Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
She didn’t speak to me, unlocking the car and climbing inside. I almost thought she would leave me there in the driveway, but she unlocked the passenger side door. I climbed inside, feeling too guilty to say anything.
“That was cold, Linc,” she announced, her voice frigid.
I didn’t respond. We drove in silence to the lumberyard, where she parked and let me out. I couldn’t help watching as she climbed out, locked the door, and turned toward the office. Walking away, she gave me the middle finger. A little bit of tension relaxed its hold on my heart. I was glad to see her lashing out instead of keeping it inside. I was the first to admit that I had overstepped her boundaries and acted like a jerk. What had I been thinking?
All the admonitions against hurting Aly that had been jammed down my throat, and I had blown them out of the water. There wasn’t anything I could have done, short of killing her dog, that would have been worse. I replayed the morning again and again, the erotic dance against the kitchen sink, her face when I had told her it was over.
I had been out of my mind with lust and handled it badly. What I thought had been an honest mistake had turned into a blunt instrument. I knew I could never make it up to her, and I could only hope that she would decide that I was a coward and take her anger out on me instead of herself. I tried to focus on work, until Porter came down the hill.
“May I talk with you?” he said tightly.
I sighed, wiping my hands off on my jeans. I was in the middle of helping Danny load his truck.
“I got it,” Danny said.
I followed Porter into the barn, to a quiet space in the back where he could murder me in peace. “What the hell did you do?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“I’m not asking as a friend,” he snarled. “I’m asking as your boss.”
“As my boss, it’s none of your business.”
He chewed on that for a moment, trying to come up with a way to force me to talk. “I can’t fire you for breaking up with Aly, but I can come around to your place with a baseball bat.”
I folded my arms. Porter was a big guy, and I had no doubt he could hold his own in a fight, but I had eight years of combat experience on him. I could appreciate his feelings of betrayal, but I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. If he wanted to escalate the situation, I was ready.
“Don’t,” I said. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
He cast his eyes around, trying to understand. “I’m sorry. It was wrong to threaten you.”
“Apology accepted,” I grumbled. “And I’m sorry about Aly. I was a dick, and I know it.”
“Things were going so well,” he complained. “What happened?”
I paused, wondering if I should open up to him. I considered Porter a friend, and he was almost family, a blood relative of my baby nephew. “I saw her looking at me when I was holding Seth.”
“So?” Porter shifted nervously, his energy dark and confused.
“She wants a baby. She wants a house and a husband and the whole nine yards.”
“Did she say that to you?” Porter challenged.
“She didn’t have to,” I said. “I read it in her eyes.”
“And that’s why you dumped her?” Porter cried, overwhelmed with disgust for my choice.
“I didn’t dump her,” I protested.
“That’s what she said.”
I wanted to make it right, but I knew I had to stay as far away from Aly as possible. I couldn’t trust myself not to do or say something wrong. She was rightly pissed at me. I had made a mess of the whole thing and the best remedy was time.
“When you see her,” I pleaded with Porter, “just tell her I agree, it’s all my fault.”
“That’s not comforting,” Porter replied. “Why couldn’t you just talk to her about how you felt?”
“It’s better to break it off now than two years down the road when she’s too invested,” I argued.
“I think you could have picked a better way,” he said.
“How much did she tell you?” I asked.
“Enough.”
I shook my head in disgust. I was no better than an animal, taking advantage of her one last time before breaking her heart. I deserved all the scorn I knew I was about to receive. I just hoped that Aly would recover soon. Maybe she could burn my picture or skewer me on social media. Whatever she had to do to make herself feel better was all right by me.
22
ALY
Two thoughts kept running through my head no matter where I was. I was angry with Linc, and I was angry at myself for getting involved with him. Other people had tried to warn me. Gina, for example, had made a point of asking me to take a second look at what he was offering, but I had brushed her off. Worse, I had yelled at her.