Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“That asswipe Jon cheated on her. She found a text, and they fought. Now he’s run out and is staying with this other woman. Because that’s how this works. She finds a man who doesn’t care about her, and then he hurts her—cheats, steals money…finds some way of disrespecting her. It’s like a rerun of the same episode of a crap TV show keeps coming on, and I can’t fucking find the remote. And even though I haven’t spoken to her in how long, even though she’s fine as long as she has that jerk in her life, the moment she fears that she doesn’t, suddenly she needs me. I hate that he cheated and that she’s hurt, but I just… God, this is so hard.” Carter turned around, and then he was hugging me. His face was in my chest, and he felt so fucking good there.
“I’m here for you, okay? Whatever you need.” What I wanted to tell him was that he deserved for his mom to care about him all the time, not just when she needed something. That he was one of the best men I knew, and had a big heart, and I was honored to call him mine.
“I need to see if I can go to Paducah. She needs me.”
“Okay…but I’m worried about you. What do you need?” Who was there for Carter? He was always the perfect PA. He did whatever Dax or Elliott needed. He often tried to do the same for me, and always for his mom, but again, who was there for Carter? Who took care of him?
“You’re giving it to me right now,” he replied.
“Good.” I ran my hand through his hair and kissed his forehead. “When do we need to go?”
He tensed, and I was afraid I’d gone too far, that he wouldn’t want me there, but then he pulled back and looked me in the eyes. “We?”
“If you need me, I’m there.”
“What about work and—”
“If you need me, I’m there,” I repeated.
He nodded. “I need to call Dax. If you can’t get anyone to cover at Fearless, I’ll understand.”
“It’ll be fine.” If I couldn’t figure it out, Linc or Cam would help. They’d done it before. I’d close the damn store for a few days if I had to. If Carter wanted me, there wasn’t a chance I wouldn’t be there for him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Carter
It was nice of Sawyer to offer to visit my mom with me. Considering where we were in our very new relationship, he certainly didn’t need to be there for a family crisis, but it was something I appreciated. I didn’t want to go see my mother alone.
Each time I had to face her after a breakup, it got harder. Too many times I’d run to her rescue, only for her to wind up with whatever bastard she was seeing at the time. Then it was back to the same old script—occasional calls and requests for cash or help. But when Mom needed me, I wanted to be there for her.
I could tell Sawyer had trouble understanding why, especially with the way his family worked. But she wasn’t a bad person. That wasn’t how I saw it, at least. Somehow, she was trapped, if only by her own mind, into thinking she had to stay with guys like Jon.
Regardless of the reason for the trip, Sawyer and I had a pleasant car ride to her place in Kentucky. We got to make jabs at each other’s musical tastes, and, better still, he had to endure my sing-alongs to Ava Max and Ariana Grande. I did let him offer up his own playlist of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Imagine Dragons so I could criticize his tastes. It was all in good fun, and between that and the conversations we had, catching up on the latest Fever Falls gossip, it was well worth the eight-hour drive to Kentucky.
I had avoided talking about Mom until we passed the WELCOME TO PADUCAH sign. Knowing we’d be seeing her within the next half hour, I couldn’t help but mention, “Here we are.” I glanced over at the passenger seat, where Sawyer sat, having swapped with me at the last gas station. “An hour from the last guy she was seeing, and maybe four hours from the one before that. Mom has a way of traveling with these guys, and waiting tables makes it easy for her to follow them whenever they pick up and leave.”
Sawyer didn’t say anything. Figured he was giving me a chance to vent whatever frustrations I needed to unleash before we arrived at our destination.
“I’m just glad he left her at their place. Nothing’s worse than meeting Mom at some shit motel that smells like piss and has roaches crawling across the walls—and both of us acting like nothing’s wrong.”