Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
I lifted up on a forearm and looked at my Alexa on the nightstand.
It was ten to ten.
I fell again to my back and asked, “Is your thing over?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d it go?”
“We got the job done.”
I figured that happened a lot.
“Go you,” I replied.
“How was your night?”
“Weird.”
“Just a stab in the dark, but my guess, that’s not unusual.”
I started laughing and turned away from Cleo to lie on my side.
Cleo’s Labrador took control, and she shifted so she could rest her chin on my waist.
I reached for her head and started scratching.
“Why are you calling?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t going to postpone our date again.
Yeah.
Okay.
It happened. I couldn’t help it.
I gave up the fight.
Because I was into him.
“I’m calling because I was supposed to take you out tonight, I didn’t get to do that, that sucked, so I wanted to hear your voice before I wind down and go to bed.”
Great.
He could be sweet.
And great part two.
He was leaving me at the end of the night with thoughts of him going to bed.
“What do you want to hear my voice saying?” I asked. “I have the Pledge of Allegiance memorized, as any good American should. Or the lyrics to Fall Out Boys’, ‘Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down.’”
“Great song, but a fucked-up one.”
“Word.”
“Arguably, The Killers did it better with ‘Mr. Brightside.’”
Hang on.
“Whoa, you think ‘Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down’ is about a woman cheating?” I asked.
“Absolutely.”
I thought about it. “I see that.”
“What’d you think it was about?”
“Voyeurism.”
“Man was bumped for a new model,” Cap said. “He just couldn’t let go.”
“Something you probably cannot relate to at all. You’re undoubtedly always the bumper, not the bumpee.”
He burst out laughing.
I found this surprising.
“You’ve been bumped?” I asked, not hiding the shock in my voice.
My phone binged with a text.
“Sent you a picture,” he told me.
“Hang tight,” I said, pulled the phone from my ear and opened the text, then the picture.
It was of a scrawny, short, acne-ridden kid standing next to a tall, handsome Black kid, who had his arm slung around the scrawny guy’s shoulders.
I put the phone back to my ear. “Who’s that?”
“Me and my brother.”
Say what?
I looked at the picture again.
I didn’t see it.
Okay, maybe around the eyes, and the hair.
But…wow.
I put the phone again to my ear. “Your nickname should be Swan.”
“Why?”
“Ummm….” I drew that out, such was my surprise at the looks he’d grown into, having painted myself into a very unfun corner.
“Babe, I know I was the ugly duckling. I shouldn’t have asked. I get it.”
“Your nickname stems from Captain America, doesn’t it?” I asked for confirmation.
“Not my choice. Some buds in the Army saw a picture of me when I was younger, they came up with it. It stuck.”
“Well, it fits.”
There was humor in his tone when he replied, “If you say so.”
Time to change subjects.
“That’s your brother?”
“Yeah. Roman. He’s called Roam. We’re both adopted. We were foster brothers first. Got adopted as teenagers.”
At this news, my heart lurched for him, and I said softly, “Oh.”
“The mom nature gave me was a piece of shit, babe. The mom I earned is the finest woman on the planet. We made out more than all right in the end.”
I was still going soft when I said, “I love that for you.”
He was now going soft when he said, “Yeah.”
This was because he knew.
Heknewheknewheknew.
“Cap—” His name was husky.
“Rachel, baby, I know what happened. I just don’t know what happened to you. Only you can give me that, and I’ll only take it when you’re ready to give it to me.”
Tears hit my eyes at how profound and perfect and understanding that was.
He got it.
He got it.
It didn’t happen to me, but it happened to me all the same.
And that was mine to give him.
I didn’t like that he knew, but I liked that.
“That’s something else I didn’t want to wait to tell you,” he said. “You needed to hear it.”
He was so right.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“There’s something else I need to leave with you,” he said.
“What?”
“It’s tough. I wanted to get into it over dinner. I couldn’t do that, but I don’t think it should wait.”
Oh shit.
“What?” I repeated.
“The police told Mace that Elsie Fay’s parents told them she wants to see you.”
Oh God.
“They don’t know who you are or what happened,” Cap assured. “I didn’t tell Mace either, but I did say you got a history where that has to be up to you, and if you say no, everybody has to be okay with it.”
Again with the sweet.
And also protecting me.
I liked that a whole lot.
However…
“I’ll see her,” I said.
“Baby,” he replied gently.
“I’ll see her, Cap. It’s okay. It’s good. If she needs me, I’m there.”
“I was afraid you’d say that, but sleep on it. It’s late. I’m not gonna say anything to anyone until tomorrow anyway. Give it time to think about what it’d do to you.”