Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I couldn’t possibly be more exposed than I was right then.
“Sure.”
“Why the fuck do you wear that bastard’s leather jacket?”
“Oh,” I said with a strange little laugh. “Spite,” I admitted. “He caught me trying it on once. He ripped it off me and told me that ‘bitches’ have no right to wear a club jacket. He also wanted to be buried in it. But fuck him. This bitch does wear his club jacket.”
“Spite is a powerful motivator.”
“Do you hate your ex-wife?” I blurted out.
He watched me for a long second before answering.
“Hate is a strong word. Maybe I did right at first. When the cut was fresh. But by the time I was sitting in a cell, I knew it wasn’t hate. It was just the sting of betrayal. And maybe a little jealousy. Or inferiority.”
“Inferiority?” I wasn’t sure how someone like him could feel inferior to anyone.
“That whole ‘what does he have that I don’t?’ kind of thing. It took a bit to see that it wasn’t necessarily that he had anything that I didn’t, but that they just… worked where she and I didn’t. So, no. I don’t hate her. I’m not really even angry anymore. Though I still fucking hate cheating because of it.”
“I’ve never been with someone seriously enough to consider them sleeping around on me cheating.”
“The way you worded that makes me think that you maybe still felt dicked over by it.”
“I maybe have some slight issues with the idea of being seen as interchangeable.”
“Like the club girls you grew up around.”
“Yeah, I guess. I think I’m just starting to realize how much growing up there mentally fucked me. Can you believe I’ve never worn a dress? Or nightgown,” I said, waving down at myself.
“I can, actually. Even if you wanted to, I feel like that would have felt really… exposed in the club.”
“Yeah. So what about your upbringing? Aside from your child marriage?”
That got a strangled laugh out of him.
“Child marriage?” he balked.
“You were underage. So… child.”
“Fair enough. It was… average for that generation, I guess. Kind of hands-off parenting. I don’t think my parents knew where I was half the time.”
“And where were you?”
“In cornfields getting trashed, mostly. And almost knocking up my girlfriend.”
“The safe sex talk didn’t stick, huh?”
“Safe sex talk? Babe, I grew up with abstinence-only sex education. I’m somewhat impressed I knew where to stick it the first time, looking back.”
“I, unfortunately, saw a lot I shouldn’t have seen at a young age. I knew all the bits. So… are you close with your parents?”
“I got myself locked up. They practically disowned me.”
“That sucks. Do you have any siblings?”
“An older brother. He’s still in the military. Never married or had kids. Have you ever heard from your mom?”
“No. Honestly, I can barely remember what she looks like anymore. If she showed up at my doorstep, I don’t think I’d recognize her.”
“Do you think she tried or wanted to but got pushed away by your dad?”
“If she did, he took that to his grave,” I said, yawning.
“Alright. I’ll stop pestering you. Get some sleep,” he said, patting my knee as he got to his feet.
“Night,” I called at his retreating form.
“Goodnight, babe,” he said, glancing back.
And, God, it felt so wrong when he turned and walked away again.
Alone, because my dang dog abandoned me for her very own queen-sized bed again, I flicked off the light and curled up on my side with my silly lobster roll stuffed animal. I lay there for what felt like forever, listening to the white noise of the projector, staring at the colorful ceiling, and running my fingers over the lobster’s little feet and claws.
I couldn’t tell you when it went from a thought to reality, but eventually, I found myself calling out softly, “Colter?”
I waited.
Two seconds.
Five.
But no answer came.
It was for the best, I tried to convince myself even as there was a sinking sensation in my chest.
“Yeah, babe?” Colter asked, making my heart leap as I turned to see him standing in the doorway, naked from the waist up.
“Sleep in here with me?”
He didn’t answer, just walked to the other side of the bed and slid in.
His arm slid under my pillow but didn’t curl me into him like the needy part of me wanted.
“The lobster can come too,” he invited, making my lips curl up.
“In that case…” I said, scooting closer until my head was on his chest with the lobster roll nestled on Colter’s other side, close enough so my fingers could still rub over his weirdly comforting little legs.
“Could get used to this,” Colter said, wrapping his arms around me.
The scary part?
I could too.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Colter
We’d never get a chance to know how nice it would be to intentionally wake up curled up together.
Sugar decided to take that away from us, hopping up on the bed, then walking closer to stand over us with a confused look.