Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“I will be, once I tell you and I know you’re okay.”
Her head tipped to the side.
“Your dad showed at the offices today.”
Her head righted with a snap. “What?”
“Babe—”
“He just…showed up?”
“Ava babe—”
“At your office?”
He pulled her face closer to his. “Listen to me, beautiful. Please?”
He could feel the soft pants of her breath, how her not getting enough air was making her body work, and he wished he hadn’t let Mace cool him down before he confronted her father.
But now it was about his Ava.
“Breathe, baby,” he coaxed.
She pulled in a shaky breath.
He waited for her to take the second one before he spoke again.
“He wants to see you.”
“He wants to see me,” she parroted.
“I got more you should know before you make your decision.”
“Oh hell,” she whispered.
“I know you told me not to look for him, but first, I didn’t know if that would hold. And if you wanted it, I wanted to be in a place to give it to you. And second, I wanted to be prepared if what happened today actually happened. So I found him.”
“You found him,” she again parroted.
“Yeah.”
“Where was he?”
He gripped her tighter and said, “Castle Rock.”
It took a second, but what he expected to happen did.
She exploded off his lap.
Luke followed her up and caught her before she went ass over head over the coffee table. But once he righted her, she tore out of his hold and, skirting the coffee table, took two steps away.
He followed her.
She lifted a hand his way, stopped, and so did he.
“No, I’m okay. It’s okay,” she lied, and then she proved it a lie by shouting, “Castle Rock!”
“I’m sorry, baby,” he said gently. “He’s been there the whole time. Fourteen years. He’s been living with a woman the last twelve.” He paused, then gave it all to her. “She has two daughters. They were ten and thirteen when they met. He helped raise them.”
“Oh my God,” she mouthed.
And then she lost it.
He caught her before she went down and got her in bed, stretching out with her and holding her close.
She had a lot to get out, and he was glad as fuck she did it, sobbing and bucking and hiccupping in his arms. It took a long time, but eventually she wound down, sniffling, rubbing her face on his tee and burrowing into his body.
He tangled his fingers in her hair, bent his head and asked into the top of hers, “Okay?”
She nodded, but said, “I mean, not okay okay. Like, you know, my dad was essentially one town over, raising some other woman’s kids, while we all suffered through. But I’m not going to cry or shout any more tonight.” She tipped her head back to look at him and added, “Though, I reserve the right to do so at a later date. Mostly the shouting part.”
He smiled at her.
She watched then shoved her face in his throat.
“What a jackass,” she mumbled there.
He had a different term for it, but he didn’t share.
“Hate this, baby,” he said quietly. “But I’m kinda not done.”
She tipped her head back again. “Do I need to fortify before this next by eating the napoleons? Special note, I referred to them in plural so I mean both of them, Luke. I’ll buy you a make-up one tomorrow.”
He laughed softly, fell to his back and pulled her up on his chest.
“No. You’re not eatin’ my napoleon. But I gotta remind you that he came lookin’ for me so he could find you.”
“Yeah. Unless he had some investigative work he needed done to take care of his other family, the one he stuck around to raise, and someone said my name, so with the one of you plus the one of me making two, he got curious.”
“It wasn’t that,” Luke murmured, watching her closely.
She noticed and asked, “What?”
Luke pointed out the obvious. “He’d like to see you.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“I told him I’d tell you what he wanted, and if he didn’t hear from you, he needed to take that as your answer and stay out of your life. I also told him, if you went the other way, you wouldn’t be seeing him without me there.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “Did you threaten him?”
She knew him down to his soul.
Therefore, he didn’t hesitate to reply, “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“I kinda wish I saw that,” she muttered.
He gave her a shake. “Babe.”
She refocused on him and saw on his face he wanted an answer. “Do I need to decide now?”
“You can decide twenty years from now. I just wanna know you’re all right.”
“I’m fine, Luke.”
“My tee says different. It’s soaked, and I’m guessin’ half that is snot.”
“Ugh,” she grunted.
He smiled at her.
Then he ran his fingers through the soft mass of thick hair on the side of her head and again cupped the back of her neck.