Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 20394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Chapter 18
Pres
The police have all left. The guys are all on their way back to the clubhouse, and that's where I should be too. But I used the excuse that I was going to clean up around here a little bit for when Allison gets here. There's so much that I want to say to her, but the more that I walk around this house, I know I don't stand a chance. Nash brings Allison and walks her in.
He looks at me. “The house secure?”
I nod. “Yeah, it’s secure. I checked it myself.”
Allison is carrying her purse, and that's it. She must have decided to leave her bag of clothes at the clubhouse, and I can't say I blame her. Nash is standing at the front door, obviously ready to go. "You need a ride back to Whiskey Run?"
I shake my head. "No, one of the guys brought my bike to me."
"Good, good. I’m going to head back."
Allison thanks him, and when he leaves, she turns to me standing awkwardly with her hands locked together in front of her. This is the same woman that was convulsing under me just this morning.
I nod toward the house. "Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"
She shakes her head. "I'm not staying here. I'll probably pack up and go to a hotel."
"A hotel?" I ask her, surprised.
She starts to ramble, letting me know that she's nervous. "Yeah. I'm going to sell the house anyway. I've never liked living here, and I don't want to stay. I may try to find something smaller." She's walking through the house, and I follow behind her.
I did a good job of cleaning everything up. "What can I do to help?"
She won't look at me, and she's trying to keep herself busy. "You've helped enough."
I can tell by the way her voice sounds that she’s about to cry. I put my hand on her shoulder and turn her toward me. "Allison, what is it? I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong? I thought you wanted to be home."
She wipes at her tears and looks at me with big wide eyes. "What are you going to do, Kane? Leave here and just walk away?"
It kills me to even say it, but I answer her honestly. "Yes."
Sadness and anger fill her face. "Okay. Okay. I... Yeah. Okay. I didn't realize that sex was all there was between us. I had hoped... Forget it." She stops.
She starts to walk away from me, but I jog to catch up and stop in front of her. "You hoped what?"
"Nothing. It doesn't matter. Please excuse me if I don't walk you out."
She takes off in the opposite direction, running up the stairs. I pace back and forth, trying to figure out what I've done wrong, how I've messed this so far up. With determination, I walk up the stairs. I look in each of the bedrooms and find her curled up on her side in one of the spare rooms. I sit on the edge of the bed at her knees. "I'm building a house," I tell her. "It's on the back of the property line behind the clubhouse. It'll be months before it's ready. I almost took you there this week. I wanted to. I wanted to see what you thought about it. I wanted to ask you if you thought that you could be happy there." I put my hand on her hip. I've never been this vulnerable before, even when I was cornered in a rain of fire in the military. I could see the light in the tunnel. Right now, everything looks bleak.
She raises up on her elbow and looks at me. "Why didn't you?"
When I don't answer her, she puts her legs out and sits up on the bed next to me. "Why?" I look around the fancy room and back of her. "Look at this place, Allison. I can't compete with this. You deserve this life."
She interrupts me, throwing her hand in the air. "What? You think I deserve an empty house with no love, no kids, no laughter? You think I deserve to be lonely, afraid, and sad? Because that’s everything I felt before I met you."
I shake my head. "You know what I mean."
She pulls at the fancy blanket on the bed. "I don't care about any of this. This last week with you, I felt more alive than I ever have. I am happy with you, Kane."
"So am I," I tell her. "I didn't want to let myself even think we could be a possibility, but I can't walk out that door without you."
I reach for her just as she reaches for me. Her arms go around my neck, and she holds on to me. "So are you asking me to come home with you?"