Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 97525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
I closed my eyes, afraid to see any more. The smack of fist against flesh sounded and the bar suddenly fell silent as everyone’s attention shifted. I opened my eyes in time to see Lee stagger forward and land a punch, the man's head snapping back in an unnatural fashion. I surged off my stool and worked my way in between the two, my gaze catching sight of the other woman in this equation. She snapped a wad of gum and beelined for my open stool, her concern nonexistent as long as her seat was secured.
"Stop, Stop!" I screamed the words into Lee's face, and he hesitated long enough for me to shove him back into the crowd, the sea of bodies swallowing us whole, the bar not big enough to accommodate a crowd shift without a relocation of the population. I linked my arm through his and dragged him to the door and out to the street.
I expected curses, a fight to return inside, but he only staggered in the outside air. Stumbled forward, then backward, then sat, his knees buckling in such a fashion that his descent to the ground was almost graceful, a plié that planted him on the dirty curb. His arms folded on the top of his knees, and he dropped his head to his forearms.
I took a seat next to him, as carefully as I could. The minute my butt hit the concrete, my linen pants were condemned to an early death.
It was quiet out here, the roar from the bar muted, giving us a reprieve from the bedlam. I hung my head. I should be at home, neck-deep in a bubble bath, a book in hand. Or curled in a blanket, on the porch hammock, listening to the ocean until I fell asleep.
"You'll never do it." His words were a slur of depression and desperation.
"Do what?" I kept my head down, eyes closed. I didn't want to see his face and didn’t really want to know the answer to my question.
"Leave him." Somewhere in the darkness of the parking lot, there was the crunch of glass and a curse. "You won't, will you?" I felt his gaze on me, forcing myself to lift my head and meet his eyes.
A destroyed man sat beside me, his arms around his knees, and the image sent a shiver along my soul. I had seen this man in so many different lights, but this was the weakest. This is the one that touched me deepest and hurt me the most. The one that I, in some ways, loved the most.
And this is the destruction that I caused. Why didn’t I anticipate this scenario? Never did I think of Lee getting hurt—of Lee caring to that extent. I wanted him to want me—I just didn’t see the risk in that until now.
I told him the truth. "No, I won't. I won't ever leave him."
He broke the eye contact, resting his head on his hands, and silence fell between us.
Then, with a forward heave and strangled cry, he tipped forward and vomited onto the gritty asphalt.
A cab took us to my house. I hated leaving my car in the lot but didn't want to try and deal with Lee while I was driving. I needed both hands and full attention, in case of an incident during the twenty-minute drive.
There was no hiccup. He laid down across the back seat, his head in my lap, a loose hand resting on my thigh, as if to reassure him of my presence, and fell asleep.
I needed the break and spent the drive wondering if these emotions from him would go away as soon as he sobered up. He certainly hadn’t shown anything other than competitiveness with Brant before—and had never discussed even caring about me, much less expecting me to leave Brant for him.
“This the one?” The cabbie slowed by my gates, and I scrambled in my purse for my phone.
“Yes, that’s it. Just a moment, I’ll open the gate.”
I used the app on my phone to engage the gate, and then returned the device to my purse, pulling gently on Lee’s shoulder.
He didn’t respond, and I offered the driver an extra twenty bucks to help me carry him to my bed. Once the man left, I pulled his clothes off and covered him with the duvet, dimming the lights in the bedroom and changing into my pajamas. I laid on my side next to him and stared at his beautiful face. Stared and thought and tried to sort out the mess of feelings in my head.
Chapter 47
When I woke up in the morning, he was gone, along with the cash from my wallet.
Truly gone.
Like the first time I parted from him, he was lost in the wind. His cell phone was dead. His Jeep and trailer, which was left in the Toasty's parking lot, was never moved, and finally towed away. I called Jillian and asked if her people had seen him, but they had nothing.