. I wouldn’t want to hide anything from him. Not with this history that I have a feeling runs much deeper than his father. It’s about why he ensured he can’t have babies. It’s about that KM threat my ex threw out at him that he didn’t talk to Reese about. He’s going to have to talk to him. The thing is, will he talk to me? Will he trust me?
Maybe.
Eventually.
Not now.
We exit the courthouse with that thought on my mind, that certainty: no, he will not trust me. Not yet. I just have to understand that we’re new. He’s all in with me. I feel that, but emotional layers are created over years and years, over a lifetime. I can’t expect full exposure now. I haven’t even given him full exposure. I don’t have secrets, but as we settle into the backseat of the SUV, and he pulls me close, I think of some of the things I endured with my ex. These things aren’t easy to talk about. They aren’t things I even think about. I’m a robot in some ways where my ex is concerned. That was survival. But what, I wonder, made a vasectomy survival for Gabe?