Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry, Margaret. What did you ask?” She gave me a sweet smile and asked if I wanted anything to drink. I shook my head, and she gave a nod before moving on to the next person.
The center of the table was filled with different catered items from the local deli down the street. But my appetite was nonexistent. My thoughts consumed my hunger. I kept glancing at the clock, wanting to leave, but knowing it was impossible. I already told myself I was done waiting for Leila to realize how right being together had been. The way she touched me, looked at me, gave herself to me, told me there were emotions far deeper than what she was playing off.
I was ready to take control and finally be a man, to tell her everything that needed to be said.
No one got anywhere in life by just waiting for things to become better. You had to take them by the balls.
Or in this case, finally tell Leila I was madly in love with her and willing to do anything to have her feel the same way for me.
* * *
I left work twenty minutes ago, the sun already setting but the nightlife of the city just starting to come alive. I clenched my jaw, curled my hand around the steering wheel until I knew my knuckles were white, and spoke to Leila through the Bluetooth in my car.
Miraculously, she actually answered the phone this time. I could tell in her voice there was still this distance between us. I was ready for that to go away.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to your parents’ house?”
I planned on heading straight over to her house, but things changed now. I was heading to her folks’ place. Her folks were hours away, but that wasn’t going to stop or deter me from my mission. And at this point, this was what it felt like, some lifelong mission to set things right.
This had to stop, her pushing me away, her acting like this couldn’t be repaired. I understood she was scared, but I was done waiting for Leila to come around.
I was going to tell her how I felt. The outcome couldn’t possibly be any worse than what it already was.
“I just needed to get away and think, Devon.” She sounded tired, so damn tired, and it broke my heart.
I was heading home from the office, but knowing where she was, that in essence she was running from me, had me changing course.
“Enough is enough, Leila,” I growled out those words, knowing I was being rough, abrasive. I couldn’t stop myself, wasn’t going to try to be gentle.
She needed a shock of reality, and I was going to give it to her.
“Devon,” she said softly, but I let out another growl, which promptly had her stopping whatever she was about to say.
“No, Leila. I’m coming to you, and we’re going to talk about this. Okay.” It wasn’t a question.
She was silent for long moments, and I curled my hands even tighter on the steering wheel. My body was buzzing with energy, thoughts playing through my mind. Tonight was the night I was going to tell her everything she needed to hear, things I should’ve told her years ago, things that could change the course of all this for the better… or the worse.
“Okay,” she finally said. “We do need to talk.”
I heard a slight tremble in her voice, and for a moment, that had my thoughts faltering, but I regained my inner strength.
For better or worse, this conversation was happening tonight. The air would be cleared, Leila would know how I felt about her, and we would let the chips fall where they would.
17
Leila
I saw the headlights from his car move through the open blinds of the living room. It was late, the drive to my parents’ house several hours outside of the city, but I waited up. It wasn’t like I would have been able to go to sleep anyway.
I hadn’t told my parents he was coming by, because that would have just started the million questions they’d no doubt have on why Devon was driving all the way up here so late.
I was terrified. I was a nervous, jittery mess, my heart racing as soon as I’d gotten off the phone with him, sweat beading on my brow, down the length of my spine, and between my breasts.
My palms were sweaty, everything in me so scared about this moment and how it would all play out that it was almost like an out-of-body experience.
But it had to be done. It should’ve been done when I first found out I was pregnant.
My parents had gone to bed hours ago, so I got up and opened the front door before he rang the bell or knocked. I watched him climb out of his vehicle and make his way up the driveway, his focus on the ground. He hadn’t even noticed I was standing here yet, watching him, trepidation probably written all over my face.