Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I moved my attention back to the man who was looking at my father with a face that was a little green.
Was he sick?
Before I could ask, my father got up, and the two of them were walking outside, speaking softly.
“What was that about?” I asked warily.
“Ten bucks says he’s asking your father for permission to marry you,” my mom said lightly.
I practically gave myself whiplash when I turned to look at my mother. “You’re shitting me.”
She shook her head. “No. That’s my guess, anyway. He’s been fondling something in his pocket all night. Was even doing it the night of my cancer-free party. The way he looks at you, baby, is refreshing. There’s not one single thing more that I’d ask for when it came to the man that marries you. Y’all are perfect for each other.”
“So…” I said looking at the door. “Do you think I can get out there and listen without them seeing me?”
She laughed. “Not on your life.”
***
Newspaper article for Benton Times
An officer of the law, Colby Prescott, a six year veteran with the Benton Police Department, was charged with attempted murder Friday evening.
He was arrested after attempting to set a fireman, Grayson Trammel, on fire.
Trammel was just awarded a medal of valor for saving a young infant from a burning building. He was awarded the medal last night, and had traveled to a convenience store near his home in Edgewood with his long term girlfriend, Tru Doherty. While Doherty was inside, Prescott chose that moment to attack Trammel.
Trammel’s father was able to intervene before Prescott could actually get the fire started.
Prescott’s bail is set at $400,000.
Chapter 20
Can’t get out of bed. Send help. Or waffles. Maybe just waffles.
-Text from Tru to Grayson
Tru
Two months later
Life had been perfect. Absolutely perfect. I was living the absolute dream.
He’d found someone to take over my lease, so I was free and clear to move in with him within a week of us getting back together.
I’d go to bed beside Grayson on the days that he was off, and wake up beside him in the morning, most of the time with him making love to me soft and slow.
The days that he had to work, I’d go to bed lonely, but I’d wake up to him as he’d slip his rock hard body into bed beside me, letting my sleepy warm skin heat his cool one. I’d wrap my arms around him tightly, leaning my head against his ear to warm that up, too. It was a tradition, one that I loved.
However, today he’d been fully dressed when he woke me up, forgoing the usual cuddling that I loved so much. Instead, he sat on the side of the bed, his head in his hands.
“What is it?” I asked quietly.
My voice was still sleep roughened, and he seemed to wilt even more, alarming me.
“I heard some news this morning from the DA as I was leaving work,” he hesitated. “They’re not going to go with a trial for Colby. All that work I put into it, and they’re doing fucking nothing. They fear that his mental status is degrading, so they’ve chosen to send him to a psychiatric facility instead of pursuing prison time. Prison might still be an option after, but they don’t think he’s of sound mind enough to ever be out of that place.”
I was speechless. They were what?
“They’re only putting him in a mental facility after all that he did to you…to me?” I gasped in outrage.
The asshole had tried to burn us alive!
He’d doused us in gasoline! Then lit a goddamned match. In front of no less than ten people! I mean what more did they need? He should be rotting in a jail cell, not sitting in a cushy mental facility.
“Will they even be able to hold him in there if he wants to leave?” I asked in surprise.
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sitting up, I wrapped my arms around his back, laying my head against his shoulder.
“When does he go?” I asked quietly, rubbing my check and nose along the soft t-shirt he was wearing.
“He’s already there. Cabe wasn’t even going to tell me, worried I’d do something stupid. It was your mother who did; she thought I’d want to know,” he explained dejectedly.
I guess maybe he thought that he’d failed, but he didn’t. He protected me. We were happy. We were healthy. There was nothing else I wanted.
Closing my eyes, I ran my hands down his back until I could feel the gap between his pants and his shirt.
Using my fingernails, I ran them up and down his back, scratching like I knew he liked. “Let’s go for that ride you told me about last night. There’s nothing better than family and friends when you’re stressed.”
He nodded and stood, dislodging my hands.
I made quick work of getting dressed.
Dressing in simple jeans, black long sleeved t-shirt that said, ‘This bitch won’t fall off!’ and my pink cowboy boots.
Grayson never said a word about my flashy, sparky, hot pink boots. He only smiled softly at me when he saw them, which was what I’d intended today with the t-shirt. I lived to see that man smile.
After I managed to get dressed, I walked outside to find Grayson already on the back of his bike, staring out at the neighborhood beyond.
He turned when I started down the stairs. “Ready?”
At my nod, he lifted his leg and kick started his newest project bike.
It wasn’t flashy, or anything really grand, but I’d been working with him on it, and that made it special to me. At first, it was only handing him tools and the likes, but I’d graduated to helping him do miscellaneous odds and ends.
He’d taught me how to tear down a transmission, which if I had to admit, I was the bomb at. In fact, it was actually kind of fun getting dirty with him.
It made me happy to see that I helped him when and where I could.
Lifting my leg, I slid onto the bike behind him and took the helmet he had waiting in his hand for me.