Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I get it.”
“I need to see her.”
Basha waits a beat or two before nodding. “Come on, I’ll take her to you. But you have to tell her you promised to hook me up with one of your teammates or something.”
“Tell me which one and I’ll do it.”
“I’ll send you the list.” We stop at the front desk. “Hi, I’m going to take Ms. Sloane’s husband back to see her. I’m Basha Norris, I’m the one who brought her in.”
The woman behind the desk types and then nods toward us as she hands a sticker for me to put on my coat that reads, visitor. I follow Basha around a corner and down a hall. She points to a room with a closed door.
“She’s in there. Good luck, Alex. I like you so I hope this works.”
“Thanks, Basha. I like you too and I’m going to need all the luck you can muster.”
“She’s good people,” Basha reiterates. “Like really good and she’s afraid you’re going to break her heart, worse than it’s already breaking.”
I frown and nod. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
Basha leaves me standing at the door. I’ve never been so nervous in my life and pray Kelsey can’t reach anything sharp to stab me with or throw at me. I knock and wait for her to say come in.
She’s somewhat facing the wall, away from the door, and doesn’t look at me when I walk in. I stand a safe distance from her, just in case.
With a deep sigh, I say her name, “Kels.”
She turns sharply and glares at me. “Get out. No wait, how did you find me? Never mind, I don’t care.”
“Please don’t say you don’t care about me.” I can’t bear knowing she hates me this much. I inhale deeply and work to keep my voice from cracking. “How I found you doesn’t matter. What matters is I’m here, where I want to be.”
“I don’t want you here, Alex.” She turns away again. I take a step closer to the bed and reach out for her, but pull my hand back before touching her. I can feel her slipping away from me, and it hurts. My heart breaks like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Kelsey is the one for me and I have to find a way to prove to her I’m the right man for her.
“I know and I accept that, but I need you to hear me and if what I have to say isn’t enough, I’ll go, and you’ll never hear from me again. I don’t know if you remember what I said the other day in the hall, but I love you. I’m in love with you, Kels. I know words don’t make up for actions. I get that. I’m sorry that I hurt you by keeping secrets. That was never my intention. Believe me when I tell you this, I had no idea Maggie was pregnant. To make things worse, I don’t even know if I’m the father or not because of her actions, and I feel like not knowing hurts us.”
“I won’t be the reason a child doesn’t have both its parents.”
“I can still be a dad without being with the baby’s mother.” I take a couple of steps toward Kelsey.
“You love Maggie,” her voice breaks, which in turn crumbles every part of me.
“No, I loved her. But now that I know what real love feels like I know I was never in love with Maggie. Not in the way I love you, Kels. I don’t even like the person I am when she’s around. I’m angry all the time, I’m miserable. All I want to do is snuggle on your couch and watch TV or read a book with you. Having her at my house, it’s exhausting. From the moment the sun comes up to when it goes down, she’s demanding all of my time. It’s all about being social for her and that’s not who I am or want to be.”
“So, you’re back together?”
“What?” I’m confused by her question and then I realize what I said makes it seem like we’re together. “Hell no, honey. She’s at my house until she finds a place. Or she was. I told her she needs to be gone before I get home tonight. But while she was there, these past few days, she’s taken over everything like we are back together, and it’s made me realize how much I hate it.”
I take another step closer and instead of trying to reach for her, I push my hands into my pockets. Her verbal rejection is enough to last me a lifetime. The last thing I need to see, or feel is her physically pushing me away.
“What I’m saying or trying to say is since meeting you, you’ve shown me what kind of life I want to have. That the routine we created together makes me so fucking happy and without you I’m miserable. I don’t like me right now.”