Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I didn’t disappoint him.
I let him have it. Just like he’d let me have it a few days ago when he called me on my false bravado.
“Your father-in-law forced you to get married to his daughter, knowing that she was a bitch.”
Coke’s lips twitched.
“You’ve done your duty. Over and over again. You’ve paid off the loan he gave you. You’ve given that horrid woman a whole lot more time than she deserved, and he was a part of that.” I waited, allowing that to sink in. “Did you ever ask him why he forced y’all to get married? This isn’t the dark ages. The day when you’re forced to marry is long gone. He didn’t help you live. You did that. You went into the army. You provided money for your wife and child to live here when you could’ve gotten housing for free where you were stationed, but she despised the idea of giving an inch. I’m sure the only reason you took anything from him was because he offered. Right?”
His lips quirked.
“It was an incentive.”
My brows rose.
“I got injured. When I got home, Beatrice made my life a living hell. Trying to recover while dealing with her was even worse. She was screaming at me, and I couldn’t scream back. I was at my wit’s end, and I think my father-in-law knew it. He saw what I was about to do—which was divorce her ass—and he offered me the money to buy this place. At first, it wasn’t really something I wanted to do but the more I thought about it, the better it sounded. Plus, it gave me a few more years to get Frankie straightened out while having both parents home.”
“Frankie straightened out?” I asked.
He sighed. “Beatrice ignored the fuck out of her. And with me being active duty, and Beatrice refusing to move where I was stationed, it was really fucking hard to make sure that I was there for her like I needed to be. Then, as Frankie excelled in school, and Beatrice did her utmost best to push what she wanted for her—which was marriage to a good man at eighteen—Frankie rebelled even more.”
I moaned.
“If that woman wasn’t already facing jail time, which I think is quite hilarious to see a woman like her facing jail, I’d go kill her just because of what she put you and Frankie through.”
He chuckled and got up, walking around his desk and ruffling my hair before leaning over to grab his Yeti cup that was sitting on the edge of his desk opposite of where he was standing. “I’m going to go pull a transmission for a customer.”
I was too busy looking at his crotch to process his words, and before I could say anything in response, he was walking out the door, his tight ass mocking me as he went.
I closed my eyes and realized that maybe he was right. Maybe I was just a girl. Maybe I was too nice.
Maybe I wasn’t good enough.
I was such a coward.
Tonight, I’d go home.
Maybe being in my own space would help me gain purchase in my life and give me the courage to tell him that I had some serious feelings for him.
Feelings that only got stronger the more I was around him.
***
“I think I’m ready to go home tonight,” I lied. “I’m going to give it a try…but be ready just in case, okay? I might call freaked out in the middle of the night.”
He blinked. “You don’t have to go if you’re not ready.”
I gave him a shaky smile. “I have to.”
But not for the reasons he was probably thinking.
He studied my face, reading the resolve written all over it, and nodded once. “Well, then. It sounds like you know what you want. I’ll honor that. But if you need me later, I’m there. I’ll likely be up late working on my project truck anyway. I have just a couple more months until Barrett Jackson in Vegas, and I’m almost where I want to be money wise. If you hear me, and you’re awake, come on over.”
I snorted. “I’d have to be drunk not to hear that, Coke. Then again, maybe drinking might make me actually forget that I’m on my own tonight…” I paused. “If you’re drunk, does that make you sleep better?”
“You’ve never been drunk before?” he asked incredulously.
I shook my head. “Hello? Psych problems already. Do you really think I’d add to those problems by drinking?”
He blinked. “I really don’t understand you.”
My brows rose to my hairline. “Why?”
“You say you’re not ‘right in the head.’ Well, let me tell you something, you’re more right in the head than any other woman I know. Sure, you might have an actual diagnosis, but seriously? You can’t go through life not doing things just because you think something is wrong with you. If everyone lived by that motto, this world would be a shitty place.”