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“Have fun inside, Sierra. I would say let’s do this again, but I would rather light myself on fire.”
“Well then. I’m glad that that’s settled. But as much as I would love to eat whatever is in front of us, I actually think that I left my fridge open.”
“You wanna know something?” He doesn’t wait for me to respond before pushing away from the wall and taking two large steps toward me. “It hurt my feelings when you ditched me the other morning. I had big, big plans for you.”
When we’re young, we’re always so eager to grow up. All we think being a grown-up means is no longer having a bedtime and being able to eat junk food whenever we want. It’s not until we actually do grow up that we realize just how badly we miss our youth, and how we took it for granted. We would do anything to go back to the days of no responsibilities and worriless nights. But we can’t, because like our youth, they’re long fucking gone and there’s a slim to none chance that they will ever come back.
“I need to walk you inside, okay?” he asks firmly. I open my mouth to agree but he cuts me off before I start. “Don’t bother arguing with me either. I just want to make sure you get inside safely.”
“I’m going to give you one chance to calm down and leave before I break your skull.” My tone is dark, the threat obvious. “Nobody talks to Sierra like that. Do you understand me, or should I show you what I’ll do to the next person who raises their voice or calls her a whore?”
“I don’t take kindly to people who find it so easy to talk to women like that. And I especially don’t like it when that woman's mine.”
A cheek-splitting smile spreads across my face as soon as his wandering eyes clash with mine, brimming with so much emotion. A beyond obvious, cheesy wink from my playboy boxer is all it takes to forget about everything and lift my own arms in the air to join in the excited cheers, happier than I have been in years.
“I’m on my way, sweetheart, and I’m going to stay on the phone with you until I get there. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but there’s no way that I’m hanging up this phone knowing how upset you are. Got it?”
Cole Travis painted a bullseye on his own back. And I plan on being the one that takes the shot at it.
“Don’t blame yourself for the actions of a man who has tried to use his power to take advantage of you. No woman, especially one as intelligent as yourself, should need to bow to the feet of a man just to feel like a person. It’s incredibly revolting to me that you have had to worry about a smile being taken as something more than you intended it to, and that showing appreciation for being treated like a decent human being at work could lead to you owing somebody something. It’s not fair, baby, and I’m so fucking sorry that you’ve been dealing with that.”
“Braden, if I had someone look at me the way that you look at Sierra, I wouldn’t doubt love—real, passionate love—ever again. Don’t give that up because you’re afraid. We’re all afraid. But sometimes it’s worth the fear of the unknown. And I think you two are worth it.
“I love her, Dad. I love her more than I thought I could love anything or anyone and I hate it. I fucking hate knowing that to be with her, I have to give her the power to hurt me. How is that fair? How am I supposed to want to do that?”
There’s no me without you anymore baby. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that. Meet me on the roof. I know that you know how to get there. Blame Sophie. I’ll see you soon.
